Amid concerns of Ukraine’s heritage being under “direct attack,” France late last year took in more than a dozen works of art from Kyiv for safeguarding. The Louvre in Paris announced on Wednesday that it is housing 16 artworks, including 1,500-year-old Byzantine icons. Museum President Laurence des Cars described this as a positive “symbol” in “a sea of sadness and desolation.” She told AFP:
Since the start of the war, like other museums, we have been concerned to see how we can support our Ukrainian colleagues. In the autumn, faced with the intensity of the conflict, we decided to carry out this rescue.
An investigation by The Art Newspaper, released this February, shed light on the taking of works of art by Russian soldiers that “may not be repatriated” when the war comes to an end. It pointed in particular at paintings that were removed from the Kherson Regional Art Museum in November and are now kept in a Crimean museum under the watchful eye of a “close” ally of Vladimir Putin.
Just a month into the conflict, reports also emerged that the director of the Melitopol Museum of Local History was kidnapped by troops in search of a collection of gold, which dates back to the fourth century BC.
Ms. des Cars said the risk of such trafficking pushed the Louvre to offer protection. The operation was supported by the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Areas. AFP reported that among the protected works are “five Byzantine icons from the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko Museum, Ukraine’s national arts institution.” A strike last October resulted in the museum’s windows being blown out.
The Louvre said that the works, “among the most emblematic and most fragile” from the Ukrainian national collection, will be returned when “the situation improves.” Some of these will be put on public display in Paris from mid-June until November.
