UNESCO Strongly Condemns Russian Rocket Attack on Odesa, Resulting in Damage to 124-Year-Old National Art Museum
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has strongly condemned another rocket attack carried out by Russian forces on the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, resulting in damage to the 124-year-old National Art Museum. This information was reported on the organization's social media page.
"The Odesa Museum of Fine Arts, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has once again suffered from a Russian airstrike. UNESCO unequivocally denounces the attack. Cultural assets must be protected in accordance with international law," the statement reads.
The morning after the Russian rocket attack, Odesa National Art Museum was set to celebrate its 124th anniversary and hold an open day. However, the museum is currently closed as the process of assessing the damage is ongoing. The museum's website has published a message with preliminary information about the museum's condition and damaged exhibits.
"Despite everything, we thank you for your greetings and support, your donations, and purchases from our gift shop, which are now especially valuable to us. Odesa Art Museum is closed. We are rescheduling all events and cancelling the Free Entrance Day as we had planned. We will keep you updated on our social media channels. We are very grateful that there are no casualties, and there is no need to visit the museum tomorrow as the assessment of damage, documentation of the consequences, and investigative actions are ongoing, and everything should remain untouched. We share with you an operational photo documentation of the museum by Ivan Strakhov. Among the exhibitions that, due to museum damage, we can no longer display:
Margit and Roman Selsky's "Sol Occidens" from Eduard Dymshits's collection;
Boris Aizenberg's "Flowers Behind the Dumps";
Works by Alexander Grekhov;
Stas Zhalobnyuk's "Black Sea";
Volodymyr Semkiv's "Joy";
Albina Yaloza's "Altar of the Heavenly Host";
Kinder Album's "Great Meadows, Luxuriant Grasses."
See you soon for a warm reunion," wrote the Odesa Art Museum team.
As a reminder, on the evening of November 5, Russian occupying forces once again launched a rocket and drone attack on the Ukrainian city of Odesa. The attack resulted in damage to 32 residential buildings and six architectural landmarks, including the Odesa Art Museum. Nearly half of the museum's halls suffered various damages.
It was previously reported that Italy would assist Ukraine in the restoration of the Russian-destroyed cathedral in Odesa.
Since the start of Russia's full-scale military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, 93 architectural landmarks in Odesa have been damaged. Overall, in Ukraine, hundreds of cultural and architectural landmarks have been destroyed and plundered by Russian forces.