18 April — International Day for Monuments and Sites

On April 18, the world celebrates the International Day of Monuments and Sites, and in Ukraine, this date is called the Day of Historical and Cultural Monuments. 

The number of Ukrainian museum objects remaining in museum institutions in Crimea was approximately 1,200,000, a year before the occupation, in 2013. On the peninsula, there were 3,772 monuments from different historical periods, civilizations, and fields including history, archaeology, architecture, and monumental art. Additionally, there were 26 museums and 5 historical and cultural preserves.

In the last decade, Ukraine has faced a war declared by Russia, which has led to the occupation of Crimea. As a result, the number of historical sites and architectural monuments that are an integral part of Ukraine’s cultural heritage has drastically decreased. These sites have been subjected to destruction, attacks, looting, and vandalism. The occupiers have ruined, stolen, or brought into a state of decay many monuments of architecture and monumental art that are the cultural heritage of Ukraine.

In Crimea, during the occupation, a significant number of Muslim cemeteries were destroyed, which are the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples and were valuable to Ukrainian culture in general.

• In 2017, the occupiers destroyed the Gurzuf-Aziz Muslim cemetery near the Hurivski Kameni beach. 
• In 2018, during the illegal construction of the so-called Tavryda highway, graves of ancient ancient burials were excavated with heavy machinery. Also during this process, many ancient archaeological sites were destroyed, including the Kyrk Azyzler necropolis, the Scythian settlement of Kermen Burun, and more than a thousand artifacts were illegally exported to Russia.
• In 2018, during the construction of a fence on Chervonoarmiiska Street in Simferopol, an excavator destroyed the graves of an old Muslim cemetery.
• In 2019, in the city of Staryi Krym, during construction work near the city stadium, an excavator dug up Muslim gravestones, according to preliminary estimates, dating from the 13th century.
• Also in 2019, in the village of Mamashai (now Orlivka) near Sevastopol, the occupiers destroyed memorial stones with the names of 57 Crimean Tatars who fought in the Soviet army in World War II.
• In 2014, immediately after the occupation, Russian troops began to build a line of fortifications on the territory of the Or-Kapu fortress (Perekop,Ferkh-Kermen), built in 1509, as part of measures to militarize the peninsula: trenches were dug around the fortress. In 2018, a dirt road was built on top of the fortress, cutting through the bastions from south to north. In 2022, an observation post was set up there (these activities took place without prior preparatory archaeological work).
• The occupiers are conducting so-called ” renovation works” on the peninsula, which is another way of destroying historical and cultural heritage: Bakhchysarai Palace of the Crimean Khans, which was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List in 2014, suffered significant damage during this “restoration” of the count’s building. Also, during the “restoration work” ,the occupiers replaced the authentic elements of the palace with modern ones, which deprived the only surviving monument of Crimean Tatar palace architecture of its uniqueness. Currently, a similar “restoration” is being carried out on about 10 other objects on the territory of the Bakhchysarai Palace of the Crimean Khans: the khan’s kitchen, stables, library building, Falcon Tower, embankment with three bridges, tombstone rotunda, and Sara Hiuzel’s baths.
• The museum-reserve “Chersonesos Tavriya” in Sevastopol, which was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2013, before the occupation of Crimea, was also damaged. In 2018, the occupiers arranged a stage complex on its territory for the Chersonese Opera and Ballet Festival: the stage and seats were mounted on the site of the former port part of the ancient city and the Roman citadel.
• Near Chersonesos, Russians are now destroying the necropolis of saints in the Karantynna Beam, which is an archaeological site dating back to the second century. They have begun ” sewage installation works” at the site. On April 10, 2024, this archaeological heritage site was partially destroyed by construction equipment: the ancient brickwork and rocky surface of the necropolis were destroyed. According to preliminary estimates by archaeologists, there may be many archaeological sites at this site, such as a sarcophagus, a pottery oven, urns for burying remains, skeletons and objects accompanying the burial, and other artifacts.
• Soon, the Russian occupiers also plan to lay a railroad through historical sites: in the city of Inkerman, they plan to lay a railroad through ancient burial grounds and prehistoric Taurian settlements. The Russians intend to destroy these cemeteries, most of which date back to centuries before Christ.

The occupiers invest huge amounts of money in “destructive processes” and the extermination of our culture. Everything that is not destroyed is appropriated and sent to museums, and for the most part, not even in Crimea, but rather to Russia. 

According to the Crimean Institute For Strategic Studies research, In Crimea alone, more than 150,000 objects of cultural property, including more than 8,000 real estate objects, are included in the state registers of Russia, and Russia claims that these objects allegedly belong to it. The seizure of the monuments is not only a violation of international law, but also an attempt by Russia to distort history: the aggressor country uses the seized property to spread a false narrative that Crimea was allegedly Russian.

After the start of the full-scale invasion, the removal of Ukrainian cultural heritage from Crimea reached a horribly high level. 

On October 14, 2022, the occupation administration issued an order on the territory of the peninsula, which determined the procedure for the so-called museum evacuation. 

Currently, there is no publicly available information on which collections and objects are being moved to Russia.

The problem of illegal export of material cultural heritage has also affected the newly occupied regions of Ukraine. In this situation, Crimea has become a hub for the robbery of cultural sites. At first, the Russian occupiers took the property of Kherson museums and art collections to the occupied Crimea and later transported them to the territory of Russia. Under the pretext of the so-called evacuation of museums, the Russians took about 15,000 exhibits from the territory of the Kherson region. 

This massive theft of cultural property from the territory of Ukraine by the Russian occupiers can be compared to the looting of museums during World War II.

We will be able to see the full picture of the damage only after the de-occupation of Crimea, but today it is important to record damaged historical and architectural monuments, document destruction and losses, and engage international organizations and foreign partners in these processes. The guilty of plundering the cultural heritage of our country will definitely be punished.

Once again, we urge the international community to pay attention to the important issue of the destruction of cultural monuments of the history and culture of Ukraine by the aggressor country. Pressure on Russia must continue until the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.