On July 11–16, 2022, representatives of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), the International Center for the Study of Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) and the Aliph Foundation visited Ukraine. Among them there were Teresa Patricio, president of ICOMOS; Zeynep-Gül Ünal, vice-president of ICOMOS, coordinator of Ukraine in the ICOMOS ICORRP Crisis Monitoring and Response Working Group Ukraine Task Team (CMRWG); Aparna Tandon, Senior Program Leader of ICCROM program «First Aid to Cultural Heritage in Times of Crisis» of the International Center for the Study of Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), member of ICOMOS; Maja Kominko, scientific and program director of the ALIPH Foundation.
As part of the visit to Lviv, a meeting of Tereza Patricio, Zeynep-Gül Ünal and Aparna Tandon with representatives of the Ukrainian National Committee of ICOMOS took place at Lviv Polytechnic National University on July 15. The meeting was organized by the Department of Restoration of Architectural and Artistic Heritage, the Institute of Architecture and Design, Lviv Polytechnic, headed by Professor Mykola Bevz. The representatives of the mission had the opportunity to inspect the restoration laboratories of the Department, the restored interiors of the Assembly Hall and the old library of the Polytechnic main building. The President of the ICOMOS UNC Mykola Haida and the Academic Secretary Vasyl Petryk presented a brief overview of the activities of the ICOMOS UNC during the war and the Action Program in cooperation with ICOMOS and international organizations.
In her speech, Teresa Patricio, ICOMOS President, emphasized that the meeting with Ukrainian ICOMOS members is very important for her and her colleagues. This joint mission has been planned since the beginning of the escalation of the war, and it gave an opportunity to see the problems of Ukraine. Zeynep-Gül Ünal spoke about the activities of the Working Group on Monitoring and Responding to Crises in Ukraine, about programs for supporting specialists and saving cultural heritage. The first such important project will be the distribution of water-mist fire extinguishers for wooden Ukrainian churches, which have already arrived in Ukraine thanks to the cooperation of ICOMOS, the Foundation to Preserve Ukraine’s Sacral Arts, UNC ICOMOS and the World Monuments Fund. Aparna Tandon reported on the approbation of the methodology for assessing the destruction of monuments and stated the need to conduct field schools for the training of specialists in this area.
Mykola Bevz, Volodymyr Herych, Andrii Saliuk, Oresta Remeshylo-Rybchynska, Lidiia Hornytska spoke about the problems of preserving Ukrainian monuments during the war and about the initiatives of the Ukrainian ICOMOS. There was a detailed discussion of all problems and proposals regarding the directions of further cooperation of the institutions, as well as regarding the development of a detailed Plan to help preserve the cultural heritage of Ukraine. One of the important aspects of such assistance will be conducting a cycle of training on the basis of the Department of Restoration of Architectural and Artistic Heritage, Lviv Polytechnic, and methodical and organizational support of ICOMOS, as well as the protection and preservation of the long-term development of the scientific institute «Ukrzakhidprojectrestoration», the implementation of the program for the protection of Ukrainian wooden churches.
As part of the meeting at Lviv Polytechnic, Aparna Tandon held a training with representatives of public organizations and initiatives on the protection of museum exhibits and monuments.
More details – on the Facebook page of ICOMOS – Ukraine
