In the first days of the full-scale Russian war, it became known that one of the priority targets of enemy missiles was the world-famous National Reserve Sophia of Kyiv.
That’s according to Nelya Kukovalska, director general of the reserve, who addressed the Kyiv international scientific and practical conference “Cultural heritage in conditions of war: protection, preservation, and restoration”, the Sophia of Kyiv press service reports.
The organizer of the international conference was the Kyiv Department of Cultural Heritage Protection, and its main partner – the Dovgiy Family Office investment company.
“I was warned from very high government offices that there is a great threat of the destruction of our Sophia. It was extremely difficult to bear this morally. We understood why the aggressor targeted Sophia – it’s because it personifies the foundations of our nation – statehood, spirituality, culture, and education. To destroy it would actually be to destroy the Ukrainian nation,” the expert said.
The staffers of the reserve acted immediately. It should be noted that Sophia of Kyiv is a UNESCO monument, so it could have been saved from open Russian barbarism primarily by wide international publicity.
“Together with the Ministry of Culture, we started sending out relevant petitions to colleagues around the world. They even reached Latin America and Australia,” recalls Kukovalska.
Since it was clear that little would save Sophia from a direct missile strike, specialists began to urgently study the experience of protecting historical buildings during World War 2 and other armed conflicts. Nelya Kukovalska organized a working group consisting of engineers and designers, and engaged a large group of experts.
Projects for the construction of a large outer wall had to be abandoned due to the possible negative impact of the construction works on the archaeological sites near Sophia. In the end, experts decided to strengthen with sandbags the most vulnerable spots across the reserve, namely – part of the buildings with an unstable structure and premises hosting important artistic and architectural values. In total, about 90,000 museum exhibits were packed and securely protected. The expediency of this approach was later confirmed by ICOMOS and UNESCO experts.
Currently, in addition to attacks by Russian missiles and Iranian drones, Ukrainian cultural heritage objects are facing another threat – widespread power outages.
“I’d to emphasize the humidity in this room. This will now be a problem for all museums and monuments. Special equipment does not work due to power outages. And the capillary absorption of moisture into the walls and foundations occurs almost instantly. Our experience in using the BioDry system is irreplaceable here. It does not use electricity, being powered by the electromagnetic waves of the earth. But this system is very expensive, so it was patrons who provided it to us,” said Nelya Kukovalska.
During the conference, museum workers together with government officials discussed options for solving the said problem. For this purpose, foreign partners will be involved.
