Resilience and Cross-Border Cooperation in Cultural Heritage Protection: The Lublin Triangle's Response to Ukraine's Cultural Crisis
Resilience and Cross-Border Cooperation in Cultural Heritage Protection: The Lublin Triangle's Response to Ukraine's Cultural Crisis

Summary/Abstract: The article examines how Poland and Lithuania supported Ukraine's cultural heritage during Russia's full-scale invasion and clarifies the Lublin Triangle's primarily political, solidarity-building function rather than an operational delivery role. Drawing on qualitative analysis of official documents, institutional reports, public communications, and stakeholder interviews, it evaluates cultural sector responses in 2022-2023 with attention to delivery capacity, coordination, and sustainability. The study finds that targeted aid to museums, archives, and memory institutions was provided chiefly through bilateral and institution to institution mechanisms, while the Lublin Triangle consolidated political messaging without generating rapid tools for cultural protection. Across cases, core contribution areas included logistics (protective materials and transport), training (emergency safeguarding and evacuation), documentation (damage assessment and digitization), and international advocacy (UNESCO-aligned actions and anti-trafficking guidance). The analysis underscores the need to institutionalize hybrid, apolitical arrangements that couple governmental legitimacy with the flexibility and resilience of civil society networks, mitigating vulnerability to political cycles and sustaining cultural heritage protection under wartime conditions.

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