The Minister of Culture, Piotr Gliński, said that Poland was ready to offer the fighting Ukraine assistance in the protection of archives, monuments and works of art. He added that Poland created a special team for cooperation and assistance just before the outbreak of the war.
Minister Gliński said that the first trucks have already reached Lviv offering help in the protection of archives and works of art. The action includes the international POLONIKA institute established a few years ago aimed to protect cultural monuments in the event of military threats. More trucks are to be sent to Kharkiv and Odesa.
Gliński emphasized that since the start of the war, the warehouses in Poland were secured, just in case, if the Ukrainian side decided to evacuate the collections. “This is the decision of the sovereign Ukrainian state. We are ready, but we would like it not to happen. We would like Ukraine to defend itself! Our main goal is to help defend against this inhuman aggression”, said the minister.
Gliński also said that his recent conversation with the Ukrainian Minister of Culture Oleksandr Tkachenko concerned “pressure on the media issue”.
The head of the Ministry of Culture explained that as the financial sanctions to cut Russia off from the oil or gas trade are not full, the same applies to the post-Soviet – Russian media. “My Ukrainian partner asked me to fight for the whole civilized world to side with Ukraine in this terrible war”.
The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (MKiDN) informed on its website that the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine is a threat not only to the lives of soldiers and civilians but also to monuments and works of art that testify to the multicultural history of the Ukrainian nation. Their destruction would be an irretrievable loss for all mankind. That is why Polish cultural institutions undertake activities aimed at the protection of priceless heritage.
In total, almost 2,000 fire extinguishers of various types, approx. 450 bales of mineral wool, over 500 fire blankets and almost two km of assembly tapes were sent to Ukraine. The collection of materials will be continued because the city conservators of monuments from other Ukrainian cities also reported their needs and asked the Polish side for help.
Transport from the National Museum in Poznań has already arrived at the National Gallery of Art in Lviv. According to the Ministry, the transport provided materials for the protection of museum objects such as interlining, interleaving cardboard, filling materials, a roller for winding the canvas taken out of the frames. In the transport back to Poland, 600 books were brought, which the Raczyński Library purchased for Ukrainian children.
Arkadiusz Słomczyński