At Large  August 27, 2025  Annah Otis

How Cultural Heritage Is Being Protected Amidst Global Conflict

WikiCommons, Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine

Polovtsian babas on Mount Kremenets after Russian shelling. License

Amid the horrific loss of life and suffering resulting from geopolitical conflicts across the globe, dozens of organizations and individuals are quietly saving the art and artifacts that continue to stand as symbols of national pride for conflict-torn communities. Public attention has (rightfully) been on the human impact of wars in Ukraine and Gaza, as well as gang violence in countries like Haiti and Ecuador. But, there are also thousands of artworks, artifacts, and archeological sites caught in the crosshairs of heavy fire. Efforts to protect and preserve them are nothing short of incredible.

WikiCommons, Dan Palraz

The Great Mosque of Gaza (Omari Mosque). License

Take, for example, the work of Leonid Marushchak. The Ukrainian historian has spent the last several years evacuating dozens of museums across his country’s frontlines and ferrying items to undisclosed storage locations. When The Guardian interviewed him in July of 2024, Marushchak was driving hundreds of miles a day to rescue artifacts and had already saved tens of thousands. However, whether or not these items will ever have a chance to be displayed again is uncertain– especially since many of the museums from which they came have been destroyed or the areas around them abandoned.

Marushchak’s individual efforts stemmed from frustration with the bureaucratic delay in ordering museums to evacuate. Ukraine’s Minister for Culture could not authorize that order until regional authorities requested it. Numerous larger organizations, such as the ALIPH Foundation and the US Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, have also stepped in to provide funding and other kinds of support for everything from packing and transporting art to securing the buildings it came from.

Over a thousand miles south of Ukraine, similar efforts are underway in Gaza. Here, the damage to cultural landmarks is much more concentrated and immediately visible. More than 100 archeological sites and historic landmarks suffered damage during the first two months of conflict alone. While it is one thing to transport paintings and sculptures into safe bunkers under the Israel Museum in Jerusalem or the Tel Aviv Art Museum, it is another to try to save the Great Omari Mosque or the Church of Saint Porphyrius from harm. 

WikiCommons

Monuments Men, Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany, 1945. License

There is often little art historians and archeologists can do aside from sit back and watch as cultural sites are harmed or looted. High-resolution photography and 3D imaging are critical to capturing what might soon be lost in these cases. Such documentation is also used in museums to catalogue important works that may make it onto the “war list” of items curators want pulled from displays if their institution is at risk.

Ukraine and Gaza are far from the only instances in which art is being saved from the frontlines. The Global Conflict Tracker maintained by the Council on Foreign Relations identifies 29 ongoing conflicts around the world. Efforts to save art and artifacts from destruction are present in almost every case.

Adjacent to protection and preservation activities is the idea that cultural heritage can be a form of national or group identity whose destruction is equivalent to threatening the dignity and self-determination of its people. Under the Rome Statute, destroying cultural heritage is considered a war crime and in certain cases, a crime against humanity. The individuals and organizations working to save what is left are a reminder of how important art is to the fabric of our society.

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