The Beginnings of the Monumental Perpetualization of the Memory of Taras Shevchenko in the Dniprane Region: Public Initiatives and the Counteraction of the Imperial Power (1861—1908)

Abstract

The aim of the article is to study the beginnings of the monumental perpetuation of the memory of Taras Shevchenko in the context of public initiatives and opposition from the imperial authorities in the Dnieper region in the second half of the 19th — early 20th centuries. The methodology is based on the memorial, axiological, anthropological, biographical, microhistorical and systemic approaches; the principles of scientificity, historicism, and systematics; historical-genetic, historical-systemic, historical-descriptive, and comparative-historical methods. The scientific novelty lies in the systematic coverage of the beginnings of the monumental commemoration of T. Shevchenko; consideration of organizational, financial, cultural and educational activities of the public in this matter; understanding the formation of the cult of memory of the Kobzar through the means of monumental art; identifying the connection between the memorialization of the “great Taras” with the formation of Ukrainian national consciousness and identity; studying the actions of the imperial authorities and their supporters in the field of countermeasures. Main results of the study. The idea of monumental perpetuation of the memory of T. Shevchenko arose among Ukrainian public figures in 1861. The reburial of the Kobzar on Ukrainian soil marked the beginning of his memorialization in the Dnieper region. The grave of T. Shevchenko became an important place of memory for Ukrainians, a factor in the formation of their national consciousness and identity, although the tsarist authorities resorted to countermeasures. From the early 1880s until 1904, zemstvo and cultural figures repeatedly raised questions about permission to raise funds for the erection of a monument to T. Shevchenko in Kyiv. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the first busts and sculptures of the Kobzar began to be made privately. Only in 1905—1906, under pressure from the public, especially from Zolotonosha, Poltava, and Kyiv, did imperial officials grant official permission to raise funds. In 1905, a special Committee for the construction of a monument to T. Shevchenko was created in the Kyiv City Duma. In 1907, the issue became public, and in 1908, M. Vasylenko, M. Hrushevsky, S. Yefremov, and others spoke in the press. Public figures put forward various initiatives to raise funds. The Kyiv Committee faced obstacles from officials of the administration, police, education, etc., and in 1908, it decided to create the United Shevchenko Committee in Kyiv. The practical significance of the achieved results lies in the deepening and expansion of the Shevchenko memorial discourse. Prospects for further studies are seen in studying the activities of the Joint Committee in the construction of the monument to T. Shevchenko, the process of holding international competitions for the monument project, and the monumental commemoration of T. Shevchenko during the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917—1921.