“They will take everything out.” Ukraine may lose exhibits from Crimean museums
Crimea is preparing for a large-scale removal of cultural heritage objects from Crimean museums under the guise of evacuation. Some of the exhibits have already been packed or taken away, say experts and mass media. What could this lead to, the journalists of the Radio Liberty Crimea.Realii project were trying to figure out.
“This is a colossal loss”
– They don't just approve the plans, in some museums everything is packed. As far as I know, in Chersonesus, archaeological movable values of the first and second categories are now packed and ready for removal, and most likely this is happening in the Art Museum of Sevastopol. The Naval Museum of Sevastopol, the Panorama “Defense of Sevastopol” and the Diorama “Assault on Sapun Mountain on May 7, 1944” were also being prepared for export, – candidate of historical sciences, Ukrainian archaeologist Evelina Kravchenko tells Krym.Realii about that , which is happening in Sevastopol museums.
Evelina Kravchenko, Ukrainian archaeologist, candidate of historical sciences
According to her information, previously the city museums were ordered to approve the estimate for evacuation, i.e. for the purchase of packing material, boxes, expenses for gasoline, transport, security during evacuation, etc. Kravchenko fears that “evacuation” will lead to the loss of Ukraine's most valuable and important monuments of cultural heritage.
– Evacuation of museums, removal of cultural values is one of the components of preparation for certain military operations. There is a certain sequence of events in preparation for hostilities, and both the evacuation plan and the actual evacuation of valuables precede the hot phase of the war. I understand that the Russian Federation is preparing to defend Crimea. This is the most logical explanation of what is happening there, Kravchenko notes.
Panorama House «Defense of Sevastopol»
According to her calculations, the easiest way to take the exhibits out of Sevastopol is by sea: download on a ship – and there is no need to transport archaeological treasures across the entire peninsula.
So far, there is no open information about such steps by Sevastopol museum workers, and the Russian-controlled city authorities have not made any official statements on this matter. According to Kravchenko, if this happens and the information becomes public, the international community will not ignore such steps.
– This is a colossal loss. If they take it out, they will take everything out of there. Unless the shards will remain, and even then it is not a fact. Everything that is exhibited in the exposition, all the things of the main museum fund… There are also things I unearthed, and there is a lot of my work there, – admits Evelina Kravchenko.
Archaeological excavations on the territory of construction of the highway «Tavrida» ;, April 2017
Back in October, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported that the Kremlin-controlled Crimean authorities had approved plans for the internal and external evacuation of Crimean museums, with exhibits of the greatest material value subject to priority evacuation. Since then, there has been no official confirmation of such plans from the Russian authorities.
Building Diorama « Assault on Sapun Mountain on May 7, 1944»
It will be recalled that the Russian authorities declared that they accept under their jurisdiction all objects of cultural and historical significance in the annexed Crimea, and the Russian government ordered to include more than 220 objects in Crimea and Sevastopol in the list of cultural objects of federal significance. And in 2021, Russia's Ambassador to UNESCO Oleksandr Kuznetsov said that there is no cooperation between Russia and UNESCO regarding the annexed Crimea and it is not expected in the near future . He said that he discussed with the UNESCO secretariat the possibility of sending a UNESCO expert mission to the peninsula, but it turned out that this was “absolutely out of the question, because such a trip can only take place within the framework of the resolution that states that Crimea is part of Ukraine.”
The Khan Palace loses exhibits
The most valuable exhibits were also taken from the Khan Palace – this was reported by the Crimean portal Crimean with reference to several sources Tatars. Journalists could not get comments from the museum's management, but they found out that the removal of the exhibits was explained to the staff by restoration work, which now covers almost all buildings of the palace complex.
“Where they were taken is unknown. According to some sources, they are stored in a certain village, according to others – on the territory of the Zinjirly madrasa,” the portal reports.
In the spring of 2017, information appeared about Aksyonov's order to conduct evacuation drills in the museum institutions on the territory of the occupied Crimea Denys Yashnyi
– The evacuation draft was back in 2017. In the spring of 2017, information appeared about the order of Aksyonov (Kremlin-controlled head of Crimea, according to Aksenov documents – ed.) to hold evacuation exercises in museum institutions on the territory of occupied Crimea and to create commissions for evacuation and development of routes. Khan-Sarai was supposed to be evacuated to Novofedorivka to the airfield, – Denis Yashnyi, a leading researcher of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra national reserve, tells Krym.Realia.
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