Exhibition: "Kharkiv—Requiem"

Destruction of Cultural Sites

Stanislav Ostrous, Photographer
Konstantin Akinsha, Curator

November 5, 2022‑February 15, 2023
Gallery, Amherst Center for Russian Culture

Map of Kharkiv sites damaged or destroyed
In the wake of ongoing Russian bombardments of non-military targets in Ukraine, the art historian Konstantin Akinsha, the curator of Sviatoslav Ostrous’s Kharkiv-Requiem, asked: Would "urbicide," that is, the murder of a city and its people, become the tactic of choice in the "methodical destruction" of Ukrainian cities and the cultural heritage and people who inhabit them?

In the case of Kharkiv, its vulnerable geographic position puts at risk the lives of its people, as well as the physical stores of its vast cultural knowledge. The journalists Isobel Koshiw and Ed Ram note that "Kharkiv’s architecture reflects the city’s regional significance over centuries," encompassing traditional, art nouveau, neoclassical, renaissance, industrial, and Soviet styles, to say nothing of the tens of thousands of works of art and artefacts housed in Kharkiv's museums.

UNESCO is tracking damages to cultural properties in Ukraine, in line with the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. These figures represent the losses cataloged as of October 2022. A total of 51 damaged sites have been recorded, 27 in Kharkiv city proper, and an additional 24 in the broader region.

Pie chart using UNESCO data showing types of sites in Kharkiv damaged or destroyed
Residents have taken steps to protect the city’s cultural heritage, sandbagging monuments and moving museum collections to secure locations. Cultural workers have also been engaged in broader relief efforts, including programs that help citizens process the trauma of war through art.

We focus on Kharkiv to exhibit Ostrous’s remarkable series of photographs—but we do so while thinking of the whole of Ukraine in the defense of its freedom.

Prepared by Claudia Lonkin, October 2022

Sources:

Akinsha, Kostya. “Russian Bombings Threaten Kyiv’s Cultural Heritage.” Wall Street Journal. 18 October, 2022. 

“Damaged cultural sites in Ukraine verified by UNESCO.” UNESCO. 24 October, 2022. 

Ermilov Tsentr. Instagram. 

Harkivs’kii hudozhniy muyei XXM. Instagram. 

Koshiw, Isobel and Ram, Ed. “Kharkiv catalogues war’s toll on its architectural gems.” Guardian. 5 May, 2022.