Exhibitions

5 February to 27 March 2026

509 cultural heritage sites in Ukraine have been confirmed as damaged by UNESCO since 24 February 2022 (as of 22.09.2025) - including 152 religious sites, 268 buildings of historical and / or artistic interest, 34 museums, 33 monuments, 18 libraries, one archive and three archaeological sites. And unfortunately, these numbers are increasing daily.

The exhibition shows 20 photographs of destroyed and damaged cultural sites from various cities in Ukraine, selected from the special category "War Destroys Monuments" of the international photo competition Wiki Loves Monuments. The photographs document the effects of the Russian war of aggression on religious, public and private buildings and visualise the ongoing loss of cultural heritage.

The exhibition was initiated by Renata Hanynets. She is a doctoral student at the chair of Heritage and student employee at the Competence Network Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies (KIU) at Viadrina University.

Location: Main Building in front of the library, Große Scharrnstraße 59

Exhibition languages: German and English

25 February to 15 March 2026

Karl Dedecius is the first winner of the Viadrina Prize, honorary doctor of the university, founder of the Karl Dedecius Foundation and the first founder and namesake of the Archive of Literary Translators in Słubice and is an important and lasting part of the history of the Viadrina. To mark the 10th anniversary of his death, the Karl Dedecius Foundation is organising a photo presentation and a small exhibition of documents relating to Karl Dedecius' work at Viadrina.

On Wednesday, 25 February 2026, at 4.30 pm, the Karl Dedecius Foundation invites intereseted parties to a talk. In an open format, all participants can take the floor and share short personal memories or reflections. The meeting will be accompanied by music by Karol Borsuk and a small snack, providing space for encounters and discussions.

Location: University Library 3rd floor, Main Building, Große Scharrnstraße 59, Frankfurt (Oder)

Online exhibition

As part of the seminar „Female Ancestors in Photographs and Documents“, a research project began at the Faculty of Cultural Studies at the European University Viadrina in the summer semester of 2023, under the direction of lecturer PD Dr Izabella Parowicz, in which students created a biography of a female ancestor living in the first half of the 20th century.

After this seminar was completed, three of the participants from the seminar (Anna Beuchel, Jan Hoffmann and Maria Siegele), together with a new student (Emilia Zimmermann), attended the subsequent course „Female Ancestors in Photographs and Documents – Exhibition Project“ in the winter semester 2023/24. The aim of this seminar was to create a website from the previously compiled biographies in order to create a digital exhibition project for internal and external visitors to the university.

The online exhibition shows historical images including accompanying texts in German and Polish and invites visitors to discover and remember. Over the course of the year, image galleries, videos and continuing stories will complement the digital offering and allow visitors to experience the history of Viadrina and the many people who have built and shaped the university since it was founded.