Welcome to a curator-led tour of the exhibition ‘North Azovian Greeks: Paths of Identity’

Since the opening of the multimedia exhibition ‘North Azovian Greeks: Paths of Identity,’ visitors have repeatedly asked about the possibility of curator-led tours. And now that opportunity has arrived!

The tour will take place on the last Saturday of summer, 30 August, at 1:30 p.m. at the National Museum of the Holodomor Genocide (3 Lavrska Street, Kyiv).

Participants will be able to familiarise themselves with all elements of the exhibition: from the history of the violent deportation of the North Azovian Greeks from Crimea to Nadazovia, to the theme of the native languages of the Urums and Roumeans and memories of their homeland. The curators will also discuss the history of the initiative and answer visitors’ questions.

For the convenience of all visitors, the organisers are kindly asking people to register in advance via this link.

For registered participants, admission to the museum during the tour will be free.

The exhibition ‘North Azovian Greeks: Paths of Identity’ is being organised by the public organisation ‘North Azovian Greeks: Urums and Roumeans’ in partnership with the National Museum of the Holodomor Genocide and the Mariupol Local History Museum.

For reference:

The North Azovian Greeks are an indigenous people of Ukraine who emerged in Crimea in the Middle Ages. The ethnic identity of the Urums and Roumeans developed based on the unification of Crimean Christians of various origins (Greeks, Goths, Alans, Turkic peoples, Georgians, Vlachs, etc.) and the interpenetration of their cultures. The North Azovian Greeks have two language groups: the Urums (Turkic speakers) and the Roumeans (Greek speakers). This bilingualism developed in Crimea. During 1778–1780, the government of the Russian Empire forcibly deported the Urums and Roumeas to Nadazovia (southern Donetsk region). As of August 2025, 74 of the 76 settlements where North Azovian Greeks lived compactly are occupied by the Russian Federation.

As a reminder, recently, the head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, Oleksandr Alfiorov, supported the idea of recognising the date commemorating the violent deportation of Urums and Roumeans from Crimea at the state level.

You can learn more about the history and culture of the North Azovian Greeks (Urums and Roumeans) on the social media pages of the exhibition organisers, the public organisation “North Azovian Greeks: Urums and Roumeans”: Facebook and Instagram.