the museum. In 1936, the institution received a collection of Central and Eastern Asian religious artworks; in 1940 — the world-renowned masterpieces: four early Byzantine encaustic icons dating from the 6th and the 7th centuries. In the summer of 1941, World War II began on the Soviet Union's territory, the most valuable part of the collection was evacuated to the city of Ufa (then the Bashkir ASSR, now Bashkortostan). The nazi looted the most precious artworks left in Kyiv and smuggled them out of Ukraine during their retreat in 1943. Nowadays the Khanenko Museum strives to locate and repatriate the stolen items. The museum maintains public awareness of the losses caused by the Nazi occupation of Kyiv. In 1998, it published a catalogue featuring the items which were looted and taken out of the country between 1941 and 1943. 1945–1998 The postwar period saw several important acquisitions. Over the course of the 1950s, Taisiia Zhaspar donated and sold more than 350 works of classical Chinese painting, sculpture, and decorative arts. In 1969, the museum purchased 41 works of Buddhist art from the Moscow art collector Valeriian Velichko. During the 1970s, the museum systematically built up its collection of Japanese netsuke figurines (about 70 items). Other acquisitions included paintings by the USA artist Rockwell Kent (1882–1971) known for his realistic landscapes. From 1986 to 1998 the museum was closed for capital renovation. 1998–2020 In the mid-1990s, the new management led by Vira Vynohradova started the era of restoration of historical memory and intensive development in the history of the museum. In 1998, the new permanent exhibition of European art of the 14th through the 19th centuries opened in the restored Khanenkos' mansion. In 1999, the founders' names re-took their places in the official title of the museum: "The Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko Museum of Art". In 2004, the permanent display of Byzantine "Sinai" icons of the 6th and the 7th centuries opened in the museum. Two years later, the first extensive permanent exhibition of Asian art was launched in a neighbouring building. In 2018, an Ancient art exhibition was arranged in the former "The Khanenkos' Bureau" on the ground floor of the mansion. Over the course of the 1990s and the 2000s, the Asian art collection was supplemented with valuable donations from Halyna Scherbak, Vasyl Novytskii, and Oleksandr Feldman. The first decades of the 21st century are characterised by intense research