Saving the Past to Save the Future: How Lviv Is Protecting Its Priceless Cultural Heritage

zabezpieczona_przed_ostrzalem_rzezba_neptuna_we_lwowie_fot._halyna_tereszczuk.jpg, default, Fountain with a sculpture figure of Neptune in Lviv's Rynok Square, photo: Galina Tereshchuk, Saving the Past to Save the Future: How Lviv Is Protecting Its Priceless Cultural Heritage

#heritage

The City of Lions is safeguarding its cultural monuments from Russian aggression. Since the war has been raging in Ukraine for weeks, and the Russian occupiers are shelling Ukrainian cities and villages, not to mention Ukrainian museums, the Lviv authorities have decided to save the city’s invaluable monuments from destruction.

Lviv’s Armenian quarter is one of the oldest in the region. The 14th/15th-century Armenian cathedral is a priceless monument of eastern culture in Europe. Its frescoes and stained glass windows have been restored and other renovations were underway until the war broke out. Today, museum staff and restorers are faced with the task of shielding these cultural treasures from Russian aggression.

In the Armenian courtyard, a carved wooden chapel has been wrapped in special material. Inside stands the oldest altar not only in Lviv, but in all of Ukraine, comprising three figures – Christ crucified, the Virgin Mary, and Mary Magdalene, all mounted on a wooden backboard. The Christ was carved in the 15th century, and the two other sculptures date from the 18th century. Professionals have already dismantled the altar and covered up the figures.

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Armenian courtyard protected from gunfire. Photo: Halyna Tereshchuk

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While the world ponders whether to close the skies over Ukraine, Lviv is covering up its world heritage monuments, according to Lilia Onyshchenko-Shvets, director of the Preservation of the Historic Environment of the Lviv City Council. Lviv Old Town, a central area of almost 150 hectares, was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1998.

‘The monuments here date from the 13th to the 20th centuries and represent buildings from a range of periods, architectural styles, and Lviv’s mix of resident nationalities throughout history, particularly Armenians, Germans, Poles, Jews, and Ukrainians. ‘We’re currently protecting the heritage of the world, not just Ukraine, but we can’t be sure that world heritage will be enough to stop the enemy,’ says Lilia Onyshchenko-Shyets.

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The Latin Cathedral in Lviv protected from gunfire. Photo: Halyna Tereshchuk

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In these times of adversity, Lviv is also trying to save hundreds of stained glass windows by covering them with protective screens – some are even being taken down.

The city is also securing precious sculptures and sculptural groups. Professionals have covered the statues of Diana, Neptune, Amphitrite and Adonis that have graced the octagonal basins of the marketplace fountains for three centuries. The monuments were wrapped in fireproof fabric, fibreglass and special film, then covered with purpose-made bags. Lilia Onyshchenko-Shyets remarks that it won’t save a statue from a direct missile strike, but could prevent strong shockwaves from shattering a sculpture to smithereens.

Next to these famous sculptures stands the 14th to 18th-century Archcathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (also known as simply the Latin Cathedral). All sculptures of the apostles around the church have already been protected and the 17th-century sculptural group ‘The Lord’s Grave’ has been covered. Its figure of Christ lying in his tomb was removed during the times of the Soviet Union and only restored to its place in the mid-1990s.

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A sculpture of an Apostle of the Latin Cathedral in Lviv, protected from shelling, photo: Galina Tereshchuk

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The entire St George’s Cathedral complex is on the UNESCO World Heritage List: the Cathedral of St George, the Metropolitan Palace, the belfry, chapter houses, and garden. Some of its architectural elements have received protective coverings already, but the work continues.

The moment Russia invaded Ukraine, museum, gallery and library staff from Lviv began moving works of art and artefacts into safe storage. Exhibits from the National Museum of Lviv have also been hidden away, leaving its walls empty. Incidentally, the museum’s collection numbers almost 200,000 exhibits.

Roman Zilinko, a researcher from the National Museum, described how they worked day and night to remove exhibitions during the first days of the war. As he explained:

During the last two weeks we have taken down, packed up and stored all of our exhibits, leaving the museum virtually ‘naked’. Possible risks to the sites where priceless treasures are being stored have also been assessed. Artworks must be packed, which we started packing as soon as explosions were heard near Lviv. Very few of Lviv’s sculptures have been scanned and digitised. As far as Ukrainian museums are concerned, even though this war has been going on for eight years, museum staff have been left to deal with everything by themselves. Various vaults and premises were supposed to have been prepared for extreme situations like a war, but they weren’t. We’re simply collapsing from exhaustion.

All the walls of Lviv’s museums have been emptied over the last few weeks, and all their doors are being closed for the duration of the war.

The City of Lions boasts more than 2,500 historical and architectural monuments in total. Lviv is hoping that its cultural heritage from centuries past will be spared.

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Ukrainian Artists About the War, Part 1: Lilia Krivets

Originally written in Ukrainian by Halyna Tereshchuk, translated by Mark Bence, March 2022

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