How Many Monuments To the Bard Are There in the World?

Wherever Ukrainians live, they put up monuments to the Bard. Are there any statistics about the number of monuments to Taras Shevchenko? Who sees to it that they are properly maintained? In an interview with The Day , Oleksandr KUCHERUK, director of the O. Olzhych Library, who studies the phenomenon of perpetuating Shevchenko’ memory, recounts the story of various monuments.

“Oddly enough, the first monument to the Bard was unveiled not in Ukraine but in what is now Kazakhstan (part of the Russian Empire at the time). In 1881 a Shevchenko bust, resting on a semicircular podium, was erected on Mangyshlak Peninsula, where the poet did his punitive military service. The monument was torn down in 1920 and restored seven years later.”

“Was this the first sculptural image of Shevchenko?”

“No. The first sculptural image was the work of the Ukrainian sculptor F. Balavensky, a graduate of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, who began to sculpt from nature, when Taras Shevchenko was still alive. He completed the work in 1862, after the poet’s death. Later the well-known Russian sculptor M. Mikeshin, who was personally acquainted with Shevchenko, also tried to create a monument to the Bard. He planned to show the poet’s figure in a multi-figured monument to be erected in the city of Novgorod, but the tsarist authorities banned the project. Incidentally, the monument to Bohdan Khmelnytsky in downtown Kyiv would have looked entirely different had it not been for lack of funds. Mikeshin’s concept visualized the hetman surrounded by a multi-figured composition with a kobza player resembling Shevchenko in the center.”

“When and in what city was the first monument to the poet erected in Ukraine?”

“The first marble bust was housed at the Kharkiv manor of the art patron Kh. Alchevska back in 1889. In 1914, on the eve of the poet’s centenary, many towns and villages, especially in Western Ukraine, unveiled several dozen monuments to Taras Shevchenko — mostly busts or small figures. Some of them are still standing in spite of the decades that have passed, for example, in Kolomiya, Kosiv, Vovchyntsi, Nadiyev, Zavadiv, etc. Manmade mounds with small crosses on top may also be considered monuments to the Bard. “The first large monument in Ukraine was created in 1918 in Romny, on Bolshevik-controlled territory, by the well-known sculptor Ivan Kavaleridze. That same year monuments to Shevchenko were unveiled in Moscow and Petersburg (sculpted by S. Volnukhin and Y. Tilberg, respectively). Yet they proved to be short-lived, for they were hastily created out of substandard materials. The Romny monument was restored in bronze in 1981.

“So the authorities did not exactly suffer from ‘monument-mania’ with respect to Shevchenko. For example, the poet was immortalized in a bronze statue in Kharkiv as late as 1934, when his 120th anniversary was being celebrated, and in 1939 in Kyiv. Lviv saw a monument to the Bard much later.”

“Monuments have been erected in almost every foreign city with a Ukrainian diaspora, haven’t they?”

“In some cases the diaspora funded monuments, in others it was the Soviet government that cared for and financed them. For instance, the Shevchenko monument in Palermo, near Toronto, was a gift to Canadian Ukrainians from the Soviet Ukrainian government in 1951. This town was chosen because it had one of the largest communities of ‘progressive,’ to use the buzzword of the time, Ukrainians, i.e., those who were pro-Soviet. The pedestal bears a very distinctive inscription: ‘From the Ukrainian people to the Ukrainians of Canada.’ In another Canadian city, Winnipeg, a monument was unveiled on the occasion of the poet’s 150th birth anniversary through the efforts of the diaspora. Its sculptor was the Ukrainian- born Canadian A. Drahan.

“Also interesting is the story of the Shevchenko monument in Washington, the US capital. Although Ukrainian emigrants funded it, five US presidents were involved in the project. President Harry Truman was honorary chairman of the Taras Shevchenko Monument Committee, while the future president Ronald Reagan was one of it members. President Dwight Eisenhower signed a Congress bill into law. John F. Kennedy helped bring the concept to fruition, and President Lyndon Johnson’s special message was embedded into the monument’s pedestal. Another interesting detail: when the monument to our Bard was being laid, workers used the same shovel that was used when the monuments to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln were being laid in the US capital.”

“This means that seven, not five, presidents were directly or indirectly involved in the Washington monument project. Incidentally, I have been to the US capital and seen this monument. For some reason, it stands in an area populated by sex minorities. Who chose such a strange location?”

“There is no evil plot here. It used to be quite a posh area, but times keep changing. Areas get dilapidated and criminalized and Washington is no different in this regard.”

“Is there anyone in Ukraine who is monitoring the condition of Shevchenko monuments abroad? Perhaps some of them need restoration?”

“Unfortunately, no one is dealing with this here. There is still no comprehensive list of monuments and commemorative signs to Taras Shevchenko in Ukraine, let alone abroad.”

“A Shevchenko monument was destroyed in 1993 in Romania after the downfall of the communist regime. Do you know any other acts of vandalism?”

“I cannot say this was an anti-Shevchenko act. The communists erected the monument. After the Romanians overthrew the Ceausescu regime, they crushed everything that reminded them of the Soviet Union and communism. So the monument to our Taras Shevchenko fell victim to this destruction. But Ukrainian embassy employees have told me that thanks to the Romanian government’s efforts, the monument to the Bard has been restored. As for overt acts of vandalism against Shevchenko monuments, I haven’t heard of any.”

“So in what cities are there monuments to Shevchenko?”

“It’s a long list. So I will only say that about half of European capitals have monuments to Taras Shevchenko. They are also some in Brazil, Argentina, the US, and Canada. Surprisingly, a statue to the Bard adorns even the island of Malta. Apparently some Ukrainian community ordered a sculpture from a famous local marble quarry. The community made a down payment but failed to collect the remaining money. So the monument stayed in Malta.”

“And where is the most original monument?”

“The monument in Rome is a novel interpretation of the Bard’s figure. Here Shevchenko is depicted as an ancient philosopher with his right hand raised in a gesture of greeting. The author is the Italian sculptor U. Mazei. The monument, which faces the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of St. Sophia, was unveiled in 1973 in the presence of Ukrainian Catholic hierarchs, clergy, and a large number of Ukrainians.”

“And which monument in Ukraine is the best piece of art?”

“The one in Kyiv. The monument was a highly professional endeavor, and much attention was paid to such factors as location and landscape, not just to the sculptural portrayal. Incidentally, before the revolution there was a monument to a tsar in the place of today’s Shevchenko monument. Then it was removed, but the pedestal was left intact. When Mykhailo Hrushevsky died and his body was brought to Kyiv for burial, there were problems with his monument because of lack of money. A young, unknown sculptor named Ivan Makohon agreed to take the job for a small sum of money. He decided to adorn Hrushevsky’s tomb with the stone that was originally meant for the tsar’s monument. The sculptor worked outdoors in Shevchenko Park. As soon as he finished his work, the monument was taken to the cemetery. When the time came to celebrate Shevchenko’s 120th birth anniversary, it was decided to erect a monument in the capital of Ukraine. It was difficult to find a better place than the university park, where the tsar’s statue once towered. The Leningrad-based sculptor Matvei Manizer won the competition for the best portrayal of the Bard. But when the monument was ready and brought to the site, it turned out to be too small for this space. So the decision was made to erect it in Kaniv. In Kyiv, the sculptor duplicated his work with a few minor changes, making the figure two meters taller. This produced excellent results!”

“And where have the latest monuments to the Bard been erected?”

“In Warsaw, Minsk, and Brest. Incidentally, Belarus declared 2003 the Year of Taras Shevchenko. One of the events was the unveiling of two monuments to the great Bard.”