A symposium at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in South Kensington, London, linked to a new display of sacred objects from Ukraine looked at how museums in the war-torn country are coping following the Russian invasion in 2022.
The display, Sacred Treasures from Kyiv (until 17 September 2027), features seven 18th-century works, all drawn from the National Preserve Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastic and museum complex and displayed in the UK for the first time, according to a museum statement. These Ukrainian Orthodox objects include an icon from 1700 made from a single sheet of gilded copper and a gospel book (1707) adorned with a decorative cover encrusted with medallions.
Sacred Treasures from Kyiv at the V&A in South Kensington
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The symposium, Ukrainian Cultural Heritage and UK Institutions: Shifting Perspectives and Practice (15 September), brought together experts from the UK and Ukraine to explore the “impact of conflict on cultural institutions, the histories of acquisition and displacement that shaped UK collections, and current efforts to reassess cataloguing, interpretation, and display”, according to the V&A website.
In a session called Setting the context: from crisis to collaboration, Maria Blyzinsky, the former co-chair of Icom UK (International Council of Museums), discussed decolonisation in museums, highlighting the recent guide Supporting Decolonisation: Focus on Ukraine which is backed by partners such as the Ukrainian Institute, the Museums Association, and the British Council. “Our job is to uncover these works [in museum collections], said Blyzinsky, who stressed that “UK collections are a precious resource to Ukrainian researchers”.
In the same session, Caecilia Dance, an art and cultural heritage lawyer at Wedlake Bell LLP, discussed the role of law in supporting Ukrainian cultural heritage, explaining how museums and heritage professionals can work together to address issues around restitution and reparations, especially if a peace agreement is eventually signed.
The Holy Gates made by Oleksii Ishchenko in 1784, on display in the Gilbert Galleries at the museum
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Two pairs of silver-gilt gates taken from Kyiv’s Pechersk Lavra monastery—part of the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert collection on long-term loan to the V&A—are the springboard for the joint UK/Ukraine cultural project. The V&A display focuses on the provenance of the gates, which were commissioned by the monastery in 1784, during the reign of the Russian empress Catherine the Great, and removed by the Soviets in the 1930s for sale abroad. In 1935, they were sold by Goldschmidt Galleries to California-based media tycoon William Randolph Hearst, and later acquired by the Gilberts in the 1970s. According to the V&A's website, the gates were previously misattributed as Russian rather than Ukrainian.
Maksym Ostapenko, the general director of the National Preserve Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, says in a statement: “The silver Holy Gates and other treasures from the collection of the National Preserve Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra reveal an entire chapter of Ukrainian cultural heritage that remains little known beyond Ukraine. Through these works, international audiences are introduced to the Ukrainian school of eighteenth-century sacred goldsmithing: one of the highest achievements of Ukrainian Baroque art.”
Alice Minter, the curator of Sacred Treasures from Kyiv, tells The Art Newspaper: “The real thread of the day was certainly the notion of displacement: the displacement of [Ukrainian] people and the displacement of heritage across the UK, from London to Manchester and Wales, the US, Germany and beyond. Importantly, this is not a story that began with the full-scale invasion in 2022. For most cases, the experience of displacement has much deeper roots, starting with the Soviet period in the 1920s.”
”The conference felt like the beginning of a much larger conversation,” she adds. ”It highlighted the importance of building and sustaining networks with colleagues in Ukraine, as well as strengthening connections between institutions across the UK. Whilst significant work has been undertaken since the full-scale invasion, there is a clear need to maintain this momentum, ensuring that these partnerships continue to grow and develop."
- Sacred Treasures from Kyiv, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, until 17 September 2027
