CHAIR´S observations

Catastrophic Threats to Priceless Cultural Assets

BY PETER MILES

One cannot but be moved by what has been happening in Ukraine over the past weeks: the sight of roads leading up to the borders with Ukraine’s neighbouring countries packed with refugees, families being split up with mothers and their children piling onto trains leaving distraught husbands and fathers on station platforms and the devastation caused by the Russian bombardments of towns and cities.

Of course, whilst we are horrified by the human impact of the atrocities, we are less aware of the damage and destruction of Ukraine’s built heritage, which shows a unique and fascinating tradition, with many architectural masterpieces dating from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Our Membership of the Friends demonstrates how highly we value cultural heritage and it is heart-breaking to hear of the threat to and the destruction of so many of Ukraine’s unique cultural assets. In Kyiv the whimsical Horodecki House (1902), with its curvilinear designs and mythical animal motifs, is an art nouveau masterpiece and Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (the Kiev Monastery of the Caves) is emblematic of the country’s history. Both are under serious threat from the relentless shelling. We have heard that the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Vyazovka, built in 1862, has been destroyed.

Kharkiv, the city on Ukraine’s western border, has several significant residential buildings in the Secessionist style, inspired by an 1890s group of artists which counted Gustav Klimt as one of its members.

Odessa, founded by Catherine the Great, has a distinct culture that is evident in its built environment, including many late nineteenth century landmarks such as the Fine Art Museum built in 1899 and the neo-Baroque theatre, completed in 1887.

Lviv, a centre for Renaissance and Baroque architecture, has many examples of buildings in the Revival and Historicism styles popular during the late nineteenth century.

We know that portable artefacts are being secreted safely away, we hope, in basements, with no time to wait for specialised packing materials.

A photo taken by André Luis Alves, a Portuguese photojournalist, captures an early crucifix being evacuated from the Armenian Cathedral in Lviv and taken to a shipping container in order to protect it - a modern day deposition! This is not the first time this has happened, as the crucifix had to be removed during the Second World War.

St Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv will be familiar to those of you who watch the BBC news as it is the backdrop to the reports. Originally built in the eleventh century, it was demolished by the Russians in the 1930s but rebuilt and reopened in 1999.

Direct shelling of cultural assets is in breach of the UNESCO 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, to which Russia is a signatory.

It would be unimaginable to contemplate such appalling destruction taking place in Birmingham, and it must be equally incomprehensible to the people of Ukraine. Let us all hope this futile war is brought to an early resolution and that peace can be achieved without further human suffering and cultural devastation taking place. n

Kyiv St.Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery