National Art Museum of Kyiv Forced to Close After Russian Strike

The National Art Museum of Ukraine (NAMU) in Kyiv was damaged during a massive Russian airstrike on the night of May 23-24, which involved 90 missiles and 600 drones. The museum has closed indefinitely after windows were blown out, window frames damaged, plaster fell from walls, and the skylight roof was hit. No staff or collections were harmed, as the main artworks had been evacuated to secret storage sites since February 2022. The museum had maintained partial activity with temporary exhibitions and conferences, and had loaned over sixty works to the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium for the exhibition 'In the Eye of the Storm.'

This attack matters because it represents one of the most significant strikes on cultural institutions in Kyiv since the war began. NAMU is Ukraine's oldest museum, founded in 1899, and its damage underscores the ongoing threat to cultural heritage amid the conflict. The museum had received support from the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage in Conflict Zones (ALIPH) and the EU for restoration and digitization. The attack also damaged other cultural sites, including the National Museum of Chernobyl, the National Philharmonic, and the Yaroslav the Wise National Library. UNESCO estimates damage to 526 cultural sites worth €3.8 billion over four years of war.