(6 Mar 2022) Staffers at Ukraine's largest art museum are packing away its collections to protect their national heritage in case the Russian invasion advances west.
The doors of the Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum in the western city of Lviv have been closed since Russia's war on Ukraine began on Feb. 24, and heritage sites across the country face danger as the fighting continues.
The museum's director walked its hallways, supervising as staff packed away its collections.
Ihor Kozhan said he receives daily calls from other European cultural institutions offering to help as he and his staff race to preserve the museum's works.
In one partially empty gallery, museum employees placed carefully wrapped baroque pieces into cardboard boxes.
A few meters away, a group walked down the majestic main staircase carrying a giant piece of sacred art, the 18th century Bohorodchany iconostasis.
Amid the bare walls and shrouded statues, Kozhan lamented the empty museum, which has survived two world wars.
"Sometimes tears are coming, I'm telling the truth, because a lot of work has been put in here by our staff. It takes time, energy, and when you do something good, you feel pleasure. Today you see empty walls, this makes you feel bitter, sad," Kozhan said Friday.
Anna Naurobska, head of the rare manuscripts and books department, said she still doesn't know where to safely store the collection of more than 12,000 items being packed into boxes.
"A museum has to live. People have to be able to visit museums, and first of all children. They have to learn the basics of their culture," Kozhan added.
Like the museum, other sites in Lviv are rushing to protect works of artistic or cultural importance.
The display cabinets at the Museum of the History of Religion are almost empty.
Also at the Latin Cathedral, sculptures have been covered with cardboard, foam and plastic to protect them from possible shrapnel damage.
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