Olena Zelenska: Russian Occupiers Have Damaged or Destroyed 500 Ukrainian Museums, Historical Buildings, Churches

For nine months of full-scale war, the Russian invaders have damaged or destroyed about 500 museums, historical buildings, and religious buildings in Ukraine.

First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska made a corresponding statement during the launch of the Ukrainian space on Google Arts & Culture, an online platform that allows one to get access to images of works of art stored in museums around the world.

“During the months of the war, more than 500 of our museums, historical buildings, and temples have been destroyed or damaged. All this was created by generations of Ukrainians for new generations. So, it immediately became clear: we need to save not only our people, but also our culture and art from the invasion,” the President’s wife said.

The First Lady emphasised that cultural legacy is the heritage of the entire civilised world.

“Our culture is not only ours. This is the legacy of the entire civilised world. When one country loses its cultural values, the whole world loses. So, let’s preserve, multiply, watch, admire, Google Ukrainian culture and thus enrich the world,” Olena Zelenska said.

For five years, Google Ukraine and the Ukrainian government, in particular the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, have cooperated in the digitisation of Ukrainian culture. They presented the collected materials on the Google Arts & Culture platform in a separate online space created specifically for Ukraine – Ukraine is Here. In the sections “Architecture,” “Nature,” “Art,” and “Culture,” one can familiarise with the relevant achievements of our country using immersive formats: virtual tours, 3D objects, photo, audio and video stories.

Bohdan Marusyak