Day of Historic and Cultural Monuments in Ukraine Date in the current year: April 18, 2024

Ukraine has numerous historic and cultural moments. Some of these sites are thousands of years old, and a significant part of them are popular as tourist sites. The protection of the country’s sites and monuments is one of the top priorities of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine and the country’s cultural organizations and institutions.

As of 2022, Ukraine had seven World Heritage Sites (six cultural sites and a natural site):

• Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv
• Kyiv Pechersk Lavra (Kyiv Monastery of the Caves)
• Lviv’s Old Town
• triangulation points of the Struve Geodetic Arc in Khmelnytskyi and Odessa Oblasts
• Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe (shared with 17 other European countries)
• Residence of Bukovinian and Dalmatian Metropolitans in Chernivtsi
• Chersonesus near Sevastopol, Crimea*
• Wooden Tserkvas (Churches) of the Carpathian Region in Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv and Zakarpattia Oblasts

* Crimea was annexed by the Russian Federation in 2014 and was still under Russian control as of 2022

Of course, Ukraine has many more historic and cultural sites. Some of the sites that are most popular among Ukrainian and foreign tourists include the numerous castles and fortresses in Western Ukraine, the Askania-Nova nature reserve in Kherson Oblast, the Sofiyivka arboretum in Uman, the Khortytsia National Park in Zaporizhzhia, the Pysanka Museum in Kolomyia, Pochayiv Lavra in Ternopil Oblast, the Odesa Opera and Ballet Theater, and many more.

Ukraine’s Day of Historic and Cultural Monuments is regarded as the professional holiday by Ukrainian architects, conservation professionals, scientists, and government employees responsible for the protection of historic and cultural monuments. As we’ve already mentioned above, it was officially established by President Leonid Kuchma in 1999.

According to another Ukrainian president, Viktor Yushchenko, monuments of cultural heritage are memories of the life of the Ukrainian people and invaluable witnesses of the spirituality and national consciousness of the past generations. Therefore, a caring attitude towards the historical and cultural heritage and the ability to preserve the centuries- and sometimes even millennia-old monuments and sites are not only a manifestation of respect for the predecessors, but also an indicator of the development of the state and its place in the world community.

The celebration of the Day of Historic and Cultural Monuments was especially poignant in 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, since the Russian troops damaged or destroyed dozens of Ukrainians cultural sites, including religious sites, historic buildings, museums, libraries, monuments, and even Holocaust memorials. Some of them, such as Ancient Chernihiv (the historic center of Chernihiv), had been on Ukraine’s Tentative List prior to the war.