The Boychuk Academy of Decorative and Applied Arts, damaged by Russian missiles, is set to be restored within five months with the financial and organizational support of UNESCO.
This information came to light during the signing of a memorandum between UNESCO, the Ministry of Culture, and the Kyiv Academy of Arts.
UNESCO will fund and organize the restoration efforts. Currently, a contract has already been signed with an expert to conduct a technical survey of the building, and a report has been received for further actions.
The Academy will provide access to the site and issue the necessary permits. The restoration of the building is planned to be completed within five months.
Highlighting this event, the Minister of Culture noted that on May 12, 1954, Ukraine joined UNESCO. Since the onset of the war, the organization has been actively supporting Ukraine.
"This memorandum is special because we are not only restoring a cultural site but also an educational one. Investing in educational institutions means investing in the future of Ukrainian artists and youth who wish to continue their work in the cultural sphere," said Kiara Dezi Bardeski, head of the UNESCO office in Ukraine.
The Academy was damaged on March 25, 2024, due to a Russian strike. Several rooms were severely destroyed.
According to the Academy's rector, Olena Osadcha, valuable archives were housed in the struck premises.
"This was the golden fund of the Academy, containing works mostly in decorative arts: sacred painting, icon painting, stained glass, and other art forms. We hope to save some of our works; otherwise, their loss will stand as direct evidence of the genocide against Ukrainian culture," added the rector.
The Kyiv State Academy of Decorative and Applied Arts named after Mykhailo Boychuk was founded in December 1999 on the basis of the Kyiv Art and Industrial College.
Prominent Ukrainian artists such as Marfa Tymchenko, Maria Prymachenko, Ivan Honchar, and others contributed to the establishment and development of the institution. Works by its students and teachers are preserved in museums around the world.
The Academy is named after Mykhailo Boychuk, an outstanding avant-garde artist and educator who played a key role in shaping Ukrainian cultural identity.
Boychuk, hailing from the village of Romanivtsi, showed artistic talent from a young age. He studied in Vienna, Krakow, and other cities, developing his unique style known as Boychukism.
This style combines the traditions of Byzantine iconography and Ukrainian folk art. Boychukists specialized in monumental painting, creating frescoes and mosaics. Unfortunately, this movement was destroyed by the Soviet regime in the 1930s, and Boychuk himself fell victim to repression.