Ukrainian Official Calls For Russia to be Banned from Venice Biennale After Drone Strike Damages UNESCO-Listed Monastery
Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha called for Russia to be barred from the Venice Biennale after a March 24 Russian drone strike damaged a 17th-century Bernardine monastery complex in the UNESCO-listed historic center of Lviv, including the Church of St. Andrew designed by Italian architects in a Mannerist style. Lviv’s historic center became a World Heritage Site in 1998 and was added to UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger in 2023; UNESCO said it was “deeply alarmed” and noted protections under the 1954 Hague Convention and the 1972 World Heritage Convention. Sybiha wrote on X, “Don’t look away, @la_Biennale,” arguing that allowing a Russian pavilion would normalize “barbarism,” as organizers plan to welcome a Russian pavilion for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. Euro News reported that Russia deployed almost 1,000 drones in one of its largest aerial attacks since 2022, including more than 550 drones in central and western Ukraine, with at least three people killed and dozens injured; President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the strike and referenced Iranian “Shahed” drones modernized by Russia.
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This story was covered in Museums for Sale, War Shadows the Art World