Monument to Bogdan Khmelnitsky, splendor of sculpture. Monument to Bohdan Khmelnitsky. History and modernity. History of the monument to Bohdan Khmelnytsky

Location:

G. Kyiv, pl. Sofia.

A king, hero or commander mounted on a horse is a popular theme in memorial art. The most famous artistic sculptures of this kind are the Bronze Horseman or the sculpture of Peter I, installed on Senate Square in St. Petersburg in 1782, and the monument to Johann of Saxony, towering over Dresden's Theater Square. But! Growing interest in Ukraine is forcing travel organizers to take a fresh look at one of Kyiv’s long-standing attractions. We are talking about the monument to Bohdan Khmelnitsky, which appeared on Sophia Square in 1888.

This is a rare monument in its beauty and decisive dynamism to the hetman of the Zaporozhye Army, one of the most striking and controversial figures in modern Ukrainian history. Why controversial? On the initiative of Bogdan Zinovy Khmelnitsky, the lower lands of the Sich, part of the left bank of Ukraine in the Middle Dnieper region, and Kyiv itself “broke” ties with the Polish-Lithuanian state and became part of the Russian kingdom.

The memorial work is represented by the image of the hetman himself, who, at full speed, sharply reins in his lathered horse. The Hetman is dressed in what today would be called a “ceremonial uniform” - trousers “as wide as the entire Black Sea”, morocco boots, a traveling cloak and a hat with a feather, demonstrating the social status of the main arsonist and initiator of the Cossack uprising, which later turned into a national liberation war against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of 1648-1654.

In his right hand, the commander holds a mace, which sets the direction of movement for the people who have trusted in the energy of this person. The horse, stopped in full gallop, is placed on a relatively low stone. Its shape imitates a steppe mound.

All the details of the sculpture - the horse, the rider and his clothes, are carefully worked out, the statue has a portrait resemblance to Bogdan Khmelnitsky, so the composition makes a great impression on the viewer from almost any angle.

It is believed that one of the most powerful landmarks of Kyiv in sculptural form depicts the meeting of Bohdan Khmelnytsky with the city residents immediately after the victory over Pilyavtsy.

At the same time, it is known for certain that the original concept of the monument was very different from what we see now. The option was quite seriously considered in which Bogdan Khmelnitsky would use a horse to trample and push off a cliff a Polish nobleman and a Jesuit, who were falling on the corpse of a murdered Jew. At the same time, the hand with Khmelnitsky’s mace should have been turned in the direction of Moscow. A kobzar with the face of Taras Shevchenko was supposed to sit at the foot of the rock. Naturally, the kobzar sang, and the Belarusian, Red Russian and Little Russian, endowed with a characteristic appearance, listened to him.

It is known exactly what made the sculptor refuse - Mikhail Mikeshin, from the original plan. In 1870, an all-Russian fundraising for the current monument project began, by subscription. We collected only 37 thousand rubles. Therefore, the Governor-General of the South-Western Territory, Alexander Dondukov-Korsakov, proposed removing the anti-Polish and anti-Semitic component from the composition. In a very “stripped-down” version, the statue of Bogdan Khmelnitsky with a horse was cast in St. Petersburg at the Berda factory in 1877. The city's maritime department donated 25.6 tons of scrap metal for this purpose.

A huge number of monuments and other attractions are concentrated in Kyiv. My absolute favorites are sculptures, because, being a mediocre artist, I always admire them. But I can’t appreciate all contemporary art...

The monument that will be discussed in this article was built in honor of the Cossack hetman Bohdan (Zinovy) Mikhailovich Khmelnytsky - the most popular and beloved hetman of Ukraine. Its clear silhouette against the sky can be seen in the center of Sophia Square. However, I am not sure that the equestrian statue is in harmony with the outlines of St. Sophia Cathedral, which rises nearby. It still seems to me that the cathedral attracts the eye and only up close can one appreciate Mikeshin’s work at its true worth.

In my opinion, this monument is, in fact, the only thing that materially perpetuates the memory of the hetman. There is no grave for him.

Composition and architectural features

The bronze sculpture of a horseman is installed on a pedestal in the shape of a hill, lined with large granite blocks.

The Hetman of Ukraine is depicted riding a dashing rearing horse. In his right hand, drawn back, B. Khmelnitsky firmly holds a mace, which seems to be pointing to the north. In my opinion, the hetman’s facial features and details of his clothing were reproduced very realistically. The expressive silhouette of a rearing horse, the curves of its legs and neck especially impressed me. In general, a rather dynamic composition.

The monument, designed to be viewed from all sides from close and far, has become a kind of emblem of Kyiv. Without a doubt, among the few equestrian sculptures, this is the most harmonious. Tourists willingly take pictures near the monument.

How to get there

In the city center I always walk or ride a two-wheeler. Which is what I recommend to everyone. But here are other options:

On your own two feet from the metro. The nearest stations are Zoloti Vorota (you need to walk along Vladimirskaya Street to Sofiyskaya Square) and Independence Square (along Sofiyskaya Street to the end).
By public transport. From the Maidan Nezavisimosti metro station you need to travel just one stop on the 6, 16 or 18 trolleybus.
By car. When traveling by this type of transport in the center of Kyiv (on weekdays), take into account two small difficulties: traffic jams and parking problems. On weekends this is easier. There are many paid parking lots on Sofiyskaya Square (one hour will cost 10 hryvnia).

Some interesting facts

Initially, the pedestal contained words about Russia indivisible, but after the revolution they were replaced. Today you can only see the inscription there: “Bogdan Khmelnytsky. 1888.”
According to the author's first plan, the statue was to be supplemented with other sculptural details. Bogdan Khmelnitsky's horse pushed a Polish nobleman, a Jewish tenant and a Jesuit from a cliff, in front of which a Little Russian, a Red Russian, a Belarusian and a Great Russian listened to the song of a blind kobzar. This project would be very chauvinistic. This would definitely make it too harsh and very incorrect from a political point of view (besides, the money that had been collected from the world for a long time was sorely lacking). The figures of the hetman's "enemies" and "friends", the bas-reliefs of which were intended by the sculptor, did not become an addition to the central figure due to the same financial considerations. The original version of the monument can be seen in the Museum of City Sculpture of St. Petersburg.
The Maritime Department donated 25.6 tons of scrap metal for the monument.
The equestrian statue, cast from copper, was delivered from St. Petersburg. But before the sculpture was installed, it had to lie in the courtyard of the police headquarters for eight years. About this, Kiev residents joked: “Bogdan was arrested before entering the city,” and there were also jokes about the lack of a passport.
They seriously thought about installing a statue on Bessarabia Square. But, since at that time it was an unsightly outskirts of Kyiv (and in this case Bogdan Khmelnitsky would have pointed to the tavern with his mace), the city authorities rejected this option in time.
But they miscalculated in another case. When they first installed the monument, they discovered that its back side was turned towards St. Michael’s Cathedral, so they had to turn it around a little (so as not to offend the feelings of the believers). Now he is looking somewhere to the north (towards Sweden), and not Poland (as was originally intended).
City architect V. Nikolaev, who designed and built the pedestal for the monument, worked for free, and spent the money he saved on installing fencing and lanterns.

One day an unexpected situation occurred. A bronze feather disappeared from the hetman's hat. There were rumors that Polish football fans were taking revenge in this way. But the sculptors who restored the monument explained everything by oxidation of the joint and the cavity of the internal part. Apparently it fell inside. Who knows, maybe that’s how it all happened.
Thanks to domestic 3D technologies, this was the first “temporarily revived” monument in Ukraine.
In 2005, a stone was added to the composition, which depicts the election of then-president Viktor Yushchenko as hetman of Ukraine. He subsequently renounced the title, but the stone still stands to this day.

>> monument to Bogdan Khmelnytsky

The monument to Bohdan Khmelnitsky is the most famous monument of the city, a kind of symbol of Kyiv. It was installed in honor of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, who went down in the history of Ukraine as an outstanding commander and statesman who led the uprising of the Ukrainian people against the rule of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Bogdan Khmelnitsky is also known thanks to the Pereyaslav Rada, which made Muscovy and Ukraine allies.

In the mid-19th century, Ukrainian cultural figures had the idea to erect a monument to Bohdan Khmelnytsky in Kyiv or Pereyaslav. There is no clear answer to the question of who first came up with this idea. The authorship is shared by two professors: Mikhail Maksimovich and Nikolai Kostomarov. The implementation of the plan became possible thanks to Mikhail Yuzefovich, also a professor, who was the head of the Kyiv Archaeographic Commission. The project for the future monument was to be developed by the then very famous painter and sculptor Mikhail Mikeshin.

The first project of the monument to Bohdan Khmelnitsky was completed on a grand scale. On a granite pedestal, shaped like a mound, the hetman sat on a prancing horse. Under the horse's hooves it was intended to depict the prostrate body of a Jesuit priest, covered with a tattered Polish banner, with links of broken chains lying nearby. The figures of a Polish nobleman and a Jewish tenant flew from the cliff, knocked down by a galloping horse. Below, in front of the rock, there were 4 more figures - a blind kobzar and his listeners: a Belarusian, a Little Russian, a Great Russian and a Red Russian. The bas-reliefs were supposed to depict episodes of the Battle of Zbarazh and the Entry of Khmelnitsky’s troops into Kyiv.

Funds for the monument were supposed to be raised through charitable subscriptions, but donations were received poorly. Political motives and lack of funds led to the fact that the composition of the approved monument became much more modest. The trampled Polish banner and anti-Semitic themes were rejected, and at the same time the figures of the kobzar, his listeners, and bas-reliefs disappeared from the monument.

The Maritime Department donated 1,600 pounds (25.6 tons) of old ship copper for the construction of the monument. In 1877, a plaster model was finally made, and in 1879 in St. Petersburg, at the Berd foundry and mechanical plant, with the participation of sculptors Pius Adamovich Velionsky and Artemy Lavrentievich Ober, the composition was cast from metal.

The location for the installation of the monument to Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky was determined after much debate - it was decided that it would be Sophia Square. But suddenly a ban came from St. Petersburg. The fact is that the monument erected on Sofiyskaya (Sofievskaya) Square would be located between the altar wall of the Kyiv Sophia (Sofievsky) Cathedral and the building of St. Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral. The statue was oriented so that the hetman's mace was directed threateningly towards Poland. Accordingly, it turned out that Bogdan Khmelnitsky’s horse had its tail turned towards the altar wall of the St. Sophia Cathedral, and this is what the numerous pilgrims rushing to the cathedral will see instead of the Christian shrine. In addition, the view of the cathedral from the St. Michael's Monastery and Khreshchatyk was blocked. This caused indignation among the Kyiv clergy, and they wrote a complaint to the Synod. For some time he stood on Bessarabskaya Square.

For eight years, the finished monument to Bohdan Khmelnytsky stood in the courtyard of the Starokievsky police station, since there was not enough money to build a granite pedestal. Kievans joked that the hetman was arrested for “arriving without a passport.” Finally, in 1886, 12,000 rubles were allocated from the city treasury, and the administration of the Kiev Fortress gave 30 cubic fathoms of granite for the monument, which remained from the construction of the supports of the Chain Bridge, after which the architect Vladimir Nikolaev designed and built a pedestal for the monument. The Kiev architect worked for free, and spent the money he managed to save on installing a fence with lanterns around the monument.

In order not to offend the feelings of believers, the sculptural composition was turned around, after which the mace began to threaten towards Sweden rather than towards Poland. Contrary to popular belief, the mace was never pointed towards Moscow. Only the inscriptions on the pedestal spoke of involvement in Russia: “We want an Eastern, Orthodox Tsar” and “Bogdan Khmelnitsky has a single indivisible Russia.” In 1919 and 1924, these inscriptions were changed to “Bogdan Khmelnytsky. 1888,” which has survived to this day.

On July 11, 1888, during the celebration in Kyiv of the 900th anniversary of the baptism of Rus', the monument to Bohdan Khmelnitsky was finally erected and consecrated.

The monument to Bohdan Khmelnitsky itself makes a strong impression with its dynamism. It was as if the rider, at full gallop, reined in his horse to address the people. The portrait resemblance to the prototype, as well as the details of clothing, are quite accurately conveyed. The pedestal of the sculptural composition is relatively low, in addition, it is accessible for all-round viewing, which makes it possible to examine in detail all the details of the composition, which are worked out very carefully.

On Sophia Square there is a monument to Bohdan Khmelnytsky, probably the most famous hetman of Ukraine, under whose leadership the liberation war against Polish oppression took place. On this monument, Bogdan Khmelnytsky with his right hand, holding the hetman’s mace, points north, in the direction of Moscow. Bohdan Khmelnytsky (1595-1657) – military and statesman, elected hetman of Ukraine in 1648.

It was under the leadership of this great Ukrainian that the liberation war of the people of Ukraine against the domination of the Poles on its territory began and successfully ended. At the Pereyaslav Rada on January 8, 1654, Hetman Khmelnytsky declared the reunification of Ukraine and Russia.

The meaning of sculpture

The idea of erecting a monument to mark the unification of Ukraine and Russia appeared back in 1868. The implementation of the project was entrusted to the iconic sculptor of those times - Mikhail Mikeshin. According to the author's plan, the sculptural group should contain an equestrian statue of the hetman, which rises on a granite rock, and under the hooves of his horse is the prostrate corpse of a Jesuit, covered with a tattered Polish banner.

Behind the horse is the body of a Polish gentleman falling from a cliff, and just below is the corpse of a Jewish tenant, who clutched with his ossified hands the church utensils he had stolen. The granite rock should be placed on a pyramidal pedestal, on different sides of which bronze bas-reliefs should be placed. In the foreground, slightly below Khmelnitsky, there should be five more figures - a singing kobzar with listeners on different sides.

In 1870, the Tsar gave the go-ahead to begin collecting funds for the construction of a multi-figure composition. However, they were not so willing to donate money, so for the sake of economy and because of the outrageous “political incorrectness” of the project, it was decided to abandon most of the elements of the monument.

The Navy Department donated one and a half thousand pounds of old ship copper for the statue. In 1879, an equestrian statue of Bogdan Khmelnitsky was cast in the Russian city of St. Petersburg. There were no funds for the pedestal, so for a long time Khmelnitsky stood on a brick pedestal, and only in 1888, on the occasion of the nine-hundredth anniversary of the Baptism of Rus', a worthy pedestal was erected for the monument.

Book a hotel in Kyiv

To get acquainted with the sights of Kyiv, in particular the Khmelnitsky monument, you will need to stay somewhere. Especially for you, Kyiv hotels are presented below, divided into three categories: popular hotels, luxury hotels and cheap hotels. Here you can book a hotel room in Kyiv in advance according to your wishes and financial capabilities. For your convenience, here is information about the location of the hotels relative to the city center, as well as the number of stars.

Simply select the hotel you like by clicking on the “View Hotel” button. Next you will find yourself on a page where you can book a hotel. There you can also find more detailed information about it, reviews, ratings, photographs, location on the map, features and, of course, prices.

If you want to look at other hotels, you can simply select the city “Kyiv” from above, and a list of all Kyiv hotels available for booking will open in front of you.

Release of “Heads and Tails” in Kyiv

“Heads and Tails” is a travel program showing one city from the point of view of a budget-conscious tourist and a tourist who does not limit himself in terms of funds. In this issue, the program participants went to Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. To see how a budget traveler or a traveler who is not limited on funds can spend time in this magnificent city, watch the video below.

Kiev, Sofiyskaya Square, metro: “Golden Gate”, “Independence Square”.

The monument to Bohdan Khmelnitsky is one of the most famous city monuments, a kind of emblem of Kyiv.

The idea to erect a monument to Bohdan Khmelnytsky in Kyiv or Pereyaslav arose back in 1859 in the almanac “Ukrainian” by Professor Mikhail Maksimovich, a little later, with the participation of Mikhail Yuzefovich, it moved into practice.

Mikhail Yuzefovich turned to the famous artist Mikhail Mikeshin. He eagerly came to Kyiv in 1868 and agreed on a monument. Mikeshin later proved to Tsar Alexander II that “in Ukraine, under the impression of the recent Polish uprising, a common desire arose to adequately honor Hetman Khmelnitsky for his patriotic service, who introduced Ukraine to Russia.”

In 1870, the tsar ordered to collect donations for a monument throughout Russia “to the one who returned the Kiev shrine to the Russian people, who perhaps saved Orthodoxy on the banks of the Dnieper and laid the cornerstone of the current state building of all Russia.”

Mikhail Mikeshin developed a model of the monument: Bogdan was on a fast horse, “under the horse’s hooves lay the corpse of a Jesuit priest, covered with a shredded Polish banner, and pieces of a torn chain lay here. Further, behind the horse, knocked down by his hoof, the figure of a Polish gentleman flew sticking out of the rock, and even lower - the figure of a Jewish randar, whose hands were frozen on bread, Easter and looted church things. "... At the head of the pedestal - a kobzar sings and plays bandura, and under it is signed:
“It won’t be better, it won’t be more beautiful,
Like us in Ukraine,
Why is there no Jew, why is there no Poles,
There will be no union...”

Donations were coming in poorly. Only 25,000 rubles were collected by subscription. In order to save money, the author of the sketches abandoned many elements of the proposed multi-figure composition. Thus, the final version did not include the planned bas-reliefs “The Battle of Zbarazh” and “The Entry of Khmelnitsky’s Army into Kyiv,” sculptures of a murdered Pole fleeing from the Jewish and Jesuit hetman. There was no place for the kobzar, in whose image Taras Shevchenko could be seen, or for an excerpt from the poem. For political reasons, the tsar forbade horses from trampling the Polish banner.

At this time, the Maritime Department is donating 1,600 pounds of old ship copper for the statue.

Mikhail Mikeshin was not a sculptor, so the statue of the hetman was cast in 1879 in St. Petersburg at the Berda factory by sculptor Pius Adamovich Velionsky, and the figure of the horse was cast by his colleague Artemy Lavrentievich Ober.

After much debate about the installation site, in 1881 they began to dig for the monument on Sophia Square, but Petrograd unexpectedly banned work...

It turned out that it was the Kiev clergy who complained to the Synod. It wrote: When applying for the Highest permission for the construction of a monument to Khmelnytsky, the place for its erection was supposed to be Bessarabia Square in Kiev, which was then renamed Bohdan Khmelnytsky Square. Meanwhile, the Kiev City Duma, in its meeting on July 16, 1881, decided: to erect this monument on Sofievskaya Square, in its center, opposite the altar wall of the Kiev St. Sophia Cathedral, known as the “indestructible wall.” With the indicated position and height of the monument on the square, not only will the view of the cathedral from the side of Khreshchatyk and the St. Michael’s Monastery, where masses of pilgrims pass, church processions take place and the city public moves, be blocked, but anyone heading from this side to the cathedral will no longer see the altar the wall of the cathedral, and the back of the horse... Naturally, every pious Christian, who usually makes the sign of the cross towards himself in the direction of the “Unbreakable Wall”, will be embarrassed by this look... Finding such a position of the equestrian group in front of St. The altar is indecent and offensive to the religious feelings of Orthodox worshipers of Russian shrines, the clergy in particular the Reverend. John and asked to prohibit erecting a monument on Sophia Square...

After casting and delivery to Kyiv, the statue stood “under house arrest” for eight years in the courtyard of the Starokievsky police station, for allegedly arriving “without a passport,” as people joked then...

In 1886 alone, 12,000 rubles were issued from the treasury. The city handed over to the architect Nikolaev 30 cubic fathoms of granite blocks remaining after the construction of the supports of the Chain Bridge. The foundation was built from them. The monument was placed on Sophia Square, but it was turned around and moved in an appropriate manner. As a result, the hetman began to point his mace not at Warsaw, but almost at Moscow.

Finally, during the celebration of the 900th anniversary of the baptism of Rus', July 11, 1888, the monument was erected and consecrated.