Although Dr. Viacheslav Shulika is many miles away from his home country, he is still fully involved and communicates almost daily with people in Ukraine who are working to protect the cultural values there. From Germany, he helps coordinate the evacuation of cultural assets from collections that have been damaged or attacked, particularly in the east and south of Ukraine. He communicates almost every day with people in Ukraine committed to protecting the country’s cultural assets.

We asked him a few questions about his activities and the current situation of Ukrainian cultural heritage.

Mr Shulika, which cultural assets are particularly affected by the Russian war of aggression?

The attack by the Russian Federation army damaged monuments of architecture, culture and history, museums and archives. There is a systematic destruction of cultural, scientific and artistic assets in the occupied areas. Monuments have been bombarded with rockets, artillery and bombs from the first day of the full-scale invasion. In this respect, all cultural assets are affected or could potentially be so if they are within range of Russian artillery or are even already in the occupied areas.

Which cultural assets must Ukraine and the international community now mourn as lost, and which have been damaged?

The first thing that comes to mind is the complete destruction of the Mariupol Art Museum, which was dedicated to Arkhip Kuindzhi, a realist painter. When the bomb hit the museum – in March 2023 – there were no original works by Kuindzhi in the museum, but there were his letters, photographs and personal documents. The museum also hosted some works by contemporary artists. In addition, the Chernihiv regional archive was completely burned and all the documents it contained destroyed. The wooden church dating from the 17th-19th centuries in the village of Kurylivka in the Kharkiv region and the house museum of naïve painter Polina Raiko in the Kherson region have been irretrievably lost. Incidentally, her house was destroyed along with the Raiko frescoes in the flooding following the destruction of the Kakhovskaya Dam by the Russian army in June 2023.

Damaged, but not completely destroyed, were the Kharkiv Art Museum and the Grigory Skovoroda Museum in the village of Skovorodynivka in the Kharkiv region, dedicated to the philosopher and poet of the same name. The windows and roof of the Kyiv Art Gallery were damaged, as were the Kyiv Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum with its exhibitions of Western and Eastern European art, as well as many other cultural institutions.

Do works of art also need to be protected from looting or plundering by the Russian army?

If it’s still possible. Protection from robbery and looting really means evacuation. The attack in 2022 was unexpected, so evacuation was carried out as an emergency. This was no longer possible in the cities occupied in the initial days of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. Some cultural artefacts were hidden by the museum staff. The Russian army also searched for them, and the FSB also tortured some museum staff.

Today, however, libraries, museums and archaeological monuments are still being looted in the occupied areas. This includes the art and local history museum in Kherson. A collection of Scythian gold kept in the Melitopol Museum of Local History was looted. However, we mainly observe destroyed institutions as a result of fighting and the bombing of cities.

What emergency measures can be taken if, for example, a bomb has hit a museum?

That depends entirely on the case, since no preventive measures were taken at the beginning, unlike today, where everything that can be transported gets evacuated. Immediately after the invasion on 24 February 2022, however, work was initially carried out in emergency mode and always on a provisional basis. The exhibition at the Kharkiv Art Museum was dismantled in several stages immediately after the invasion and moved to a safe location. As it was initially unclear where the museum artefacts were to be moved to, some of them were housed in the technical areas of an underground station in Kharkiv. But inappropriate temperature and humidity parameters had a negative impact on museum artefacts. Further storage in underground railway spaces could not be justified. So the next step was evacuation, which involved museum staff as well as teaching staff and students from the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Art.

In abstract terms, museums everywhere had the problem of firstly where to evacuate to, secondly how to transport the cultural assets and thirdly how to pack them. These problems were only solved by the museum administrators’ own networks and the commitment of their staff and volunteers.

Can you say where individual collections will be evacuated to?

I cannot answer this question as it is classified information. Ukrainian restorers do not ask each other where the museum artefacts are kept. That’s the rule.

Has there already been experience from the ongoing war situation since 2014?

Unfortunately, the experience gained in 2014 was not taken into account. It was generally assumed that the war would not spread to other regions of Ukraine. But there was also experience in 2014. For example, in Donetsk the art museum exhibition was dismantled in 2014, museum artefacts were packed in boxes and hidden in cellars. This helped protect museum artefacts from theft for a certain period of time. But unfortunately it was not possible to take the museum collection from Donetsk to other safe cities in Ukraine. There was no transport, as the roads were blocked by armed militants.

You have already mentioned that preventive action can be taken today. But what measures need to be expanded, or even first developed, in order to protect cultural assets in Ukraine?

The problem of the lack of specialised storage facilities for the collections needs to be resolved. Up-to-date instructions on the standards for the evacuation of museum artefacts must also be developed.

What support do European and American partners give for the protection of cultural heritage?

European and American partners provide support in the form of materials and equipment for the transport and preservation of artefacts. Individual European institutions provide practical assistance with the evacuation, storage and restoration of movable artefacts.

Where is there room for improvement? What requests do you have for your European and American partners?

Ukrainian restorers need more comprehensive information about the materials transferred as relief supplies. I am often approached by restorers from various museum institutions asking: “We have been given materials, but we don’t know how to use them properly.”

I advise them because I have experience of working in Germany. It would be a good idea to organise internships for Ukrainian restorers at EU and American restoration institutions.

What recommendations do you have for European partners in general, but especially in Ukraine’s neighbouring countries, in terms of preventive measures should the war spread to EU or NATO territory? In other words, what would you have liked to have done differently shortly after 24 February 2022?

In my opinion, the professional level of conservators and restorers in the EU countries is very high, and the preventive conservation and evacuation of artefacts is performed very well in the EU. What’s missing: for me, it is first of all necessary to build secure underground depots for large-scale collections – i.e. for works of art, archives, archaeological pieces and so on – where the collections of several museums can be stored. These must be equipped to withstand artillery, drone and aerial bombardment. A network should also be developed through which cultural assets can be taken away quickly in a critical situation. Experience in Ukraine has shown that, firstly, above-ground storage facilities for cultural artefacts cannot protect them from destruction, and secondly facilities such as underground railway shafts cannot last long as temporary storage facilities due to inconsistent temperature and humidity conditions.

When you think about the end of the war, as far as this can be imagined – will the voids left by the war be visible? Do you think about reconstruction? More generally, what do you think the war will mean for Ukraine’s cultural heritage once it is over?

The war in Ukraine is a major tragedy. It was difficult to imagine war in the 21st century. It is not civilised, modern or humane, but it is the reality we are experiencing. A great personal tragedy for me is the destruction of the monuments that I once explored or planned to explore. Yes, I hope that the damaged monuments will be restored. This process has already begun at the level of consultations and preliminary designs. Consultations, meetings and conferences are also being held at various levels regarding the restoration of the museum collection and artworks. Data is currently being collected on the extent of the damage. Of course, the restoration will require considerable resources and a lot of work for the various organisations. There is great hope that after Ukraine’s victory, the work of restoration organisations, museums and government agencies will begin again and a new level of coordination with a clear vision will emerge. It is vital that the experience of the European Union’s leading organisations is taken into account in terms of approach, security, methods and practical experience.

Viacheslav Shulika will be taking part in the event “Cultural heritage in danger – How can we respond to new challenges posed by climate change, war and conflict?” on Friday, 8 November. The series of events begins at 10 am in the Cultural Heritage Forum, Hall 2. All info here .