0 days when russia did not steal: the lost masterpieces of the Khanenkos
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At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, we were all shocked by the news that the works of Arkhip Kuindzhi had been stolen from a museum in Mariupol. But in fact, there is nothing surprising in this, because Russia has been appropriating our culture and monuments for 300 years in a row. Together with the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Art Museum, we created a virtual tour of the lost masterpieces of the collection.
What did we do??
We developed 3D copies of the lost exhibits based on archival photographs. For example, a unique monument of the Iranian Middle Ages, an aquamanil of 1206, was transferred by the Khanenkos to the Museum of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. Later, the Soviet authorities valued it at 3,000 rubles and decided that this exhibit could be sold abroad “without harming the museum.” Later, by chance, it turned out that aquamanil was purchased by the Hermitage. The same fate befell the gilded silver cup of the Sassanid era, the diptych “Adam and Eve” by the German Renaissance artist Lucas Cranach, “The Courtesan” by the Dutchman Jacob Bakker, “Landscape in the vicinity of Beauvais” by the French painter and graphic artist François Boucher
Why is it important?
russia continues to steal. They sing over our songs, appropriate our artists – even Kazimir Malevich, whom the Soviet authorities tortured on charges of espionage, they consider a “Russian artist”.
The theft of masterpieces from the Khanenko museum shows the persistence of the colonial policy, which the Russian Empire started, picked up by the Soviet Union, and continues in the modern Russian Federation. We must definitely record all the artifacts stolen by russia over the centuries, return them, and bring the culprits to justice. The project was implemented by order of Kyiv Digital.
