20-year long road to Sich

Chortomlytska Sich had been si­tuated near a small villlage Kapulivka, Nikopol raion before it was destroyed by Russian emperor Petro I army. Now it is going to be restored. Despite the fact that the island it is situated on is flooded by Kahkovka reservoir, the place for its construction was chosen on purpose. Ivan Sirko’s tomb is situated at the end of the village. Cossacks of Chortomlytska Sich chose him as their ataman many times. From the top of the bu­rial mound one can see Dnipro’s and its tributaries’ mirror-like surface for many kilometers around, and ancient cossack villages, which are a few centuries old. The tomb of the legendary ataman and witcher has become a place of pilgrimage for Nikopol newlyweds and tourists from Ukraine and other countries. The 500th anniversary of Zaporozhian Cossacks was ce­le­brated here 20 years ago, at the dawn of Ukraine’s independence. In August 2000, thanks to the public pressure, Sirko’s skull was returned back to the tomb after it was kept in Moscow and then in the Dnipropet­rovsk Historical Museum for a long time. The excavations of the tomb that were conducted while transportation of ataman’s remains half a century ago let the antropologists from the Academy of Siences Ethnography Institute restore the historical image of the famous cossack. Now there is Sirko’s bronze bust at the top of the tumulus, and a gravestone, hewn by the cossacks after his death, at the foot. A couple of years ago, a small chapel and a watchtower that recreate the spirit of cossack era were built on both sides of the path that leads to ataman’s grave.

Present intentions to restore Chortomlytska Sich bear no comparison to what has been done before. Its construction is to be implemented on 20 hectares of rural land. One of the authors of the project, Volodymyr Bushtarenko, head of Sich-tour LLC, says that his personal “road to Sich” began two decades ago, when he created this ambitious project. The description of Chortomlytska Sich can be found in Moscow archives of Ma­lo­rusky department. It says that the Zaporozhian stronghold was enclosed with a dirt-wall with 13-meters long piles. A tower with a perimeter of 43 meters and gun slots was facing the steppe. A dirt borough with cannons was situated in front of the tower. The dirt-wall was surrounded with a deep 10-meter moat. Overall, Sich had a circumference of about 2 kilometers. A square was located in the center of Sich with a three-dome Church of the Protection of Mother of God rising in the middle of the square. Cossack dwellings and Cossack officers buildings, arsenal and treasury were encircling the square. Historians think, that the fortress was surrounded by a trade and handicraft quarter that occupied twice as much area as Sich did. Residents of Nikopol consider the Zaporozhian Sich that was built on Khortytsia island to be a misunderstanding and state authouritatively that it had never been there. “We just want to recreate the historical reality,” Bushtarenko says. “That is why we created a model that perfectly resembles what Sich used to look like before. Though this is not the final look of the future historical and cultural complex.” The thing is, Sich that is to be restored in Kapulivka has to be fully functional. Anyone who is interested should be able to come here, live in a Cossack kurin, taste kulish or broth, learn martial arts or horse riding, sail down the Dnipro river in a Cossack boat “chaika.” The total cost of the project that has to be finished in just one year, right before the start of Euro-2012, is 22 million euros. This amount is approximately equal to Nikopol’s annual budget.

The Glorious Sich Charity Fund was created to help carry out the pro­ject. The fund is headed by MPs of Ukraine Leonid Kozhara and Pavlo Zhebrivsky and such public figures as poet Dmytro Pavlychko and baroness Olha von Stallenberg. The latter says that the idea of an operating Sich excited the curiousity of representatives of Ukrainian diaspora in the Netherlands, Poland, the Baltic states. “For an idea like this one can even start collecting the donations,” says the baroness, “there is nothing embarrassing about it.” One of the sponsors is also on the fund’s founders list – Oleksandr Feldman, Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council deputy, Nikopol factory Turbostal general manager. He participated in Sirko’s monument installation. When he learned about the project of Chortomlytska Sich restoration, he offered his help and financed the creation of the model of Sich. “It is necessary to revive Ukrai­nian legacy,” he says. “Ukraine is the motherland for people of various nationalities. My ancestors on mother’s side had lived for at least three centuries in Vorontsovka, a village just 20 kilometers away from Kapulivka. I hope that there will be understanding and cooperation between Cossack organizations and Glorious Sich Fund, because we have a common goal.” Nikopol officials have not kept aloof this extensive project as well. They consider the construction of Sich to be a practicable project. “The conversations about the need of building of a watchtower and a chapel near Sirko’s tomb have been going on for almost two decades,” says Serhii Voronov, head of district administration. “And they were built in just three months. If the work is organized properly and there will be more actions than conversation, everything is possible! And there is aspiration for implementing this task. I will be frank and honest, there had not been such a powerful incitement and a real historical possibi­lity for the Cossack legacy revival as it is now.” It is expected that the newly brought to light Chortomlytska Sich is going to be a profitable business project.

It should be mentioned that just a couple of years ago Mykytynska Sich, the one that served as a starting point for the triumph of Bohdan Khmel­ny­ts­ky Cossack army, was planned to be restored. One of Dnipropetrovsk oligarchs was going to finance the project. But these days there are only piles of trash at that construction site. Not everything goes smooth in Chortomlytska Sich restoration too. Voronov admits that the land that is going to be used for building has already been divided. And though other allotments in Nikopol raion have already been found, the bureaucratic procedure of land contracts consumes quite a lot of time and money. Nevertheless, residents of Nikopol are optimistic about it. For example, head of Prydniprovsk Humanitarian and Economic College, Kostiantyn Kachura thinks that the pro­ject of Chortomlytska Sich restoration has great perspectives for hotel business and tourism. Two exotic majors are being prepared at the college now: Cossack economics and Cossack pedagogy.