On 18th May the world marks the International Museums Day, established in 1977 by the International Council of Museums
(ICOM). This year this celebration of culture is being held in the shadow of the ongoing war in Ukraine, where every day a part of the European heritage perishes, along with the people.
Museums are an important means of cultural exchange, cultural enrichment, and fostering mutual understanding, cooperation, and peace among human beings – in light of the events in Ukraine, this motto of the International Council of Museums gains on a new meaning. The National Institute of Heritage sympathises with the employees of Ukrainian museums, who many times put their lives in stake to safeguard the collections. Since March, within the structures of the Institute, the Polish Support Center for Culture in Ukraine has been operating, which provides assistance to Ukrainian institutions, including museums. To date, material aid has been received by 37 institutions – including the Lviv Museum of the History of Religion, the Archaeological Museum of the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kyiv, the Historical Museum of Kyiv, the Museum of Archaeology Middle Dnieper in Cherkasy, and the Archaeology Old Zvenyhorod Historical and Cultural Reserve.