The Kherson Regional Museum of Ethnography was abandoned at the outbreak of the war. Shortly before the liberation of the city, the occupiers managed to remove priceless exhibits. The museum staff tried their best to hide the works of art from the enemy, convincing them that they had been taken out earlier, so there was nothing left in the museum. However, with help of local collaborators and supporters of the “Russian world,” russians managed to get hold of unique exhibits. They loaded them into trucks and took them to an unknown destination. It is already known that part of the collection is in the temporarily occupied Genichesk, and another part might be on the territory of annexed Crimea.
The collection of the Kherson Museum of Ethnography is considered one of the richest and most interesting in Ukraine. Over the 45 years of its existence, almost 14 thousand exhibits have been collected. One of the museum’s gems was the world-famous painting by Peter Lely, “Lady with a Dog.” The occupiers also stole works by Aivazovsky, Vrubel, Pimonenko, Shovkunenko, Yablonska, Glushchenko, and Serebryakova. For some reason, they left only the exhibits of decorative and applied arts from Japan, as well as large items that they apparently simply could not carry.
Even though all the exhibits have unique serial numbers, they couldn’t be sold in any country in the world. However, museum’s staff suspects that russians will try to sell them on the black market.
The lists of lost exhibits have been carefully documented and will be included in the restitution claims against russia. Now, the damages to the museum are being restored: caring philanthropists from different countries send laptops, generators, power banks, clothes, and financial assistance to the Kherson Museum.
