Olena Zelenska together with Queen Máxima of the Netherlands launched a Ukrainian-language audio guide in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. This is the 65th audio guide in the world as part of the Ukrainian First Lady’s global project to launch Ukrainian-language audio guides at the world's leading landmarks.
The guide was narrated by the famous Dutch actress of Ukrainian origin Victoria Koblenko. In addition to the audio guide, a video tour in Ukrainian was also created. The video tour was created by Ukrainian film director and screenwriter Maria Ponomaryova, and the guide for the video tour is Ukrainian artist Natalia Vladychko, who works at the Rijksmuseum.
The Rijksmuseum is one of the largest and most famous Dutch museums, the audio guide at this institution became the third audio guide in the Netherlands.
"This means a better understanding for our peoples not only in matters of art, but in all matters. It is also important for us because during the year of the Russian invasion, more than 300 museums were destroyed by enemy bombing. Not only people are dying from the Russian attack, but also art objects. And at the same time, it is art that gives us hope that the human spirit will always prevail over destruction and brute force. In Ukraine, we protect not only ourselves, we also ensure that this does not happen again anywhere in the world - so that neither people nor works of art are subjected to aggression," Olena Zelenska said in a video address on the occasion of the launch of the audio guide.
She thanked the museum's leadership and the Embassy of Ukraine in the Netherlands for the implementation of the project.
"The story of your museum's highlight, Rembrandt's The Night Watch, is especially important to me. It was attacked several times by vandals, but it survived. The hope that there will be light behind the darkness is very inspiring in these dark times," the First Lady said.
Recently, the Ukrainian-language audio guide was launched with the assistance of the Embassy of Ukraine in Finland on one of the largest and most important tourist destinations in Finland - the fortress island of Suomenlinna (Sveaborg).
It is a naval fortress located in Helsinki. Construction of the fortress began in the middle of the 18th century. In 1991, Suomenlinna was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List to preserve it for future generations as an example of eighteenth-century fortress architecture in Europe.