Poland and Ukraine have signed a memorandum of cooperation on the inventory of war damage to cultural heritage and assets. In this field, activities will be implemented by the Polish Support Center for Culture in Ukraine, embedded in the National Institute of Cultural Heritage structures.
Prof. Piotr Gliński – Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture and National Heritage, and Alexander Tkachenko – Ukraine’s Minister of Culture and Information Policy – have signed a memorandum of cooperation on conducting a project to inventory losses to the cultural heritage of Ukraine resulting from the Russian aggression. The memorandum results from more than a year of cooperation between the ministries and their subordinate units.
The legal basis for the memorandum is provided by the agreement on cooperation in the field of culture between the Government of the Republic of Poland and the Government of Ukraine of 20 May 1997.
Implementing the activities covered by the memorandum has been entrusted to the Polish Support Center for Culture in Ukraine, functioning within the National Institute of Cultural Heritage structures. The Center was established by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage to support the task force for monitoring and analysing threats to cultural heritage, operational since the beginning of the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The tasks performed by the Center entail supporting rescue and conservation works for the benefit of the cultural heritage of Ukraine, at risk of destruction or damage, where a particular focus is placed on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites and the sites submitted to the UNESCO Tentative List[IK1] of World Heritage Sites. The tasks also include documentation and analysis of the monuments’ preservation and the extent of damage suffered due to the recent hostilities.
The activities will be conducted by a Polish-Ukrainian team of specialists based on the Polish experts’ long-standing experience in inventorying war losses to cultural heritage, among others, in Iraq and Afghanistan, using innovative methods and applying modern technologies.
The project is funded by Poland’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
