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Art restorers help preserve Polish heritage in Ukraine

25.03.2024 22:30
Despite the ongoing war in Ukraine, the Warsaw-based Polonika National Institute of Polish Cultural Heritage Abroad says it aims to continue restoration work to help preserve Polish heritage in Ukraine.
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Image:Polonika National Institute of Polish Cultural Heritage Abroad

The institute's experts plan to carry out new projects in western Ukraine, which was part of Poland during the period between the two world wars.

When Poland’s borders shifted sharply westward after World War II, the country lost some of its eastern territories, known as the Borderlands, to the former Soviet Union, while gaining others at the expense of Germany.

In September 1939, after Germany invaded Poland, followed by a Soviet invasion, all eastern Borderlands territories were incorporated into the Soviet republics of Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

Even though these former provinces are no longer part of Poland, the Polish minority is still numerous there, and many archeological sites and monuments need protection and renovation.

"We are conducting work where things are relatively calm," says Dorota Janiszewska-Jakubiak, the director of the Polonika institute.

"Our conservators are in Lviv, for example, planning projects at the Lychakiv Cemetery, the oldest historic cemetery in the city with shared cultural heritage of Poland and Ukraine," she adds.

Other sites in Lviv include "the Latin Cathedral ... the Jesuit Church ... and the Armenian Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary," according to Janiszewska-Jakubiak.

The National Institute of Polish Cultural Heritage Abroad was established in 2017 to carry out conservation work and pursue research and education projects.

Over the years, it has renovated a range of artworks and cultural sites, including historic monuments, places of worship and cemeteries in various countries.

This year, Polonika plans to renovate around 30 Polish heritage sites abroad, including in the United States, France and Italy.

(ab/gs)

Click on the audio player above to listen to a report by Radio Poland's Agnieszka Bielawska.