Baturyn: coming alive
Archival documents dating from Ivan Mazepa’s period return to Ukraine
A landmark event is scheduled to take place in late November 2008 in the National Historical-Cultural Preserve “Hetman’s Capital” in Baturyn: the opening of the Citadel, the Archaeology Museum of Baturyn, the Museum of Hetmans’ Glory located in the Rozumovsky Palace, and a series of monuments. In order to add importance to this event and attract tourists, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently handed over to the Baturyn Preserve more than 50 letters signed by Hetman Ivan Mazepa, as well as the original of Lord Byron’s poem Mazeppa (1819). Historians regard it as the most precious of the rarities that have been returned to Ukraine, considering that this poem confirms the Ukrainian hetman’s international acclaim.
Says Natalia Serdiuk, head of the preserve’s research and education department: “Byron’s poem about Ivan Mazepa is graphic proof that the hetman’s activities and his desire to achieve Ukrainian independence were approved of by international figures, among them writers, at different points in time. This edition is precious for us also because the poem appeared in print during the author’s lifetime and there few such rarities left in the world.
“Among other precious finds are Mazepa’s letters discovered in St. Petersburg’s archives as part of Menshikov’s archive that was believed to have perished in the 1708 Baturyn Fortress fire. Menshikov, however, left with the Baturyn archive and field chancellery files, which is why Mazepa’s letters have survived. They were discovered by the Russian researcher Tatiana Tairova-Yakovleva who stumbled upon them in St. Petersburg’s archives. She helped us make copies of the original letters that will be kept in the Museum of Hetmans’ Glory.
St. Petersburg’s archives contain several dozen other precious documents dating back to the Hetmanate period. Historians, however, insist that the part of these archives that has been returned to Ukraine is priceless because for 300 years documents of the so-called Baturyn Archive have been purposefully destroyed (one of the reasons behind the lack of Hetman period items on display in Ukraine’s museums).
Among the other documents is a copy of a letter from Hetman Andrii Mohyla of Right-Bank Ukraine to Pope Innocent II, dated 1664. Outwardly this letter is perfectly normal, written on what is known today as A4 format and bearing several seals. However, what historians value is not the format but contents: in his letter the hetman thanks the pope for his aid in the war with the Turks. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko says this letter was discovered in British archives, adding that coded letters between the Swedish envoy in Moscow and the Estland military commander were discovered in Estonia’s historical archives. In these letters the international figures discuss the military and political situation in Ukraine.
Most of these documents are in Old Ukrainian and Old Latin. Unfortunately, the Baturyn Preserve lacks experts capable of translating them, yet the preserve’s representatives assure that this is just a matter of time and the most important thing now is that these documents are back where they historically belong.
