UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière’s support to Ukraine

Two months after the inscription of the historic centre of Odessa on the World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger, Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador since 2009, decided to support the Odessa Archaeological Museum, which has the largest collection of sources on ancient history in the northern Black Sea, a library of more than 130,000 historical books and manuscripts, a numismatic collection of 55,000 coins and a collection of about 800 ancient Egyptian coins dating from the Predynastic period to the Middle Ages. The museum has the largest collection of sources on ancient history in the northern Black Sea, a library of more than 130,000 historical books and manuscripts, a numismatic collection of 55,000 coins and a collection of about 800 ancient Egyptian coins dating from the Predynastic period to the Ptolemaic era.

These collections urgently need to be inventoried, digitised and protected, especially to face the risks of destruction, theft and illicit trafficking. UNESCO has established a dedicated action plan in recent months. The Foundation of Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière has decided to take full responsibility for financing these actions. Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, officially announced this support to the Ukrainian authorities during her visit to the country in early April 2023.

(Photo: Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO and Galina GRIGORENKO, Deputy Minister of Cultural Policies and Information. In front of the Odessa Archaeological Museum, April 2023, Photo credit: Dmytro KUYZNIETSOV)

The Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière Foundation, the umbrella of its social, humanitarian and cultural actions, acts in particular through the Culture & Diversity Foundation, which aims to promote access to culture and higher education in the arts for young people from modest backgrounds, the Fondation du Patrimoine and the Association des Musées Méconnus de la Méditerranée (AMMed) which aims to encourage cultural dialogue.

Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière is thus the first private donor for actions in the field of culture in Ukraine in partnership with UNESCO.

En décembre 2022, Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière avait accueilli Madame Olena Zelenska, Première dame d’Ukraine, lors de sa visite à Paris pour une soirée de gala à la salle Pleyel au profit de la Fondation Olena Zelenska et, en particulier, pour permettre la reconstruction de l’hôpital central d’Izioum, l’un des plus grands hôpitaux de la région de Kharkiv.