We launch the fourth podcast in the “Ukraine Heritage Spotlight” series, in which we raise important issues regarding the heritage situation in Ukraine. In this episode, we talk to Professor Chiara Dezzi Bardeschi, who heads the UNESCO Desk in Ukraine.
“Cultural heritage is by nature politically sensitive, highly complex with a high degree of symbolic significance, emotionally charged and with a risk of political manipulation concerning its history, ownership and use,” we read in a “Concept on Cultural heritage in conflicts and crises” published by the European Union in 2021.
As of mid-February 2024, UNESCO has verified damage to 342 sites since 24 February 2022 – 127 religious sites, 150 buildings of historical and/or artistic interest, 31 museums, 19 monuments, 14 libraries, and 1 archive. These numbers, which include only immovable cultural property, are getting higher each month.
Our guest is Professor Chiara Dezzi Bardeschi. She holds a PhD in cultural heritage. She has been head of the UNESCO Desk in Ukraine since October 2022. She has over 22 years of professional experience with the United Nations, mainly working in fragile states and emergency contexts.
Podcast co-host a Head of the Europa Nostra Heritage Hub in Kraków, Dr Katarzyna Jagodzińska spoke to Professor Bardeschi during a meeting of the European Commission-led expert sub-group on the safeguarding of cultural heritage in Ukraine. The meeting was held in January 2024 in Brussels to develop a set of recommendations for the Government of Ukraine and for the Commission itself in the field of protection and reconstruction of tangible and intangible heritage following hostilities.
Ukraine Heritage Spotlight is a series of podcasts on saving Ukraine’s cultural heritage from the Europa Nostra Heritage Hub in Kraków.
Hosted by Dr Katarzyna Jagodzińska, head of the Europa Nostra Heritage Hub in Krakow and John Beauchamp.
Produced by John Beauchamp from Free Range Productions.
The project is co-financed by the European Union and the City of Krakow.