Twenty-First Century: New Spiritual Passport of the Nation
A high-profile presentation of the first two volumes of the five-volume fundamental History of the Ukrainian Culture was held in the National Philharmonic Society last Tuesday. According to President of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences Borys Paton, the academy’s presidium decided to publish the collection in 1991. Over one hundred scientists, linguists, ethnographers, art experts, historians, philosophers, and geographers have been involved in writing it, with the third volume due to come out in June 2002.
This mammoth work throws light on the centuries-old original history of Ukrainian culture, its links with other cultures, and the tangible contribution it has made to world culture. The collection also provides insights into such important areas of culture as philosophy, religion, science, history, and law.
The publication of the History became possible due to the Ukraine- Twenty-First Century joint project of the Academy of Sciences and the Foundation For Intellectual Cooperation headed by People’s Deputy Bohdan Hubsky.
The first volume was prepared mainly by Kyiv scholars, with Academician and Institute of Archeology Director Petro Tolochko as editor-in-chief. This volume describes the first settlements of people on Ukraine’s present territories, the households of various peoples that inhabited our land, and shows the emergence, golden age, and decline of the Kyiv Rus’. Volume two was prepared by scholars of the academy’s Lviv-based Krypiakevych Institute of Ukrainian Studies with Academician and institute Director Yaroslav Isayevych as its editor-in-chief. This volume deals with the development of education, arts, literature, and science from the thirteenth through early seventeenth centuries.
For a nation of 48 million the press run is small, a mere five thousand, but Academy of Sciences Vice President and Academician Ivan Kuras reassures us, “We are keeping all the books’ proofs and can print new editions if needed. The history will be sent to university and scholarly libraries and major institutions of culture. But there are 20,000 libraries, about 200 state- run and 200 private universities and colleges, 24,000 schools, plus private persons. Students, experts, state institutions, cultural foundations — with such a variety of readers the demand is guaranteed.”
In the twentieth century Mykhailo Hrushevsky’s monumental ten-volume History of Ukraine-Rus’ was a kind of a spiritual passport for Ukraine. Hopefully, the five-volume work to be completed in 2003 will play a similar role in the century that has just begun.
