"During the war, when international conventions are powerless, cultural heritage is protected and protected by people who do everything possible and impossible for this." This is how Sviatoslav Yarynych's article "Saving History" begins.
For more than a year, we collected testimonies of museum workers, artists, representatives of cultural institutions, and collectors about their experiences from the first days of the full-scale invasion. We are grateful to our Ukrainian colleagues who, in interviews, comments, and reports, have recreated the space of our joint ongoing spiritual resistance.
It took us more than a year to gather partners and advertisers who supported the creation of the thematic issue, which symbolically went to print on the eve of the International Day of Museums. After all, not only the provision of public and private gatherings but also the memorialization and museumification of today's events require effort and understanding.
So the issue begins with materials from Israeli experts who talk about the related history of the long-term struggle for statehood, and identity, and how it is reflected in museum exhibits. And they conclude with modern Ukrainian artists with their artistic premonitions and wartime practices. However, even the increased volume of the magazine and the disrupted release schedule did not allow us to fit everything we planned into it. But…
Three years ago, during the covid lockdown, the first issue of "Antiquarian" saw the light of day with an insert - a linocut by Matvii Weisberg, created by the artist purposely for our magazine. And here is a new linorite. And on it - yes, Don Quixote. With a blue-yellow flag."
— Hanna Sherman, editor-in-chief.
