Netherlands will help Ukraine preserve its cultural heritage

Ukraine and the Netherlands will cooperate to preserve Ukrainian cultural heritage and cultural development.

The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine reported this.

On Tuesday, March 14, a meeting was held between the teams of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine headed by Oleksandr Tkachenko and the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science of the Kingdom of the Netherlands under the chairmanship of State Secretary for Culture and Media Gunai Uslu.

The parties discussed possible ways of cooperation between Ukraine and the Netherlands in the field of culture and preservation of Ukrainian cultural heritage.

"We are grateful to the Netherlands for their solidarity with Ukrainians. We highly appreciate your government's decision to identify Ukraine as an important country for international cultural cooperation and are very grateful for the decision to support Ukrainian culture financially. The Ministry is ready to serve as a bridge to establish cooperation between Ukrainian and Dutch cultural institutions," Tkachenko said.

He also invited the leadership of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Ukraine.

The minister notes that he hopes for active cooperation with the Netherlands in the field of protection, preservation, and restoration of the cultural heritage of Ukraine, digitization of the cultural sphere, as well as support for the activities of Ukrainian cultural institutions, artists of the cultural sphere and creative industries in Ukraine.

"Currently, Ukraine needs immediate protection and, in the future, reconstruction of cultural objects and infrastructure. After all, russian aggression has already led to the destruction of more than 1,322 cultural objects," the report says.

Tkachenko also emphasized the importance of supporting the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, the Ukrainian Book Institute, and the book publishing industry as a whole. Creating high-quality translations of Ukrainian authors into the Dutch language and publishing Dutch authors in the Ukrainian language were also discussed.

"The parties discussed the issue of cooperation in the context of the digitalization of Ukrainian culture. The introduction of the State Register of Immovable Monuments of Ukraine and the Register of the Museum Fund of Ukraine will ensure the automation of all processes of recording information about cultural heritage, its condition, and available values. This will help preserve and restore Ukrainian cultural heritage and provide an opportunity to create mechanisms to prevent the illegal movement of cultural values stolen by russians," the message said.