Ukrainian Orthodox treasures displayed in London after Soviet removal
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The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London is displaying seven 18th-century Ukrainian Orthodox treasures from the National Preserve Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastic and museum complex in Kyiv, Ukraine.
The objects, including an icon and a gospel book, are exhibited in the UK for the first time. This display coincides with a symposium examining how Ukrainian museums are navigating the challenges posed by the 2022 Russian invasion and how UK institutions can support Ukrainian cultural heritage.
The V&A’s exhibit centers on a pair of silver-gilt gates originally commissioned for Kyiv’s Pechersk Lavra monastery in 1784. Soviet authorities removed the gates in the 1930s and sold them abroad. William Randolph Hearst, a media tycoon from California, purchased them in 1935 before the Gilberts acquired them in the 1970s and later loaned them to the V&A. The museum has clarified that the gates are Ukrainian, not Russian, in origin.
Experts at the symposium discussed decolonisation within museums and the importance of UK collections as resources for Ukrainian researchers. They also explored legal avenues for restitution and reparations of cultural heritage. Maksym Ostapenko, the director of the National Preserve Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, stated that the display introduces international audiences to an important chapter of Ukrainian Baroque art. The V&A plans to sustain partnerships with Ukrainian colleagues and continue developing connections between institutions.
