Cultural heritage has few friends in times of war.  In many ways the full-scale invasion of Ukraine is focused on memory politics, with the broader aim of erasing Ukrainian culture, history and heritage. Working as part of a collaborative international team of archaeologists and filmmakers, during three visits from 2023–2025, Ian Kuijt and others traveled through central and north-eastern Ukraine filming and documenting the targeted destruction of cultural heritage. This presentation provides a first-hand account of travels around Kyiv, Lukashivka, Viazivka and Chernihiv, illustrates the destruction on the ground, and discusses the importance of understanding and assessing the destruction of Ukrainian cultural heritage, both material and immaterial. Kuijt argues that cultural heritage management during the on-going war in Ukraine presents three major challenges: protecting the known, securing the displayed, and identifying newly revealed cultural heritage. 

The conference will be introduced by Matthias Reiter-Pázmándy (Federal Ministry for Women, Science and Research) and Taras Fedirko (Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna).

The event includes screenings of two short films:

Kuijt, I., W. Donaruma, and P. Shydlovskyi - (2024) Targeting Beauty (8:00 min).  Documenting the destruction of Oster, Chernihiv region, Ukraine. Targeting Beauty has been officially accepted and shown at 36 film festivals, in 15 countries, and received multiple awards.

Kuijt, I., and W. Donaruma  - (2024) The Shooting Wall: Witness in Film  (6:00 min).  Documenting the destruction of Храм Вознесіння Господнього (The Church of the Ascension), Lukashivka, Chernihiv region, Ukraine.

with lectures by:

Matthias Reiter-Pázmándy (Federal Ministry for Women, Science and Research) - Welcome and Insights into Support Activities of the BMFWF in R&I and European Research Infrastructures

Taras Fedirko (Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna - Documenting Ukraine: Future archives as a response to present war

Ian Kuijt, University of Notre Dame (USA)  - Targeting Beauty. Memory Politics, Archaeology, and the Targeting of Ukrainian Culture Heritage