“In our museum, we display exhibits from the occupied territories and areas where fighting is still ongoing. Thankfully, we have managed to preserve them!”

In February 2022, the employees of the Treasury of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine prepared museum collections for evacuation in the very first days of the full-scale war. They lived and worked in the museum around the clock. Many of the exhibits were moved to storage, and now there are reproductions in their place.

The museum staff managed not only to preserve the local collections but also to rescue thousands of artefacts from the occupied territories and frontline areas. And even more! Even in times of war and the constant threat of missile attacks, the treasury has unique exhibitions for visitors to see!

One of such exhibitions is Treasures of the Crimea. The Return. The trial in international courts lasted almost ten years. Where Ukraine finally won back its property from Russia: 565 exhibits, over 2,000 museum items from the now occupied Crimean museums. Nataliia Panchenko, head of the branch Treasury of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine, talks about the preservation of cultural heritage during the war and the development of museum sector.