On Monday, the 25th of March, the Director General of the War Museum, Yurii Savchuk, visited the autonomous islands of Åland, in Finland.
The first visit was at the historical ruins of Bomarsund, a fortress that was destroyed in 1854 by Britain and France, at a time when the Åland Islands were the most western outpost of the Russian Empire.
Later, Director Savchuk visited the Åland Maritime Museum where he was given a tour by museum director Hanna Hagmark.
He then proceeded to have a lunch meeting with Annika Dahlblom, director of Åland’s Museum, followed by a guided tour at the Cultural History Museum of Åland with chief curator Graham Robins.
Later, Director Savchuk was greeted by the speaker of the parliament, Jörgen Pettersson, in front of the famous monument "Non-Violence". The monument was donated by the local businessman and famous art collector Anders Wiklöf on the 100th anniversary of the island’s autonomy in 2022.
Savchuk then attended the 761st daily peace demonstration at the “Ukraine Square” in front of the Russian consulate. At the demonstration, Savchuk was welcomed with speeches from, amongst others, the prime minister Katrin Sjögren and the chairman of Mariehamn city board Michele Ferrari. In a speech, Savchuk expressed his gratitude to the demonstrators for their perseverance.
In the evening the documentary film "IZYUM. Liberation" (Dmytro Chornyi & Olena Kotovska / Smart Film) was shown to the public at the Åland Maritime Museum, followed by a lecture from Director General Savchuk on the museum’s work of documenting Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
During his visit to Åland, the Director General also made efforts to collect new museum artifacts. Most notably, a rifle from 1916 that was used in three wars against Russia and later re-crafted into a peace monument and placed in front of the Russian consulate. The monument was later seized by the police, and this month, the court sentenced it to destruction in violation of local firearm regulations.
In an official letter to the Governor of Åland, Director General Savchuk officially requested that the state of Finland, rather than destroying the peace symbol, transfers it to the museum in Kyiv so that it can be preserved to tell this unique story of support for peace in Ukraine.
We look forward to establishing a strong partnership between the War Museum and the Åland community and would like to thank the local journalist Jannik Svensson for organizing the visit and participating in building cultural bridges between Åland and our Museum.
