While safeguarding one's own family archives is a mission in itself, protecting a country's assets during wartime is a true feat of its own.
Most of us scour our homes as well as our relatives to find and curate the history of our own family. Documents, paintings, portraits, photos, slides, films, and videos can all be saved and digitized, but they can also be lost in an instance due to natural disasters like floods or fire.
But, what happens when your entire country is in peril and all historic items could be damaged or destroyed? As of mid-February, 2023, hundreds of historic sites, museums, libraries, monuments, and objects have been affected - not to mention "looting by the Russian military of valuable artworks and historic gold collections". Curators are working vigorously "to protect Ukrainian history and identity", assess damage, and hide away works from anyone who wishes to harm them.
It's a race against time, the elements, and an unseen destroyer. Partnerships with the Getty, World Monuments Fund, and UNESCO are just some of the organizations helping to preserve the heritage that could be lost forever. It truly shows how important it is to preserve historical items and protect against the unknown.
For personal collections, we are lucky in that we have the power to save family history for future generations before it's too late, and they are lost forever.
Read more about the challenges in "Artnet News" at http://bit.ly/3Fu5NZ4
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