New publication: <I>Ukraine on Maps </I>

On March 12 the Hungarian Embassy in Kyiv hosted the launch of the Ukrainian-Hungarian co-publication of the geographic atlas Ukraine on Maps. The ceremony was attended by scholars from both countries. Among the VIP guests were President Borys Paton of Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences and his Hungarian counterpart Szilveszter Vizi. Both were involved in the creation of the new atlas and co-authored the foreword. To make the publication accessible to researchers in various countries, it was published in English.

During his speech at the launch Paton said that “this work entitled Ukraine on Maps is the result of many years of joint scholarly efforts. I would like to stress the word scholarly because this publication is filled with both geographical and historical content. It includes 77 maps and 20 tables that are complemented by extensive historical commentaries. Considering that the team that worked on this project included several dozen researchers from both Ukraine and Hungary, several articles included in this publication demonstrate the contacts between our two countries during various historical eras. One article mentions a princess of Kyivan Rus’ who became the wife of a Hungarian king. Ukrainian history is thus viewed from various angles, but on the whole our state emerges from the pages of this atlas as a genuine Slavic country, with its own traditions and values.”

The launch of the atlas coincided with another important event: the Hungarian national holiday known as “March 15.” Laszlo Jenkovski, a research associate at the Institute of Theoretical Physics, explained that on this day in 1848 the Hungarian people launched a rebellion aimed at Hungary’s separation from Austro- Hungary. Although this attempt to gain national independence ended in failure, the romantic spirit of that struggle is still alive among Hungarians, who mark this event every year.

In conjunction with this anniversary, the president of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences presented his Ukrainian counterpart with a scholarly award that is conferred on scholars who have made a valuable contribution to the development of European scholarship. Professor Vizi declared that Dr. Paton’s work is vivid proof that he deserves this award. Paton is the fourth European scholar to be honored by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.