On Friday 29 April, the first truck loaded with materials needed to secure the works of art in the various Ukrainian museums left. These are packaging materials, equipment capable of maintaining temperature and humidity and equipment for photographing and filing various assets, all that is useful for safeguarding paintings, sculptures, art objects, books, etc. and prevent them from being damaged or missing during the conflict.
The initiative called Save Ukraine Arte 22 was born only a few weeks ago, after the appeal launched by some museum directors in Lviv and by Marco Gallipoli, an Italian living in Lviv with his wife Ustyna Soroka, a teacher at the art institute of Lviv, was collected by Lucio Gomiero, company manager and lecturer at the Universities of Venice and Trieste: together they created a project team that is gradually expanding on a national level.
Since then, in Italy and beyond, many companies, institutions and personalities, not only from the art world, have decided to make their contribution. Among these Gabriella Belli, director of the Civic Museums of Venice, who intervened from the very first hour, and Filippo Fusi, owner of Ars Movendi Firenze, a company specializing in the handling of works of art. The latter has also contributed to raising awareness of other companies that belong to the Logistics Art association and that deal with all services related to the storage, shipping and handling of art assets, in Italy and abroad.
Thanks to the commitment of many, the material collected so far by Save Ukraine Art 22 through the various donations was then consolidated at the Udine headquarters of the Ceccarelli Group, which is responsible for all the logistics and which since the beginning of the project has provided the his work for free, taking care of both the transport to Italy, with all the necessary authorizations, and the delivery, which, on this occasion, will take place in a city in Poland near the border to then reach Lviv (National Gallery of Arts and National Museum) and, predictably, Karkiv too.
"It is extraordinary to see the humanitarian spirit that emerges in these emergency situations. Companies, institutions, individuals and even universities are demonstrating how in these circumstances there are no borders whatsoever ”, explains Marco Gallipoli.
The initiative is also supported by institutions such as the Mip-Politecnico di Milano, the Iuav University of Venice and the ManagerItalia association.
Meanwhile, the situation is worsening and the future of numerous cultural assets present in churches and museums in Ukraine is increasingly at risk. Lucio Gomiero underlines: “The one that leaves on Friday 29 April is the first load and it is obvious that it will not be enough. Ukraine boasts an extraordinary cultural heritage, rich in numerous works of art, not to mention that seven of its sites are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. This is why we believe it is essential to give continuity over time to this initiative and we ask companies and museums first of all that they have the required material to contribute and donate ".
