ALIPH Ukraine Action Plan, June 2024

ALIPH Action Plan for

1. ALIPH’s rapid response to the conflict in Ukraine

- Since day one of the war, ALIPH contacted and coordinated with Ukrainian and European professionals, national authorities, and international organizations and institutions.

- In March 2022, the ALIPH Foundation Board adopted an Action Plan for the Protection of Heritage in Ukraine with an envelope of USD 5M of its own funds.

- Five external fundings came to reinforce this envelope with a total amount of USD 6M:

- European Union (Foreign Policy Instruments): 2 grants of  EUR 2M each, awarded in June 2022 and August 2023.

- Getty Foundation: USD 1M in October 2022.

- Principality of Monaco: EUR 40,000 in September 2022 for 2 projects in Odesa.

- US State Department: USD 645,000 in December 2023.

2. ALIPH’s Main Areas of Action for the Protection of Heritage in Ukraine

1. Museums, libraries, and archives

a. Inventories and protective measures for cultural institutions and collections

b. Improvement and securing of storage spaces for collections in-country

2. Sites and monuments

c. Satellite imagery documentation

d. 3D documentation of monuments

e. Concrete protection measures of monuments and sites, and stabilization

3. Support to heritage professionals

f. Financial support allowing Ukrainian professionals to continue their work on the ground

3. Main Figures of ALIPH’s Action for the Protection of Heritage in Ukraine

• 202 projects

• 158 projects completed

• More than 420 organizations supported

• USD 7.2 M committed

4. Emergency Response in Odesa since Summer 2023

ALIPH has developed a flexible and continuous response in support of the heritage in the historic city of Odesa following the bombings of July, August, November 2023 and March 2024.

An emergency fund was established to support cultural institutions in Odesa and its region. First Aid measures are implemented by the local NGO Museum for Change.

Examples of measures taken within a few days in Odesa:

• OSB shields installed to cover the windows and doors of four Odesa museums.

• Emergency stabilization works for historical buildings of national and local significance such as the Stolyarsky Musical school, the 19th-century Manuk Bey Mansion, the historic House of Scientists, the Botanical Gardens and the National Museum of Fine Arts.

While Odesa is still at risk, a series of preventive protection measures have been implemented:

• Shock-proof armored film on the building windows of the main cultural heritage institutions and iconic buildings in the historical city center, including Odesa Opera and Ballet Theater and Odesa Scientific Library was installed. It prevents glass destruction as well as injuries and damage resulting from the shards.

5. Sites and Monuments

For more than 120 sites and historical buildings:

• ALIPH finances documentation including 3D and photogrammetry, implemented by Ukrainian operators, to scan and document monuments at risk across the country for their potential future conservation.

Stabilization projects

• Research Institute of Venereology building in Kharkiv hit by a projectile causing a fire on the roof in March 2022: the installation of a temporary roof to protect the building until full conservation is possible.

• Wooden church of Saint Paraskeva, Zakarpattia region: installation of a temporary structure to protect the roof of the building and emergency conservation of wall paintings until full conservation becomes possible.

Stabilization projects

• Odesa Museum of Fine Arts damaged during attacks in November 2023: emergency measures to cover the museum’s broken windows, doors and fence, followed by urgent stabilization works to ensure that the museum building may withstand potential future blast waves.

• Wooden Holy Trinity church, Lviv region: stabilizing and waterproofing the foundations and the roof as well as consolidating the paintings and walls.

Stabilization projects

• The Treasury building of the National Museum of History of Ukraine, Kyiv: in November 2023, a collection from Crimea, loaned to the Netherlands in 2013, was returned to Ukraine. The collection of 565 artifacts including Scythian and Sarmatian gold ornaments, ancient sculptures and lacquer boxes is to be housed at the Treasury of the National Museum of History of Ukraine, located on the territory of the KyivPechersk Lavra (UNESCO World Heritage site). ALIPH supports the documentation and repair of the leaking roof and upgrade of alarm and security systems to ensure the safety of the unique collection.

ALIPH Pool of Experts for Ukraine

To facilitate ALIPH’s work on stabilization and future recovery, ALIPH has prepared a short survey that allows experts interested to be part of stabilization and early recovery efforts in Ukraine to register to the ALIPH database.

The survey has been circulated among ALIPH’s contacts in Ukraine and various specialized networks especially in the Baltics and neighboring countries.

6. Museums, Libraries and Archives

For more than 300 museums, archives, libraries and cultural heritage institutions:

ALIPH has provided or financed the purchase of storage equipment (shelves, cabinets, cases, etc.), metal boxes, packing materials, fire safety equipment (fire extinguishers, fire blankets, fire alarms), as well as generators, dehumidifiers, and materials to secure doors and windows.

• ALIPH has organized and financed the transport of hundreds of specialized wooden museum crates and other donated or purchased equipment from and in collaboration with the city of Geneva, as well as ALIPH partners in Austria, Germany, Italy, France, Poland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

 To tackle the recurrent challenge of energy shortage allowing cultural institutions to maintain operations including security systems and climate control, ALIPH, in collaboration with local partners such as Museum for Change, the Office of the City Conservator of Warsaw and Brda Foundation (Poland), has financed hundreds of generators.

 Whenever possible, for a more sustainable response, ALIPH provided power stations equipped with solar panels.

• ALIPH supports the upgrading of twelvemajor storage facilities in central and western Ukraine to ensure proper storageconditionsfortemporarilyevacuated collections.

Emergency conservation of damaged artifacts

• ALIPH has funded the creation of four mobile laboratories (vehicles and conservation equipment) to enable the National Research and Restoration Centre (NRRC) to carry out emergency conservation work.

• The Centre oversees all the collections in the country's State museums, estimated at twelve million objects, as well as all the movable heritage, such as that in churches and historic houses. It has branches in Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv and Odesa, responsible for the north, west, east and south of the country, respectively.

7. Supporting Heritage Professionals

• ALIPH has already supported more than 470 cultural heritage professionals all over Ukraine (including 2/3 of women).

• ALIPH funded the Europa Nostra Heritage Solidarity Fellowship for Ukraine to support Ukrainian heritage professionals in the regions most affected by the war. To date, 156 professionals have received fellowships through this program, with over 70% of women professionals.

• ALIPH also funds local initiatives like the Museum Crisis Centre supporting to date 184 heritage professionals whose salary has been reduced or stopped due to the war, to enable them to continue to fulfil their mission now and in the future. Distributionofsupportis ongoing.

• Beyond these initiatives, many of our grants for Ukraine include support to institutional staff members.

Organization of webinars

• ALIPH organized a Ukraine-Beirut seminar in December 2022, with Polish partners. This webinar was focused on sharing experiences on very practical issues that the conservators in Beirut have faced, and the colleagues in Ukraine are facing now.

• Together with Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, ALIPH organized a Digitization in Practice webinar in June 2023. More than 600 professionals from Ukraine and other countries participated in this event where experts from International Council of Archives (ICA), Endangered Archives Programme of the British Library, the Getty Foundation as well as Hill Museum and Manuscript Library shared their experience in digitization.

• The recording of the webinar is available on ALIPH’s YouTube Channel in Ukrainian and in English.

8.

ALIPH Monitoring Missions

to Ukraine, October 2023 and April 2024

• Odesa and Kyiv

• Site visits to beneficiary institutions

• Discussions with heritage professionals and authorities on priorities and needs

9. Communication on International Scale (Selection)

• In November 2022, during the Paris Peace Forum, ALIPH organized an exhibition dedicated to the work of the Ukrainian cultural heritage professionals.

• This photo exhibition was also presented in March 2023 in Brussels, at the headquarters of the European Union's External Action Service, which supports ALIPH’s action in Ukraine.

• On the occasion of the ALIPH Forum organized in Abu Dhabi in March 2023, ALIPH gathered several of our most important Ukrainian partners.

• ALIPH partnered with the Musée du Louvre and the Khanenko Museum (Kyiv) to conserve and research 16 masterpieces of sacred art of the Khanenko Museum in the musée du Louvre and its storage. 5 of them are showcased in the exhibition "The origins of the Sacred Image - Icons from the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum" inaugurated in June 2023 at the Musée du Louvre in Paris.

• Ukraine heritage exhibition at Columbia University in New York - October to November 2023.

10. ALIPH Video on the Protection of Heritage in Ukraine (published in February 2024)

https://youtu.be/Kxnr9HFYmfA

11. Main Current Challenges

• Due to the war, public organizations are not allowed to receive any funds directly. ALIPH has to find reliable local NGOs to help as financial intermediaries.

• In some cases, the needed equipment is not available in Ukraine. ALIPH therefore looks for other suppliers able to deliver all over Ukraine.

• Because the situation changes very quickly on the ground, ALIPH is in constant contact with its grantees and adapts to the changing needs to increase project efficiency.

• Historical buildings suffering from war-damage need urgent interventions. ALIPH constantly looks for the best way to offer a temporary securization that would resist all weather conditions and in case of further damage.

• In high-risk areas, evacuation of artifacts is not always possible or would be too dangerous. ALIPH adapts by updating storage facilities to ensure a safe and proper conservation.

• To be as helpful as possible, ALIPH has optimized its procedures to reduce their time while ensuring a scientific relevance and a safe financial process.

12. Next Steps

• Continuation of emergency response.

• Emergency stabilization of historical buildings and sites.

• Protective equipment for museums, libraries and archives.

• Upgrade of storage spaces for medium-term conservation.

• Digitization of priority and / or at-risk museum collections.

• Structural support to the digitization of archives.