Kuindzhi Art Museum, Mariupol
The Kuindzhi museum in a 1902 house at 58 Heorhiivska Street, destroyed by a russian aerial bomb on 21 March 2022.
The museum opened on 30 October 2010 as a branch of the Mariupol Museum of Local History (Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine) in a house at 58 Heorhiivska Street, built in 1902 as a wedding gift for the wife of the founder of the Real School (mistomariupol.com.ua). At the time of the invasion the museum held more than 2,200 works of painting, graphics, sculpture and decorative art (Suspilne). On 21 March 2022 a russian aerial bomb destroyed the building; the exhibition had been moved to the basement in advance (Ukrainian Institute). The head of the National Union of Artists said at the time that no Kuindzhi originals were in the museum when it was hit (Espreso). On 17 June 2026 prosecutors served a notice of suspicion in absentia on the former director: according to the investigation, Kuindzhi’s studies “Red Sunset”, “Autumn. Crimea” and “Elbrus”, a painting by Aivazovsky and a portrait by Kalmykov worth UAH 26.3 million were handed over to the occupation “Donetsk Republican Museum” (Gordon).
Mariupol has been occupied since 2022 — no access. The record of the museum holdings taken away is in the city card.