Culture Wars: Saving Ukraine's Artistic Heritage

The Guardian’s chief culture writer, Charlotte Higgins, on the citizens risking their lives to salvage Ukraine’s cultural heritage

The Chernobyl Museum in Kyiv, recently renovated to mark the 40th anniversary of the disaster, stood as a vital site of memory for an independent Ukraine. But just weeks after its reopening, a massive missile strike left its halls in ruins.

Charlotte Higgins, the Guardian’s chief culture writer, tells Annie Kelly that this tragic loss is not an isolated incident; it serves as a harrowing focal point for a much larger, unfolding crisis threatening the history of the entire nation.

Beyond the destruction of physical structures, this is a systematic assault on Ukrainian identity. From the bombardment of historic landmarks and religious sites to the loss of unique cultural archives, the conflict is increasingly being waged against the nation’s artistic and historical heritage.

Pre-order Charlotte Higgins’s book Ukrainian Lessons: Art in a Time of War