"UOC churches are on the list": UNESCO has put 19 more Ukrainian cultural heritage sites under enhanced protection

The UNESCO Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict has decided to add 19 more Ukrainian cultural heritage sites to the International List of Properties under Enhanced Protection. Thus, the total number of Ukrainian sites on the list has increased to 46, which makes Ukraine one of the countries with the largest number of monuments under the highest degree of international legal protection.

According to the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, the decision was made on December 4 during the 20th meeting of the Committee. «We will continue to work on expanding the list of objects under enhanced protection and on strengthening international legal mechanisms in the field of protection of cultural property,» said Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Policy of Ukraine Tetyana Berezhnaya.

During the meeting, Deputy Minister of Culture Anastasia Bondar emphasized that Ukraine consistently implements the norms of the Hague Convention and became the first country to successfully test the mechanism of special (ad hoc) monitoring during an armed conflict. This demonstrates the ability of the state to ensure the protection of heritage even in the conditions of the highest level of threats.

The new list includes the following 19 sites:

• Akkerman Fortress, Belgorod-Dnestrovsky, Odessa region;
• Assumption Cathedral of the UOC, Kharkiv;
• Boris and Gleb Cathedral, Chernihiv;
• Kharkiv Academic Ukrainian Drama Theater named after Taras Shevchenko, Kharkiv;
• The building of the Kirch (Church of St. Paul), Odessa;
• Manor of L.E. Kenig: Palace (Main House), Trostyanets, Sumy region;
• Molchan Monastery of the UOC, Putivl, Sumy region;
• Pokrovskaya Church of the UOC, Kharkov;
• Primorskaya Stairs, Odessa;
• Resurrection Church of the UOC, Sumy;
• Cyril’s Church, Kiev Kiev;
• Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral of the UOC, Sumy;
• Trinity Cathedral of the UOC, Sumy;
• The mound of the chronicle city of Iskorosten, v. Korosten, Zhytomyr region;
• Archaeological complex «Baida Island», Zaporozhye;
• Odessa Museum of Western and Eastern Art, Odessa;
• Odessa National Art Museum, Odessa;
• Odessa National Scientific Library, Odessa;
• Museum of Arts of the Pre-Carpathian region, Ivano-Frankivsk.

Enhanced protection is a special mechanism provided by the Second Protocol to the 1954 Hague Convention. To obtain this status, the object must be a cultural heritage of great importance for humanity, protected by appropriate legal and administrative measures at the national level and not used for military purposes. Surety of this is provided by the state that controls the object.

We shall remind you that earlier we reported that in the Kiev region the unique wooden church of Saints Cosmas and Damian, built in the XIX century, was under the threat of extinction. The architectural monument, located in the village of Kolentsy, Vyshgorod district, is in critical condition and requires immediate restoration to prevent irreversible losses.