It seems that the artistic heritage of Ukraine is not so much threatened by the Russians as by the Ukrainians themselves, considering what happened in Makariv.
Makariv is a small village near Kyiv. At the end of February, fighting began here, when Russian troops planned to reach Kyiv, and Makariv stood in the way. According to various sources, about 40% of the buildings was destroyed. Among the survivors there was a mosaic that decorated the wall of a local store, which miraculously remained untouched during the occupation, notwithstanding its building was completely destroyed by Russian shelling. The monumental object glorified the fertility of the Ukrainian lands and the hospitality of the Ukrainian people.
On March 21, the Armed Forces of Ukraine liberated Makariv, driving away the enemy from the town. Unfortunately, on August 23, the artwork was destroyed by Ukrainian workers with a perforator. The scene was shown by a video on Instagram.
"Monumental works that survived the war and occupation are becoming new symbols of cities, symbols of struggle and indomitability. A commemorative plaque with information about the mosaic and Makariv's release had to be installed near the mosaic. We must preserve our culture and the memory of the war, and not destroy them!" – As reported by the Ukrainian Modernism community.
"The mosaic that survived the shelling of the Russian invaders and the occupation was destroyed today... Destroying what the Russians failed to destroy is no longer the bottom, it's the abyss," the Instagram post added.
"This is a crime against Ukrainian culture, against our artistic heritage. People who help the enemy in destroying Ukrainian culture are collaborators and should be punished".
Unfortunately, the law enforcement against people guilty of damage or destruction of national artworks and architecture in Ukraine is very weak. There are no examples of people arrested or fined for that crime.
However, representatives of the Ukrainian Modernism community asked for the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy to react. Sadly, in current times the Ukrainian Ministry is more focused of the dismissal of monuments with Soviet and Russian imperial symbols than in the protection of the present cultural heritage of Ukraine.
Earlier it was reported that Russian troops destroyed the mosaics of Alla Gorska and Viktor Zaretskyi in Mariupol. It concerns the compositions "Tree of Life" and "Boryviter", created in 1967 to decorate the interior of the premises of the former restaurant "Ukraine".
