A Berlin museum is showing 60 paintings from Odesa's Museum of Western and Eastern Art. This is Germany's show of support for Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia.When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Odesa soon became one of the invader's targets.

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In July 2023, an enemy rocket hit the Museum of Western and Eastern Art in the historic center of the southern Ukrainian port city, damaging the magnificent, blue-washed museum.

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Fortunately, museum director Igor Poronyk had already managed to have all the paintings stored away before the attack, sending the most important works to Lviv in western Ukraine.

Those efforts also launched a remarkable German-Ukrainian cultural project, as it soon became clear that the paintings were not in good hands in their emergency storage. Thousands of artworks were piled up in overcrowded depots.

"It was only much later that I saw the conditions under which they were stored," museum director Poronyk told German public broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg. "The conditions were not optimal."

A German initiative to save the works

An idea that would allow the works to be better preserved then came from Ralph Gleis, director of the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin, who suggested exhibiting the works in the German capital.

In September 2023, Igor Poronyk sent the paintings to Berlin by truck. Together with director Dagmar Hirschfelder of the Berlin Gemäldegalerie, an exhibition project was launched, which quickly gained the support of the Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media, Claudia Roth.

"It is very important to me to help my Ukrainian colleagues," the director of the Gemäldegalerie told RBB. Hirschfelder calls the project an "important sign of solidarity" with Ukraine.

"Cultural assets, Ukrainian cultural assets, are being actively destroyed and annihilated. And making a contribution here is very important to us," added the Gemäldegalerie director.

Following a smaller opening presentation last spring, a major special exhibition, "From Odesa to Berlin," will run from January 24 to June 22.

In addition to Culture Commissioner Roth, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will also be among the guests at the opening evening.

These are important works of European art from the 16th to 19th centuries, which underline the European character of the museum in Odesa.

The museum, which could just as well be in Milan, Berlin or Amsterdam, owns one of the finest collections of foreign art in Ukraine.

This includes the early Baroque painting "Ecce Homo" by Bernardo Strozzi, which depicts the scourged Jesus being presented to Pontius Pilate.

Other highlights in the collection include "The Virgin Enthroned with Blessing Child, St. John and Archangel Michael" by Francesco Granacci (1469-1543), a contemporary and friend of Michelangelo.

A work by Roelant Savery (1576-1639) shows how the artist created a fantastic paradise landscape with the finest brushstrokes. Only on closer inspection can one see Adam and Eve under the tree of knowledge in the background.

Finally, the Italian portrait painter Johann Baptist von Lampi the Elder captured in a painting an intimate moment: his wife breastfeeding.

Art endures beyond authoritarian regimes

The special exhibition combines different styles and genres, reflecting the Berlin Gemäldegalerie's own collection. This also shows the connection between Ukraine and Western Europe.

"It gives us hope when people come to the museum and see that paper and canvas have lasted for so many years and experienced so much," says Odesa Museum director Igor Poronyk. "Evil is fleeting, but art lasts forever!"

Following the Berlin show, the special exhibition will travel around Europe before, one day — when the war is over — returning to Odesa.

This article was originally written in German.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 22, 2025 10:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).