Ukrainian combat medic who saved 17,000 artefacts in Chernihiv receives prestigious award posthumously

Combat medic Maryna "Mary" Hrytsenko has posthumously received one of the grand prix awards at the Europa Nostra Awards, a prestigious cultural heritage prize.

Source: Europa Nostra Awards website; 1st Assault Battalion of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade

Details: The jury recognised Maryna Hrytsenko's professional dedication in protecting the collection of the Halahan Art Museum during the siege of Chernihiv.

"Five Grand Prix this year – and one of them belongs to a Ukrainian woman who defended both cultural heritage and her country with weapons in hand. We are proud," the 1st Assault Battalion of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, where Maryna served, said.

Maryna Hrytsenko was from Chernihiv Oblast. From 2008 she worked at the Halahan Art Museum and, from 2021, became the museum's chief curator.

She had a passion for Ukrainian historical ritual traditions. Over 15 years she organised 40 exhibitions of Ukrainian and Western European art and edited the museum's catalogue of decorative and applied arts.

At the start of the full-scale invasion, when Chernihiv was under siege, Hrytsenko moved into the museum together with her 12-year-old daughter.

"The building had no electricity, the alarm system was inactive and there was no security. With the assistance of remaining staff, mostly retired technical personnel, she dismantled the permanent exhibition and moved the valuable objects into the basement.

When a missile struck close to the museum entrance, the shockwave damaged the artworks. Because packing materials were unavailable and supplies could not reach the city, she wrapped works in old clothes and textiles collected from friends and locals and concealed them in smaller underground storage rooms normally used for ventilation and household equipment," Europa Nostra Awards recounted.

Maryna continued to live in the basement even after Ukrainian defenders pushed the Russians from the outskirts of Chernihiv, remaining there until electricity was restored and a security system installed in the museum.

Following an improvement in the security situation, Maryna Hrytsenko invited experts from the National Research and Restoration Centre of Kyiv to inspect the damaged works. This enabled the preservation of more than 17,000 items from the museum's collection: Cossack artefacts, Ukrainian decorative and applied arts, and Italian, Flemish and Dutch paintings.

"Maryna Hrytsenko demonstrated exceptional dedication and professional responsibility in safeguarding the Galagan Art Museum's collections during the siege of Chernihiv. Acting under extreme risk and without access to basic resources, she protected a museum collection of major Ukrainian and European significance. Her actions highlight the vulnerability of cultural memory in times of war and are a testimony to her extraordinary courage," the jury noted.

Background: In 2023 Maryna Hrytsenko became a combat medic in the 1st Assault Battalion of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. She was killed on 7 August 2025 whilst carrying out a combat mission.

For reference: The Europa Nostra Awards were established in 2002. Each year, 30 outstanding achievements in the field of heritage are recognised, five of which receive a grand prix distinction.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!