The 3D-4CH EU-funded project announced the publication of the first 3D cultural heritage objects from Ukraine on Europeana. Developed in close collaboration with Pixelated Realities within the EU-funded XRculture and 3D-4CH Online Competence Centre initiatives, these models represent an important step toward enriching Europe’s digital cultural ecosystem with high-quality, standards-based 3D content from regions facing significant risks.
Marco Medici, Project Coordinator of 3D-4CH, comments:
“The publication of the first Ukrainian 3D cultural heritage objects on Europeana is a highly symbolic and concrete milestone. It demonstrates how European cooperation can translate technical expertise, shared standards, and digital infrastructures into real support for heritage at risk. By bringing these models into Europeana, we are not only safeguarding vulnerable cultural assets through high-quality 3D documentation, but also ensuring that Ukrainian heritage remains visible, accessible, and fully integrated within Europe’s common digital cultural space, even in times of crisis.”
Documenting at-risk monuments through emergency 3D capture
These first published 3D models originate from the Museum of Ukrainian Victory initiative and include outdoor sculptures and heritage sites from Odesa, Kherson, Kharkiv, and Sumy regions:
- Statue of Duke de Richelieu in Sand Bags and as an original version
- Lioness and Lion of the Odesa City Garden (sculptor Auguste Caїn) - see the 3D capture by pixelatedrealities on Sketchfab
- Taras Shevchenko monument, Odesa
- Taras Shevchenko Monument in Sand Bags, Kharkiv
- The Polovtsian warrior statues of Izium (Polovtsian babas), Kharkiv region
- The Northern Gate of Kherson fortress, Kherson
- Okhtyrka City Museum of Local Lore, Sumy region
The cultural heritage objects were captured through emergency photogrammetry workflows conducted by trained conflict reporters with subsequent 3D processing carried out in Odesa. The models are part of a wider collection of more than 30 objects documented for the Museum of Ukrainian Victory in 2022 and early 2023.
Scaling up Ukrainian 3D heritage in Europeana
Building on this successful pilot, Pixelated Realities - partner of the 3D-4CH Online Competence Centre - will contribute approximately 40 additional 3D models to Europeana next year. An open call will further invite Ukrainian cultural heritage institutions to share existing 3D assets via Europeana, expanding the representation of Ukrainian heritage within international digital infrastructures.
This effort is also an important step toward the long-term plans to establish a national Europeana aggregator based on the Register of the Museum Fund of Ukraine. This aggregator will be key national hub, connecting Ukrainian museum collections more directly with European digital platforms and infrastructures.
Strengthening Europe’s digital heritage ecosystem
By bringing these initial Ukrainian objects to Europeana, Europe’s flagship platform for cultural heritage, which already hosts more than 60 million items, the 3D-4CH project advances its mission to strengthen expertise, workflows, and best practices in 3D digitisation. These models demonstrate how cross-border collaboration and European-level capacity building can protect, document, and share vulnerable heritage, even under challenging circumstances.
This milestone not only expands access to Ukrainian cultural heritage but also supports Europe’s strategic goals in digital preservation, interoperability, and long-term data stewardship. Through the integration of advanced 3D datasets, Europeana’s collections become richer, more diverse, and more immersive, enabling new research opportunities, innovative reuse, and deeper public engagement.
Read further information in the press release launched by the 3D-4CH project.
Explore here the first collection of 3D Ukrainian cultural heritage assets on Europeana.