Site Report: Damage to the Bernardine Monastery Ensemble in the Historic Center of Lviv, Ukraine
Year: 2026
Type: report
Abstract: Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, cultural heritage sites across the country have sustained damage. On 24 March 2026, a drone launched by Russia’s forces struck the Bernardine Monastery Ensemble within the historic center of Lviv, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a World Heritage Site in Danger. The ensemble includes the St. Andrew’s Church of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, formerly the seventeenth-century Bernardine Church; the church bell tower; the Central State Historical Archive in Lviv; a historic rotunda over a well; and a historic three-story residential building, formerly a residence for the monastery and convent. Analysis conducted by the Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab at the Virginia Museum of Natural History (CHML), in collaboration with the Museum Conservation Institute–Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative (MCI-SCRI), the Center for International Development and Conflict Management at the University of Maryland (CIDCM), the Penn Cultural Heritage Center at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (PennCHC), and the Ukrainian Heritage Monitoring Lab (HeMo), confirmed this damage. The team’s reporting of damage to cultural heritage sites in Ukraine was undertaken after accounts from cultural heritage professionals of damage following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.Please Download PDF for Full Report and Images.CITE THIS REPORT: Hanson, K., Meharry, J. E., Ievseieva, L., Shchurko, I., Pohranychnyi, M., Rozhko, V., Zadorozhna, M., Kovalova, P., Cil, D., Fitzgerald, K., Aronson, J., Bassett, H., Averyt, K., Kane, K. E., Gunter-Bassett, M., Welsh, W., Maher, A., Muller, C. E., and Daniels, B. I. (2026). “Site Report: Damage to Bernardine Monastery Ensemble in the Historic Center of Lviv, Ukraine,” Ukrainian Heritage Monitoring Lab; Virginia Museum of Natural History, Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab; University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Penn Cultural Heritage Center; University of Maryland, Center for International Development and Conflict Management; and Smithsonian Institution, Museum Conservation Institute–Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative. DOI: 10.25573/data.33070292
Source: Figshare
Authors: Katharyn Hanson, J. Eva Meharry, Liza Ievseieva, Ivan Shchurko, Matvii Pohranychnyi, Vasyl Rozhko, Mariia Zadorozhna, Polina Kovalova, Deniz Cil, Kaitlyn Fitzgerald, Jacob Aronson, Hayden Bassett, Katelynn Averyt, Kayla Kane, Madeleine Gunter-Bassett, William Welsh, Abigail Maher, Corinne Muller, Brian Daniels
Institution: Smithsonian Institution
Language: English
Subfield: Archeology (arts and humanities)
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7204473558