Barbara, the Italian reservist restorer who is saving Ukrainian art from the bombs

Barbara Caranza is a restorer who is specialised in the protection of cultural heritage in crisis areas (as well as a reservist officer in the Italian Army). In 2013, she founded CHIEF, a voluntary association that focuses on the protection of artistic and identity heritage. She is the first and, perhaps, the only concrete help offered so far to Ukrainians to protect their works of art threatened by war.

 “As soon as the conflict broke out, I was immediately contacted by Ihor Poshyvailo, the director of the Maidan Museum in Kiev. The Ukrainians knew what to do to protect their works but did not have the means to do so. The first step, therefore, was to collect the necessary material, from packaging to move endangered works of art to empty sacks to fill with sand to protect what they could not move, from fire extinguishers to generators, and get them to Ukraine. Then it was the turn first of an online conference to talk about the relationship between art and war. This was followed by an online training course to talk to Ukrainians about not only protecting works of art but also about how to make people safe and how to deal with the stress. Then, there was a series of online meetings with the support of two psychologists and psychiatrists who are experts in burnout therapy. “Some were showing signs of breaking down. There were, for example, Ukrainian female directors of Russian art museums who were being accused of treason”, recalls Caranza.

A not insignificant problem. It is no coincidence that the destruction of cultural and historical property is to be considered a war crime, as the 1954 Hague Protocol states precisely with regard to the protection of cultural property.

The last piece of Chief’s intervention (recounted in the documentary L’arte della Guerra [The Art of War]) was to bring to Italya restorer from Zaporizhzhia, which is one of the cities that has been most targeted by the Russian bombings. “Thanks to the director of the Egyptian Museum of Turin Christian Greco, Olha Kulihina was able to leave Ukraine for a year and work in Italy”.

Now Barbara Caranza’s work is on pause. “I am in contact with everyone, and I am waiting to see what else we can do. To help people in these situations is not easy, we have to know what is needed and how to do it”.

By Tiziana Lupi