EL News: The particular port of Odesa is among the three participating in the Black Sea Feed Initiative . How has life in the city changed since the program started?
Our colleagues in Italy, who have intensive experience of cooperation with UNESCO, suggested that we transfer specifically valuable paintings from our museums to them for temporary storage space, since we constantly encounter power outages, heat supply, and paintings need a particular temperature regime. We are contemplating taking advantage of this offer. UN News: Despite the war, really does cultural life continue within Odesa today? Premieres and performances are being held at the Opera House in compliance with all security measures; this means that attendance numbers are limited to the capacity of the bomb shelter. © UNOCHA/Levent Kulu
You want the Initiative to be extended, although we understand that all this is not easy. We assistance these efforts, we are grateful for them. and we hope that they can be crowned with achievement.
We now have a very difficult job before us: a UNESCO fee will come to us over the following couple of months, and we need to make a body to monitor the preservation of our cultural heritage. We are very grateful to UNESCO for its support. We kept a lot of meetings online, and UNESCO provided us with consultants who helped all of us to complete our dossier correctly. Almost every day we were in close contact with them plus, without their support plus legal advice, it would have been very hard to do all this work. Gennady Trukhanov: Yes, cultural life in Odesa continues. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres with the Mayor of Odessa Gennady Trukhanov
Gennady Trukhanov We applied for inclusion in the UNESCO Globe Heritage List back in this year and were accepted to the provisional list. But the process dragged on and, using the onset of the war, there was clearly a real threat that our architectural monuments would be destroyed.
Gennady Trukhanov: I was born and elevated in Odesa and, once the port stopped working, boats did not sail, and the port was silent. it was extremely sad to see. Of course , there’s nothing we can do in the case of a direct hit, but we can safeguard our monuments from a blast wave, from fragments. The Opera House was surrounded by bags for a long time, but later we partially unblocked it in order to show that will today Ukraine still lives, and that we support our own cultural values. Good that engaging in cultural activities is therapy for the people, so that they don’t get too frustrated. The war has been happening for almost a year, and it can be difficult to maintain morale. So , in the first month of the invasion by Russian troops, I turned to our Ministries of Culture and International Affairs, in order to apply for the accelerated inclusion of our traditional centre and port in UNESCO’s World Heritage List .
Gennady Trukhanov: We covered all our monuments with sandbags, but it is difficult to ensure complete security. For example , a great time from a rocket that was chance down damaged an system monument, the Vorontsov Palace on Prymorskyi Boulevard, portion of the roof was destroyed, and the windows were smashed out there.
Mr. Trukhanov spoke to UN News shortly after your decision was announced, on Wednesday, and explained the mind-numbing process that led to the inclusion. For port workers, and all the companies in whose activities are connected with the particular port, it was of great importance, as well as for all of us, and for the world. It’s like a return to the life span we had before. Odessa’s Gran Office Odessa Mayor’s Office But since the beginning of the implementation of the Initiative, which became possible because of international assistance and the private efforts of the UN Secretary General, it was possible to begin the work of the port plus restore the transportation of humanitarian cargo.
