International Museum Day 2023

md2023

Today the whole world celebrates International Museum Day. On this day, museums organize various events related to a predetermined theme to once again emphasize the important role of museums as institutions serving society and its development.

“Museums — the well-being and development of communities” is the theme of International Museum Day 2023. We fully share the values ​​that the General Secretariat of ICOM has embedded in this theme. Museums really should play a role in the well-being and sustainable development of society.

But for Ukrainian museums this day is special - IMD 2023 will be the 10th since the beginning of the war launched by Russia in 2014. As a result of the full-scale Russian aggression against Ukraine, many museums will not be able to open their doors to visitors on May 18. Instead of scientific research, creating new exhibitions, developing educational programs, Ukrainian museum workers were forced to evacuate and save collections, secure museum buildings, and take care of the safety of employees. Often at the risk of their lives, and sometimes at the cost of their lives. And the zeal with which Russia destroys our cultural heritage and plunders our museums once again emphasizes that museums are truly supporting structures in our common social structure and are important centers of our identity.

Together with Ukrainer, we created a special poster for Museum Day, different from the official one: “Museums and War: Disappear or Become Armor”, as well as special material on the Ukraїner platform

https://ukrainer.net/muzei-i-viyna/

Our museums were faced with a choice - to disappear or become armor for their collections and their communities. The Ukrainian National Committee of ICOM is convinced that it is incredibly important not only to remember our strength, our solidarity, our mutual assistance, but also to unite the world around us.

We thank the Ukrainer team, as well as Maksym Savanevskyi, Iaroslava Strikha, who helped us formulate our message in English, and Nikita Titov for translating the slogan into visual language.

Dear friends, we will be grateful for your sharing. You can choose any of these posters for sharing or use them in combination. We kindly ask you to provide a link to the original post and indicate the author of the poster.