From Odessa to Berlin: Ukrainian Art Treasures Find Refuge at Gemäldegalerie

The Gemäldegalerie in Berlin is hosting 'From Odessa to Berlin: European Painting from the 16th to 19th Century,' an exhibition of 12 paintings evacuated from the Museum of Western and Eastern Art in Odessa, Ukraine. The museum, directed by Igor Poronyk, sent 74 works to Berlin for safekeeping after a missile attack last summer. The show, curated by Sabine Lata, runs until April 28, 2024, and features artists such as Bernardo Strozzi, Franz Hals, Alessandro Magnasco, and Cornelis de Heem, focusing on Italian, Dutch, and German painting. This is a preview of a larger project in 2025 that will bring around 60 evacuated works to Berlin's museum system. Meanwhile, UNESCO estimates damage to Ukraine's cultural heritage at $3.5 billion, with 341 sites at risk as of February 14, 2024. The most affected city is Kharkiv, followed by Donetsk and Odesa, whose historic center was added to UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger in 2023. Italy is involved in restoring Odesa's Transfiguration Cathedral, damaged in a missile strike in July 2023, and has also worked on the Odesa Fine Arts Museum and Archaeological Museum. The Museum of Western and Eastern Art, founded in 1923, houses a collection confiscated from nobles and collectors, including a disputed Caravaggio replica stolen in 2008 and recovered in 2010.