Preserving Ukrainian Art And Culture From Being Looted Or Destroyed Outright
“For those on the prowl, the Kharkiv Art Museum could be a prime target. The museum was founded in 1805 by Vasiliy Karazin, an enlightenment figure of Cossack and Serbian descent who helped make the city a 19th-century center for the arts.
“He brought a unique collection of Western European artists, and then it was like an explosion. Kharkiv residents began to buy works of art in Italy, in the Netherlands,” Myzgina said.
With local artists soon inspired by their surroundings, a special section was later devoted to Ukrainians like the aforementioned Ilya Repin, Ivan Aizovsky, and Serhii Vasylkivsky. The museum later housed works by Soviet-era figures like Leonid Tkachenko.
Repin Ilya Yukhimovich (1844-1930). Cossacks write a letter to the Turkish sultan. (Credit: Kharkiv Art Museum)
By the start of the Second World War, its collection had ballooned to 75,000 works and was known as the best of its kind in the Soviet Union, outside of Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Just 5,000 pieces were saved from the arriving Nazis, but the museum would later bounce back, boasting 20,000 artworks today.
Now facing the same threat it did in the 1940s, the facility may not just be threatened by foreign invaders, but also by native Ukrainians.
“During a conflict … people are in survival mode where looting and trafficking of cultural property are a means of subsistence rather than an activity of opportunity,” Paul explained. Hardy agreed.
“Some people are looting to replace their lost jobs or to distract themselves from the trauma of everyday life at the moment,” he said, adding that even before the war, antiquities trafficking groups existed as part of Ukraine’s own criminal underground. The chaos of war simply presents new opportunities.” https://www.occrp.org/en/37-ccblog/ccblog/16134-the-battle-for-ukrainian-culture