In May 2023, France's Louvre Museum and Kyiv's Khanenko Museum carried out a secret operation to safeguard Ukraine’s heritage.
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00:00It's the first time these precious works of art are showcased to the public in France.
00:07Four extremely rare icons from Ukraine are currently on display at the Louvre-Lens Museum,
00:14200 kilometers north of Paris.
00:16They include a 15th century depiction of the Virgin and Child,
00:21a 16th century icon of Saint John the Baptist,
00:26and two unusually large icons representing the Last Judgment
00:31and the hymn to the Virgin by Greek Renaissance painter Theodoros Poulakis.
00:36Preserving these masterpieces is no easy feat.
00:55In May 2023, 16 icons were secretly evacuated from the Hanenko Museum in Kiev
01:14to protect them from Russian strikes,
01:17a highly sensitive and perilous operation conducted by the Louvre Museum.
01:25The conditions of a country under martial law,
01:29security and discretion are essential.
01:34We were asked to invent ways of working that are a little different from the ones we are used to.
01:43The icons left Ukraine secretly, by land.
01:48They were accompanied by all the necessary security equipment.
01:54They crossed the border, through Poland and then Germany,
01:58and arrived in Paris to be housed in our reserves.
02:02The icons will remain in France until the end of the war.
02:05The exhibition is open to the general public until June 2025.