Posthumous European Heritage Award for custodian of Chernihiv museum killed at war 

Maryna Hrytsenko (1986-2025) from Chernihiv, Ukraine, is one of five Grand Prix winners of the European Heritage Awards/ Europa Nostra Awards announced during the European Heritage Summit in Nicosia, Cyprus, on 28 May.

During the ceremony, which formed the highlight of the Cultural Heritage Summit 2026, the laureates of the five Grand Prix and the Public Choice Award selected from this year’s winners were revealed. A total of 500 guests and many more viewers online from the heritage community joined the ceremony.

Maryna Hrytsenko won postmortem in the Heritage Champions category.

Maryna Hrytsenko was chief custodian of the Galagan Art Museum in Chernihiv. At the start of the war in 2022, she singlehandedly dismantled the Museum’s exhibitions and safeguarded over 17,000 objects in underground storage. In 2023, she joined the army as a paramedic, where she helped to save hundreds of lives, and was killed in 2025 evacuating wounded soldiers.

The Awards’ Jury said: “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 European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards are co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme and managed by Europa Nostra on behalf of the European Union since 2002.

Each year, the annual EU prize for cultural heritage honours up to 30 excellent achievements and outstanding personalities from European countries representing the latest developments and priorities related to heritage policy and practice in Europe.

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Press release