Sawt Falasteen - Berlin gallery shows artworks evacuated from war-torn Ukraine

Some 60 works from the Odesa Museum of Western and Eastern Art went on public display at their temporary new home in the Gemaeldegalerie in the German capital.

Germany was at Ukraine's side "in defending your freedom and independence, in protecting your cultural heritage", President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said at the opening ceremony.

Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the director of the Odesa museum ordered the paintings to be taken down and stored for safekeeping.

The works from the collection in the Black Sea port city were initially hidden in western Ukraine before being transported to Berlin in the second half of 2023 to be restored.

The fact that the works were being displayed in simple wooden frames and not decorative ones was an indication of the exceptional circumstances of their journey, Steinmeier remarked.

"They are not loans as in a typical art exhibition," he said.

The collection includes works from the Italian Renaissance painter Francesco Granacci, a friend of Michelangelo, and Norwegian impressionist Frits Thaulow, testament to the changing tastes of the city's bourgeoisie over the years.

"I hope that Ukrainians who have found refuge here will find a piece of home in these images," Steinmeier said.

Ukrainian refugees in Germany will have free access to the exhibition, which will run till June 22.

The display in Berlin showed "how important it is that we continue to support the Ukrainians in defending their cultural homeland", Steinmeier said.

Germany has been Ukraine's second-largest military supporter behind the United States during the war with Russia, delivering tanks, missiles, ammunition and more.

The exhibition is tinged however with historical irony: the last time the museum in Odesa had to store its works for protection was in 1941, when Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union and marched on the city during World War Two.

F.AbuZaid--SF-PST