There was an accident in Kiev-Pechersk Lavra: 4000 museum exhibits under threat

There was a serious accident in the storerooms of the National Reserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra” – a breakdown of the heating system, as a result of which about 4000 valuable museum exhibits were jeopardized. The incident led to flooding of the premises where the collections “Negatives”, “Graphics” and “Painting” are stored.

According to LIGA.net, citing a letter from the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications, the incident occurred on February 5, 2026 in the building number 6 of the Reserve. The cause was a breakthrough of the water heating system in the attic space of the monument of architecture of local importance “Cells kliroshan”.

As a result of the accident, the rooms on the first and second floors, where museum items are stored, were flooded. About 4000 exhibits, including works from the “Negatives”, “Graphics” and “Paintings” collections, were at risk. The flow of water mainly hit the outer surfaces of the collection cabinets, there was also localized crumbling of plaster, but without damage to the supporting structures.

After the incident, the humidity level in the premises reached 90% on the second floor and up to 69% on the ground floor, while the air temperature was about +4.5 °C. Such conditions pose a serious threat to the preservation of cultural property.

In the letter of the Ministry of Culture it is noted that at present in the Reserve in a constant working mode is carried out a set of measures to eliminate the consequences of the emergency situation and stabilize the conditions of storage of museum objects. Urgent draining of the collection premises with the use of additional technical equipment has been started. Museum objects that got wet were temporarily moved to safer areas, and artists-restorers and curators of the funds conduct object-by-object inspection of the exhibits to determine the degree of damage and the need for restoration and conservation work.

Recall, earlier we reported that the National Reserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra” signed a contract for services of protection of the territory and premises until the end of 2026. The total value of the contract amounted to more than 27.5 million hryvnias.