In January, the fake “director of the East Crimean historical and cultural museum-reserve,” Tatyana Umrikhina, stated that allegedly “together with Moscow specialists from the State research institute of restoration,” a “project for emergency repair work” had been developed for the ancient “Tomb of Demeter” in Kerch.
The “Tomb of Demeter” is a monument of ancient funerary art discovered 130 years ago, and its most valuable feature is the preserved wall paintings depicting mythological scenes.
As one might easily guess, these paintings, which survived after the tomb’s discovery, despite the turbulent and tragic history of Kerch in the 20th century, began to deteriorate in 2018, when the Kerch “authorities” granted permission to two entrepreneurs to build buildings on plots of land next to the tomb.
During the construction of yet another multi-story building for Russian military personnel and security forces, they began laying water pipes and sewage systems, and after this excavation work, groundwater began to accumulate in the “Tomb of Demeter,” destroying the frescoes.
Subsequently, every year the aforementioned “museum-reserve” announced another “plan to save the tomb,” but even now the same Umrikhina was forced to admit that “specialized work is necessary to preserve the frescoes,” but “it is not yet possible to find funding for them.” At the same time, while looking for a mechanism to embezzle funds under the pretext of “saving the frescoes,” the described “museum staff” say nothing about their current condition, and access to the “Tomb of Demeter” has long been closed “due to its dilapidated state.”
As Kerch residents write on social media regarding this matter, “it’s simply necessary for the museum to be managed by a person with a relevant education, and not a former party functionary.”
This is a reference that the aforementioned Umrikhina began her career in Soviet times as a Komsomol and Communist functionary, and before the occupation, until 2011, she pursued a career in the “Party of Regions,” becoming a republican Minister of culture for a time.
Further, after a number of corruption-related criminal cases, Umrikhina was sent into “honorable exile,” to head the Kerch Historical and Cultural Reserve, where she met the occupation.
In recent years, Umrikhina has been involved in scandals related to the “approvals” of the aforementioned construction projects on historical sites, focusing on collecting “kickbacks,” and most likely a similar situation occurred in 2018 with the described construction near the “Tomb of Demeter.”
