In Qırım, Russians stole 1.3 million cultural heritage objects

In the temporarily occupied Qırım, Russians seized 1.3 million cultural heritage objects. It is unknown how many objects have been lost in the occupied territory since the start of the full-scale invasion.

Denys Yashnyi, Chairman of the Expert Commission for the Registration of Cultural Heritage Sites, told Suspilne.Culture about this.

"We do not know the full extent of the loss of cultural property either in Qırım or in the territories occupied after February 24,” Yashnyi said.

He added that until 2014, there was no unified catalogue of museum objects in Ukraine. The Ministry of Culture concluded that a single catalogue was needed, but it was never created.

This complicates the entire process of verification and accounting of cultural property taken by Russians from the peninsula.

"If there are inventory books, copies of them, or some catalogues published, and, accordingly, there is an inventory number, then we clearly understand what kind of thing it is and from which museum it was taken. If there is no catalogue, we have nothing to compare it with," the official comments.

The chairman of the Commission also said that the Hermitage Museum was involved in the illegal export of cultural monuments from Qırım after 1991.

Ukrainian archaeologists are trying to remotely monitor the situation with cultural objects on the peninsula. They use the published results of Russian research, historical and modern satellite images, orders of the occupation administrations, cadastral maps, etc.

Photo: Ukrinform