Lost Treasures
What do Arkhyp Kuindzhi's painting, Polina Raiko's decorated house, and the 12th-century mosaic that decorated St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv have in common?
These artworks, a part of the outstanding heritage of Ukrainian culture, were appropriated or destroyed by russia. Like many others, the exact number of which is impossible to imagine, they were blown up, cut, burned, or trampled into the ground. Most, however, were stolen, to be exhibited in their museums and galleries and called 'russian art'.
Since the full-scale invasion in 2022, russian occupiers have taken away exhibits from 40 Ukrainian museums. However, russians have been carrying out this shameful practice for hundreds of years.