Monument to Bogdan Khmelnytsky, Kyiv. Monument to Bogdan Khmelnytsky

The monument to Bohdan Khmelnitsky is located on Sofievskaya Square in Kyiv. It is dedicated to one of the most famous hetmans of Ukraine, who led the war, the purpose of which was to liberate the country from Polish oppression. With his right hand, holding the hetman's mace, Bogdan Khmelnytsky points to the north, to where Moscow is located.

The history of this architectural monument is quite rich and diverse. The idea of ​​its foundation arose back in 1868 and was timed to coincide with the unification of Ukraine and Russia. The project was developed by the then famous sculptor Mikhail Mikeshin. According to the creator's plan, the sculptural group was supposed to include an equestrian statue of the hetman himself, installed on a granite rock, under the hooves of his horse the prostrate corpse of a Jesuit, which covers the tattered Polish banner. Behind the horse it was planned to place the figure of a Polish gentleman falling from a cliff, and even lower - the corpse of a Jewish tenant, with his last strength clinging to the utensils he had stolen from the church. The rock, made of granite, was supposed to be on a pyramid-shaped pedestal, on which bronze bas-reliefs would be located on three sides. Below the statue of Khmelnitsky in the foreground it was planned to place 5 figures: a singing kobzar and his listeners.

In 1870, with the permission of the Tsar, a subscription began to collect funds that went towards the construction of this complex composition. However, the people of Kiev donated money reluctantly. As a result, in order to save money and because of the “political incorrectness” of this project, the authorities abandoned most of the elements of the original project for the construction of the monument, and only Bogdan Khmelnytsky remained on the pedestal.

For the construction of the monument, the naval department donated 1,600 pounds of old ship copper. In 1879, an equestrian statue of the hetman was cast in St. Petersburg. But there was no money for the construction of the pedestal, so for many years Khmelnitsky stood on Sophia Square on an ordinary brick pedestal, which was inaugurated on July 11, 1888 on Sophia Square in Kyiv as part of the celebration of the 900th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus'. It is one of the symbols of Kyiv, a monument of art of the 19th century.

The hetman's mace was left in charge of geopolitical relevance - according to the plan, it was supposed to stick out menacingly towards unfriendly Poland. But it turned out that if the mace was pointed in that direction, then something else would stick out in the other direction - the horse’s hindquarters. And here, according to legend, it turned out to be very inconvenient, because on the opposite side of Poland was St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery. After this, the entire composition was unrolled, and the hetman began to threaten Sweden, which was then innocent of anything.
But, contrary to popular belief, he points to Moscow in that direction - they say, guys, we should go there - Bogdan Khmelnitsky never pointed.

Spherical panorama of St. Sophia Square in front of the monument.

As part of the celebration of the 900th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus'. It is one of the symbols of Kyiv, a work of art of the 19th century.

Story

The idea of ​​creating a monument arose in society on the initiative of the historian, professor at Kyiv University Nikolai Kostomarov in the 1840s. After receiving permission from the imperial government in 1860, a committee was created headed by Mikhail Yuzefovich, a university professor and head of the Kyiv Archaeographic Commission. The first project of the monument, created by the famous sculptor Mikhail Mikeshin, was very sharp - the horse of Bogdan Khmelnitsky 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. The bas-reliefs of the pedestal depicted the battle of Zbarazh, the Pereyaslav Rada and the scene of the entry of the Cossack army led by Khmelnitsky into Kyiv.

In 1870, fundraising began with an all-Russian subscription. Due to the fact that the amount collected turned out to be small (only 37 thousand rubles), and also because of the doubts of Governor General Alexander Dondukov-Korsakov regarding the appropriateness of an anti-Polish and anti-Jewish monument, the committee decided to reduce the project budget, leaving only the central figure of the hetman. In 1877, a plaster model was ready, and in 1879, a statue was cast at the Berd plant in St. Petersburg (Mikeshin’s metal project was implemented by P. Velionsky and A. Ober), for which the Maritime Department donated 1,600 pounds (25.6 tons) of scrap metal. The portrait features and features of Khmelnitsky's clothing were reproduced with the help of consultation from Vladimir Antonovich.

The following year, the statue was transported to Kyiv, where it stood for several years in the courtyard of the House of Public Places, because there were not enough funds for the pedestal provided for by the project. Only in 1885, Vladimir Nikolaev created a cheaper design for the pedestal and brought it to life. The stones for the pedestal were donated by the administration of the Kyiv Fortress. At the same time, Nikolaev himself worked for free, and in addition, with the money saved, he designed a fence with lanterns.

An urban legend says that when the monument had already taken its place, it turned out that the horse was very impolitely turned with its tail towards St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral. Therefore, the pedestal was deployed, and the hetman’s mace, which, according to the plan, was supposed to threaten Poland, turned out to be directed somewhere towards Sweden. But, contrary to another widespread legend, Bogdan never pointed to Moscow. The only reminders of the monument’s Moscow orientation were the slabs with the inscriptions on the pedestal: “We will under the Eastern, Orthodox Tsar” and “To Bogdan Khmelnitsky, a single indivisible Russia.” In 1919 and 1924 they were replaced by “Bogdan Khmelnytsky. 1888". This inscription can still be seen today.

Kyiv, 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 donations to be collected 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 was guessed, and 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 Khmelnitsky, the place for its installation was supposed to be Bessarabia Square in Kiev, which was then renamed Bogdan Khmelnitsky 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.

Address of the Monument to Bohdan Khmelnytsky: Sofievskaya Square, Kyiv, Ukraine

How to get to the Monument to Bohdan Khmelnytsky: take the metro to the station. Maidan Nezalezhnosti, go down 2 blocks along the street. Sofievskaya; take the metro to the station. Golden Gate, go down the street. Vladimirskaya to Sofievskaya Square

Monument to Bohdan Khmelnitsky in Kyiv - monument Ukrainian historical and political figure, Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky. It was ceremoniously opened on July 11, 1888 in Kyiv as part of the celebration of the 900th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity. It is one of the symbols of Kyiv, a monument of art of the 19th century.

One of the main attractions of Kyiv and the calling card of the capital - the monument to Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky - was installed in the city center 119 years ago.

On July 11, 1888, during the celebration of the 900th anniversary of the baptism of Rus', a monument to B. Khmelnitsky was opened and consecrated in the center of Sophia Square. In January 1654, on this square, city residents met Russian ambassadors who arrived in Kyiv after the Pereyaslav Rada, which declared the unification of Ukraine with Russia.

According to historians, the idea to build a monument in honor of the hetman arose back in 1859, when the 200th anniversary of the death of B. Khmelnytsky was celebrated.

In 1870, the Kiev community turned to the famous St. Petersburg sculptor Mikhail Mikeshin. The architect created a design sketch, where B. Khmelnitsky was depicted on a steppe horse, rising on an irregular monolith; With one hand he raised a mace high above his head, with the other he pointed to the northeast - to Moscow.

On the facade of the monument, below the equestrian statue of the hetman, it was planned to place a group of five figures: in the middle - a kobzar sings and plays the bandura, and around him stand a Great Russian, a Belarusian, a Little Russian and a Chervonorossian (Galician) - thus M. Mikeshin planned to implement in the monument the idea of ​​a single indivisible Russia. Under the hooves of the hetman's horse, defeated enemies were to be depicted: a Jesuit priest and a Polish lord.

The model of the monument was approved by Emperor Alexander II. Preparatory work was completed by the spring of 1878, and the following year a figure of a horseman almost 11 meters high was cast at the St. Petersburg plant.Due to financial problems, some details of the monument had to be abandoned.They were finally completed thanks to the Kyiv architect Vladimir Nikolaev.

Now the equestrian statue of the hetman stands on a pedestal in the form of a rock made of dark gray granite.

In Kyiv, only two monuments built before 1917 have survived; (installed in 1853 on Vladimirskaya Hill) and Bogdan Khmelnitsky on Sophia Square. Both monuments were repeatedly under threat of destruction during Soviet times.

Sophia Square itself changed its name twice in the last century. In 1920 it was renamed the Square of the Red Heroes of Perekop. Since 1944 it was called Bohdan Khmelnytsky Square. In 1993, its historical name was returned - Sofia.

Interfax-Ukraine

>> monument to Bogdan Khmelnytsky

The monument to Bogdan Khmelnitsky is the most famous monument of the city, a unique 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 Kyiv 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.