Ukraine

El HeMo (Ukrainian Heritage Monitoring Lab) es uno de los programas líderes en el estudio del patrimonio cultural ucraniano, actualmente afectado por la guerra en Ucrania. Se originó con el propósito de establecer una red de profesionales y voluntarios del patrimonio que asistieran en su preservación inmediata durante los ataques a infraestructura civil y elementos de valor cultural. Entre las labores realizadas, se encuentra la asistencia en la evacuación y digitalización de colecciones, así como el análisis de los deterioros y la planificación de la recuperación tras el conflicto.

Culture is a key factor for a participative and people-centred approach and should be prioritised for the recovery of post-war society. To achieve this, it is important to promptly safeguard cultural heritage, given the current emergency situation in Ukraine, through integrated and cross-sectoral cooperation and multilevel policymaking at the local, national and international levels. ‘Recovery and reconstruction should enable people to connect to their heritage, identity and history’ (UNESCO’s Warsaw Recommendation on Recovery and Reconstruction of Cultural Heritage, 2018). Rights-based approaches, gender, age, disability and diverse cultural perspectives should be integrated into all policies and practices. Cultural heritage is an asset that reaches beyond signatory monuments and sites and that provides resources for (re)construction, social life, continuity, identity and meaning-making.

This article studies the role that cultural heritage is playing in the war in Ukraine and identifies some of its threats and vulnerabilities in order to establish a risk context. Throughout it will be shown that, far from considering the destruction of heritage as “collateral damage”, cultural heritage in this war is a war objective, given the symbolic value attributed by the Kremlin to Ukraine's heritage. Thus, its destruction can be exploited by the invading army as part of a hybrid strategy of coercion, domination and destabilization, while the affected communities perceive it as an annihilation aimed at undermining and eliminating their cultural identity.

In this article, Juliette Raoul-Duval reviews the international heritage protection mechanisms and presents an overview of the threats to heritage in Ukraine as the war drags on, and the role of ICOM, its national committees and their partners in helping Ukrainian museum professionals.

Este documento nace de la colaboración entre el Departamento de Protección del Patrimonio del ICOM con expertos de once museos ucranianos. La gran variedad de objetos representados pone de relieve el rico patrimonio cultural de Ucrania que se ve amenazado por el conflicto bélico.