Polish museums team up to help save Ukraine's national heritage

Museums across Poland have joined forces to set up a special group to help preserve collections of art and memorabilia in war-stricken Ukraine, a newspaper has reported.

Residents run to cross a road with their luggage next to a damaged church as people flee from the frontline town of Irpin near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Monday, March 7, 2022

Photo: EPA/ROMAN PILIPEY

Formed as an initiative by the Warsaw Rising Museum, which tells the story of a bloody World War revolt in the Polish capital, the group consists of key figures from more than 20 Polish museums, according to the Gazeta Wyborcza daily.

They have closed ranks in a bid to rescue Ukraine's national heritage, the paper reported.

The group, known as the Committee for the Support of Ukrainian Museums, aims to help Ukrainian museums secure their precious memorabilia, digitise their collections, and document any acts of looting, the Warsaw Rising Museum wrote in a social media post.

Warsaw's Royal Łazienki Museum has promised to donate 15 computers to help preserve Ukrainian memorabilia in digital form.

Other forms of assistance will follow suit soon, Gazeta Wyborcza reported.

Aiming to establish a long-lasting partnership with Ukrainian museums, the group also intends to extend financial help to individual museum employees who have found themselves in the throes of war, the newspaper said.​

(pjm/gs)

Source: Gazeta Wyborcza