Relocated Mariupol University library rebuilds connection to Greek culture

On May 14th, representatives from the refugee community from Mariupol and Kyiv academia, along with diplomatic missions from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Latvia, the Netherlands, Romania, and Slovenia, gathered at the relocated university campus to attend the opening of the new library, intended to replace the famed Konstantinos Leventis Library of Hellenic Studies – once the region's most extensive Greek library, counting 20,000 publications. 

The University had originally been founded on the initiative of the Hellenic Association of Mariupol in the first month of Ukrainian independence, and served as a vital link to the Greek-speaking world until the Russian full-scale invasion in 2022. 

The collection focuses largely on Cyprus - its history, architecture, culture, and language. To highlight the relevance of these topics, the ambassador was able to connect a text on Cypriot Churches to his own country’s experience in resilience in the face of war and cultural preservation: 

“We're talking about 550 [destroyed] churches,” the ambassador explained, referring to Cyprus. 

“We're not going to go into cemeteries that were completely destroyed. But as a result of this destruction, there was a great deal of theft of artifacts. And we, in the last certainly 40 years, we've had some tremendous successes in getting them back. We have a lot of legal expertise on this.” 

Students of the University were also given the opportunity to ask questions about learning opportunities available in Cyprus, Ukraine’s place in the European Union, and career opportunities in international politics.

Prior to the Russian occupation of Mariupol, it was the centre of the Greek community of Ukraine. Greeks first came to the lands that would be Ukraine in ancient times, securing trade routes back to the homeland to obtain, most importantly, agricultural goods. The Hellenic presence in Ukraine goes back as long as the written record. They were the first to write about it, considering it the mythological home of the Amazon warrior women. In later times, Kyiv rose to prominence as a trading hub between the Scandinavians and Greeks, and Ukrainians adopted the Greek form of Christianity.

The Greeks of Mariupol specifically settled the city at the end of the 18th century, many having been forcibly displaced from the Crimean peninsula by the Russian Empress Catherine II. Greeks had always been a minority in Mariupol, but Mariupol and the surrounding areas of the Donetsk Oblast had accounted for the majority of Greek Ukrainians.

That continuity was shattered by the Russian destruction of the city, forcing an end to hundreds of years of history. However, refugees who fled the now-occupied ruins of Mariupol carry their legacy with them, with The Federation of Greek Societies of Ukraine, as well as other Greek heritage organizations, relocating to Kyiv. Mariupol State University is also a key link in preserving a now-lost history: aside from the library, they also recently established a museum of evacuated artifacts and art from the communities of the southern Donbas. 

Stepan Mahsma, former Chair of the Mariupol District Council and current deputy mayor of Zaporizhzhya, stated it succinctly: “Hellenism in Ukraine was, is, and will be, and no war can destroy that.”