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ARTICLE - Cultural Diplomacy Projects

Olena Zelenska: Ukrainian language and culture are important today for everyone who cares about freedom
Olena Zelenska
First Lady of Ukraine
26 December 2023 - 12:58
https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/olena-zelenska-ukrayinska-mova-ta-kultura-sogodni-vazhlivi-d-87989

The First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, summarized the results of her cultural diplomacy projects on introducing Ukrainian audio guides in world landmarks and opening Ukrainian bookshelves in libraries around the world.

In 2023, 20 Ukrainian-language audio guides were launched in 15 countries, including:

The Netherlands – the Maurits Cornelis Escher Museum in the Lange Voorhout Palace, the museum of collector and patron Abraham Bredius and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam;

Albania – the National Museum of Medieval Art; Ireland – the Library of Trinity College; Denmark – the Hop On Hop Off bus and boat tour of Copenhagen; Poland – the Warsaw Rising Museum and the House of Nicolaus Copernicus at the District Museum in Toruń; Italy – the Borghese Gallery in Rome and the Royal Museums of Turin; Sweden – the Nordic Museum – Museum of Ethnography and Culture and the Viking Museum in Stockholm;

Finland – the Suomenlinna Fortress Island and the Helsinki Historic Center boat tour; Israel – the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center; Australia – the National Museum of Australia; Azerbaijan – the Azerbaijan National Museum of Art; Cyprus – the Archaeological Museum; the United States – the Illinois Holocaust Museum; Austria – the Imperial Treasury; Greece – the Benaki Museum in Athens.

As of December 2023, since its inception in 2021, the project to introduce Ukrainian-language audio guides, initiated by Olena Zelenska, has 77 audio tours in Ukrainian across 43 countries. These countries are Türkiye, France, Denmark, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Sweden, Uzbekistan, Austria, Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan, Kenya, Rwanda, Germany, the United Kingdom, Greece, North Macedonia, Spain, the United States, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Montenegro, Italy, Lithuania, Georgia, Portugal, Thailand, Hungary, Switzerland, Brazil, Slovakia, Norway, Qatar, Estonia, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Albania, Ireland, Poland, Israel, Finland, Australia, Cyprus.

In addition, as part of the project, in November 2023, in cooperation with the Petra Development Tourism Regional Authority of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Ukrainian-language brochures were created for visitors to the Kingdom’s most famous historical site, Petra. The brochures were solemnly presented at the Petra Archaeological Park Visitor Center by Ambassador of Ukraine to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Myroslava Shcherbatiuk and Chief Commissioner at Petra Development Tourism Regional Authority Dr. Fares Braizat. Since 1985, Petra has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On July 7, 2007, it was declared one of the seven new wonders of the world.

“Many thanks to our embassies and all foreign partners. This is necessary not only for the millions of Ukrainian displaced persons driven out of the country by the Russian war, but also for everyone who values freedom and a free culture. Ukrainian today is the language of resistance to aggression and the fight for identity, for life and the right to exist,” Olena Zelenska emphasized.

The First Lady’s Ukrainian Bookshelf project also expanded significantly in 2023. Last year, Ukrainian bookshelves were opened in 10 countries: Spain, Armenia, the United Kingdom, Serbia, the United States, Romania, Singapore, Denmark, Mexico, Argentina, and for the first time, at the headquarters of an international organization: Ukrainian literature appeared at UNESCO.

In the last month alone, bookshelves have been opened in the Ricardo Güiraldes Central Library of Buenos Aires in Argentina and in three towns in Denmark: Ikast, Gentofte and Skive.

As of the end of 2023, the Ukrainian Bookshelf project under the patronage of the First Lady of Ukraine has been implemented in 45 countries and one international organization (more than 190 shelves, more than 47 thousand books): Austria, Türkiye, Lithuania, Slovakia, Sweden, Czech Republic, France, the Netherlands, Greece, Latvia, Finland, Jordan, Croatia, Lebanon, Japan, Belgium, Albania, Republic of Korea, Poland, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Norway, Moldova, Qatar, Slovenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Portugal, South Africa, Cyprus, UAE, Namibia, North Macedonia, Hungary, Indonesia, Armenia, United Kingdom, Serbia, USA, Romania, Singapore, Mexico, Denmark, Argentina, and UNESCO Headquarters.

“While the empire seeks to destroy not only Ukraine, but also Ukrainian culture, we are doing our best to spread this culture. This is yet another form of our resistance – a cultural, value-based one. Through the books and scholarly works, not just through the news, the world will learn how much Ukraine has given it and understand us better. As its integral part, without which, like without others, the world is unthinkable,” Olena Zelenska summarized.