In Odesa, there is a heated discussion about the dismantling of monuments and the renaming of streets, which is caused by changes in the public perception of history and national identity in Ukraine. Opponents of these actions appealed to UNESCO and President Volodymyr Zelenskyi to preserve the city's cultural heritage. This issue caused a wide resonance both at the national and international levels.
Director General of UNESCO Audrey Azoulay and President Zelensky are called to postpone the decision on the decolonization of Odesa's cultural heritage until the end of the war.
The appeal states that the decision was made without public consultations.
“A lot can be said about the decolonization of Ukraine, but for Odesa, most of whose historic center was built during the Imperial Russian administration (as noted by UNESCO), this program of erasure is a dangerous slippery slope. The hasty application of this new legislation, which leaves enough room for ambiguity of interpretations, endangers a significant part of Odessa's world heritage and its polyphonic cosmopolitan spirit," reads the appeal, which was signed by 115 people.
Among them, the organizer of the action against the renaming of streets and the demolition of monuments in Odesa, journalist and public figure Leonid Shtekel, artist Mykhailo Reva, chief conductor of the Odesa Philharmonic Orchestra Hobart Earl, Odesa historian Oleksandr Babich, head of the scientific department of the Odesa Art Museum Kyrylo Lipatov, as well as his daughter and grandson of the writer Isaac Babel.
It will be recalled that Mayor Trukhanov also discussed the "protection of Odesa's cultural heritage objects" with UNESCO. The initiator of the demolition and renaming was OVA.
