These are the monuments that the world may lose due to Putin’s war
Like any other part of the world, Ukraine is home to numerous cultural sites, museums and collections that preserve the treasures of human civilizations past and present. Many of these sites allow us to learn about societies and their transformations. In his eagerness to invade Ukraine, Putin’s unprovoked war threatens to destroy a significant part of the world’s artistic and architectural heritage.
The history of art and architecture in Ukraine dates back to the Stone Age (Paleolithic period). Some of the earliest surviving examples of architecture anywhere in the world can be found at the Natural History Museum in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, which is currently under heavy bombardment. These are huts made from mammoth bones dating back 15,000 years. These structures were excavated in the valley of the Dnipro River, in a city called Mezhirich, located south of Kiev.
Other prehistoric treasures from Ukraine include intricately decorated pottery and anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines from the Trypillia culture (c. 5500 to 2750 BCE), which occupied vast swathes of the country’s western regions. But perhaps the best-known work of art from Ukraine’s early civilizations is the golden Scythian pectoral of Tovsta Mohyla (pectoral plate). Found in an ancient burial mound called Tovsta Mohyla (“fat mound”), the Scythian pectoral dates to the 4th century BCE.
The pectoral is solid 24-carat gold and weighs 1,150 grams. It features intricate and delicate scenes from everyday life and fantastic animals that make it priceless. It is currently in the Museum of Historical Treasures of Ukraine, located in the Kiev Monastery of the Caves.
The Monastery of the Caves. /
A Unesco World Heritage Site, the caves date back to the 11th century and are one of the holiest places in all of Eastern Europe. In addition to the underground caverns with chapels and miraculous relics, on the surface the monastery has numerous churches and buildings that represent architectural and artistic styles from the Middle Ages, going through the beginning of modernity until completely entering it.
Another location considered World Heritage and the jewel of Kiev is the Cathedral of Saint Sophia (Holy Wisdom), from the 11th century. The cathedral dazzles visitors with its many golden domes and richly colored gilt mosaics of saints and angels. This is just one of the medieval churches in Kiev.
The 12th-century Church of St. Cyril is decorated with unique frescoes and wall paintings by prominent 19th-century symbolist artists. The church is located right next to Babyn Yar, one of the largest World War II mass graves in Europe, which was recently hit by Russian missiles.
ukrainian art
The manuscripts and paintings of Ukraine’s leading romantic bard, Taras Shevchenko, are housed in an independent museum in the capital. In its rich museums, Kiev houses paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts from various historical periods and numerous cultures.
Icons from the medieval and baroque periods, portraits of historical figures and Cossack leaders by prominent 18th-century artists such as Volodymyr Borovykovskyi and Dmytryi Levytskyi are preserved in the National Art Museum of Ukraine. There are also works by avant-garde Ukrainian artists and sculptors such as Yuri Narbut, Mykhailo Boichuk, Kazimir Malevich, Olexander Archipenko, Sonia Delaunay, Vasyl Yermylov, Olexander Bohomazov, Oleksandra Ekster, Davyd Burliuk, Vadym Meller, and Anatol Petrytsky.
However, priceless works of art are not limited to museums and galleries, and continued bombing threatens the loss of the works of leading artists that decorate the exteriors and interiors of the many cultural centers, theaters, educational institutions and residential buildings of Kiev.
outside of Kyiv
Ukraine’s cultural heritage is not limited to its capital. Beyond Kiev, numerous other treasures reside in equally threatened areas.
The Crimean peninsula has remains of ancient Greek and Roman cities and medieval Genoese fortresses. The peninsula’s rich Tatar culture is represented by palatial structures and a mosque in the central Crimean city of Bakhchysarai, once the capital of the powerful Crimean Khanate.
In eastern Ukraine, baroque Cossack structures and neoclassical villas punctuate the travel itineraries of architecture buffs. Spectacular fortresses located along the steep banks of rivers and estates and palaces are part of the landscape of western Ukraine.
In the western part of the country is another of the urban jewels of Ukraine and a UNESCO World Heritage Site: the historic center of the city of Lviv. Here the medieval urban topography, which remains largely intact, attests to the centuries of coexistence of different ethnic communities. Renaissance courtyards, elaborate baroque structures, and sinuous curves of art nouveau buildings create a rich tapestry of styles.
This is but a sample of the rich and diverse cultural heritage that the world is about to lose in a war that is destroying Ukraine.
Unfortunately, part of the heritage has already been destroyed.
The northeastern city of Chernihiv, which is currently being heavily bombed, has a well-preserved medieval center with churches and structures dating from the 11th to 18th centuries.
By Beloved plows the field, by Maria Prymachenko
The center of Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine, almost destroyed, once offered incomparable examples of modernist and constructivist architecture of the 20th century.
Throughout the country there are houses-museums of artists and popular productions. One of these museums, located in the village of Ivanko, not far from Kiev, was destroyed in a fire. It housed many colorful and cheerful works by one of the best known and loved folk artists, Maria Pryimachenko, which are now lost forever.
This article has been published in The Conversation
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