Rapid Site Report: Museums in Mariupol, Ukraine

Between 14 March and 6 May 2022, museums in Mariupol, Ukraine, were damaged or destroyed. This report documents damage to four of Mariupol’s museums:

• Site A) Kuindzhi Art Museum;
• Site B) Museum of Folk Life;
• Site C) Mariupol Museum of Local Lore; and
• Site D) Kuindzhi Center for Contemporary Art & Culture (which includes the Kharabet Museum of Medallion Art, housed inside the Kuindzhi Center).

Satellite imagery of the Kuindzhi Art Museum shows that it was damaged between 16 March and 29 March 2022. Imagery of the Museum of Folk Life shows that it was damaged between 22 March and 26 March 2022. Imagery of the Mariupol Museum of Local Lore shows that it was damaged between 19 March and 21 March 2022. Imagery of the Kuindzhi Center for Contemporary Art & Culture, which includes the Kharabet Museum of Medallion Art, shows that it was damaged between 14 March and 19 March 2022. Analysis conducted by the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative (SCRI), in collaboration with the Penn Cultural Heritage Center at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (PennCHC), the Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab at the Virginia Museum of Natural History (CHML), the Center for International Development and Conflict Management at the University of Maryland (CIDCM), and the Ukrainian Heritage Monitoring Lab (HeMo), confirmed this damage. This review was undertaken after reports of looting and damage to museums in Mariupol during and after Russia’s siege of the city in spring 2022.

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CITE THIS REPORT: Hanson, K., Bender, T. J. P., Lawrence-Weilmann, J., Rozhko, V., Makar, R., Zadorozhna, M., Oleksii, A., Frolova, Y., Cil, D., Tuttle, E., Bakhshi, R., Aronson. J., Fitzgerald, K., Welsh, W., Maher, A., Bassett, H., Gunter-Bassett, M., Muller, C. E., Kane, K. E., Daniels, B. I., and Wegener, C. (2024). “Rapid Site Report: Museums in Mariupol, Ukraine,” University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Penn Cultural Heritage Center; Virginia Museum of Natural History, Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab; Ukrainian Heritage Monitoring Lab; University of Maryland, Center for International Development and Conflict Management; and Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative. DOI: 10.25573/data.27174507.