Documenting the Destruction of Cultural Heritage Sites in Ukraine (Based on the Results of the “Save Spadok” Competition, 2023–2025)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63437/3083-6433-2026-1(36)-08Keywords:
cultural heritage, cultural heritage sites, geoinformation technologies, remote sensing of the Earth, database, ArcGIS OnlineAbstract
This article analyzes the results of the All-Ukrainian competition “Save Spadok” (2023, 2024, 2025), conducted by the Laboratory of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing of the Earth (RSE) of the National Center “Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.” The competition provides participants with a unique opportunity not only to study Ukraine’s rich cultural heritage but also to apply modern technologies, in particular satellite image analysis, to document and assess the scale of destruction. The purpose of the competition is to create a database of damaged, destroyed, and demolished tangible cultural heritage sites caused by Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine. Participants include students of grades 7–11 from general secondary education institutions, pupils of extracurricular education institutions, and graduates of the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The competition is held in two stages: the qualifying stage from October to May and the final stage from May to June. The result of the first stage is a database of damaged tangible cultural heritage sites mapped across the territory of Ukraine. The competition jury reviews the submitted project works and selects participants for the second (final) stage, which is conducted in the form of a presentation of a story map created by participants in the ArcGIS Online environment. The initial principles and organizational approaches of the competition were refined over the three years of its implementation in order to improve its effectiveness. The analysis demonstrates a strong interest among young people in the process of documenting and preserving Ukraine’s cultural heritage. Moreover, the combination of scientific approaches, geoinformation technologies, and educational practices has yielded positive results and promising prospects for the future. In the 2025 competition, the maximum number of cultural heritage sites mapped by three members of the “Memory of the Nation” team reached 1,025 features (point, linear, and polygonal), all with completed database attributes, including object descriptions, photographs, sources, types of damage, and other relevant information.
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References
Використані літературні джерела
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