Taras Shevchenko and digital epoch

Liudmyla Shevchenko, head of the National Historical-Cultural Pre­serve “Taras Shevchenko’s Home­land,” came to The Day’s editorial office with indeed a spiritual gift, a basket of magnificent apples from Shevchenko’s garden. This is a many-year tradition.

While Liudmyla was speaking about the 20th anniversary of the preserve and preparations to Taras Shevchenko’s 200th anniversary, which the country will mark in 2014, she shared with us her grandiose plans concerning the establishment of a modern museum complex in Shev­chen­ko’s homeland, and assessed the poten­tial of the local tourism infrastructure.

“Whether it is owing to school or family, most of us know since childhood the poems ‘A cherry orchard near the house,’ ‘When I was thirteen,’ ‘The water is flowing from under the syca­more.’ All these works are connected with Taras Shevchenko’s homeland, with the villages where he was born and spent his childhood, worked as a servant, and which he left at the age of 14,” Shev­chen­ko says, “The villages Moryntsi, Shevchenkove, Budyshche, and Vilshana have been united into the National Preserve ‘Taras Shev­chen­ko’s Homeland.’ Next year we will mark its 20th anniversary. However, its root goes back in 1939, when a literary-memorial museum of Kobzar was founded in the house of Shevchenko’s parents in Kerelivka (currently Shev­chen­kove). Taras Shevchenko recurred there in his thoughts for his whole life, but he came there only thrice, at a mature age. For him these places embodied his family, because his dearest ones resided in Kerelivka: Grandfather Ivan, brothers Mykyta and Yosyp, and sister Yaryna. An exposition created by Anatolii Haidamaka is operating in the preserve. Though it was created back in 1999 (to mark Shevchenko’s 185th birth anniversary), we note again and again that this is a living exposition, rich in content and philosophy.

“I am sure that everyone who studies philology should come to Ta­ras Shevchenko’s Homeland at least once during his/her studies.”

It seems to me this refers not only to philologists.

“Yes, it refers to journalists, historians, philosophers as well. This is a sacred duty of people who will become the elite of our society in the future.

“Overall, there are three leading museums connected with Taras Shevchenko: the National Preserve ‘Taras Shevchenko’s Homeland’ is a place of Kobzar’s birth, Shevchenko National Preserve in Kaniv is the poet’s burial site, and the National Taras Shevchenko Museum in Kyiv is a complete collection of his works. We should not also forget about other museums which have a Shev­chen­kiana of their own: the National Center of People’s Culture ‘Ivan Honchar’s Museum’ (Ivan Honchar came from that region too), Museum of Book and Printing of Ukraine (its funds include the graphic works and bookplates to Shevchenko’s works, and a collection of Kobzar editions), as well as many other museums of local history and preserves which in one way or another are concerned with Kobzar’s personality.”

Besides the 20th anniversary of the preserve another significant anniversary is in the offing: Taras Shevchenko’s 200th birth anniversary in 2014. What are your thoughts concerning the celebration of this “round” data?

“We propose to establish a whole museum complex. In particular, a cultural-artistic center with modern multimedia, quick access to the Internet, and opportunity to hold scholarly-practical conferences should be established in the village Shevchenkove. Besides, at the moment we are very limited in space, we have not got enough exhibition halls (actually, we have none). And a ‘living’ museum means an exchange of exhibits, meetings with outstanding people, and other events. Therefore we pin big hopes to opening a cultural-artistic center in our preserve. An art gallery should also be established in Moryntsi’s restored memorial complex, which is already operating.

“One of the most interesting sites in our preserve is the village Bu­dy­shche which has preserved fragments of Pavel Engelhardt’s estate, where Shevchenko was a servant. Currently those premises are housing a school. As there is no other place for the school to move, we cannot fully involve the building for museum purposes. But hopefully, we will have an opportunity at least to use its territory, i.e., the park, as well as to create a museum, a kind of model of the then manor house, recreate the interior of the early 19th century, open to Taras Shevchenko’s eyes when he was a servant and simultaneously was getting to know painting and classical music. This will be a new ‘interpretation’ of Shevchenko’s childhood, as we get closer to his time from the viewpoint of the ‘digital’ nowadays.

“Surely, this project needs corres­ponding investments, understanding, and support of the state and investors. Hopefully, by 2014 corres­ponding programs will be adopted and as many as possible visitors will be involved.”

What about the opportunities for green tourism in Shevchenko’s region?

“So far green tourism has not been developing en mass in our region, but there are some sprouts. For example, Vira Chepurna and Lidia Shlikh­ta took up this cause in Mo­ryn­tsi, where they found the houses ‘Kobzar’s Cradle’ and ‘Taras’s Roads.’ Everything has been done there with feeling and good taste. It is very important that such elements emerge in private business. Surely, we cannot compare them with Austrian and German family hotels (which is indeed a family business, at times existing for over 150 years). But it is essential that the beginning is right and the right accents have been made.

“Lately we have been receiving frequent calls from Kyiv’s travel agencies. For example, they know Cher­nihiv region very well, but they are still discovering Cherkasy region. On the whole, I can say that very few firms in Ukrainian market are working in the sphere of domestic tourism.

“Incidentally, a ski resort has been opened not far from our preserve, in the village Vodianyky, Zve­ny­horodka raion. This is a new kind of tourism services in the country’s central region, where everything has been done professionally; there are hotels, houses, and restaurants-cafes. People from southern oblasts go there to recover, feast their eyes on the landscapes, and visit the poet’s homeland.

“In a word, the infrastructure has lots of prospects. But there is also a need for the state’s attention.”

The past 20 years have seen various efforts to reconsider such names as Taras Shevchenko and Lesia Ukrainka. Frequently it was done via so-called desacralization. Say, they are all in bronze, let’s…

“…modernize them.”

Yes, exactly. What can you say about these attempts?

“Of course, time is passing, but there is an understanding of certain foundation, Atlases who support the Ukrainian heavens. Taras Shevchenko is the first to be included in this cohort. And our task is to perceive his greatness as an artist and poet before trying to reconsider him.

“Next year we will hold the Fifth Anniversary Competition of Reciters of Shevchenko’s Poems. Traditionally one work is offered for the participants for obligatory reciting, another one is an improvisation. The winners are defined by a professional jury. In my opinion, the work ‘To the dead, and living, and unborn’ is especially strong. It seems as if it was written yesterday. Why in this case should we modernize Taras Shevchenko? We should read his works and try to understand him.

“Unfortunately, it is not simple to bring to the minds, to be more exact, the souls of our compatriots the fact that our luminaries have not been brought and imposed on us, they are indeed the cementing foundation of our being.

“To reconsider Shevchenko, it is important to integrally understand the context within which he shaped as a personality and artist. I for one, after vi­si­ting Italy and Saint Petersburg, began to view Shevchenko in a new way via the creative work and personality of Karl Briullov. Briullov was a victor by his nature. In his time the tsar forced him to go back from Italy to Russia. At that time he was already a famous author of The Last Day of Pompeii (this is a large 6x4 m canvas). Briullov was indeed a magnificent person, both by his origin, the content of his life, and painting technique – in creative sense he did not dissipate his talent, but he saw the core. Briullov was a crowned person in his milieu. And this man saw a personality in Taras Shevchenko, a young serf then. After all, not only did he took part in buying Shevchenko’s freedom, he also included him in the cohort of his pupils, gave him shelter in his own house. They communicated a lot, he taught him painting. We tried to view Shevchenko in this very context, and to tell schoolchildren and students about him via this very prism, preparing an exhibit-lecture ‘Maestro Briullov.’

“People try to establish whether Shevchenko was stronger as a poet or an artist? In fact he was strong in both. But you should keep in mind that he was a professional artist. And in this milieu Shevchenko was in the avant-garde. Impressionist motives, like the sun and wind, emerge in his canvases, but after all he physically lacked time to develop this line. He had only 47 earth years at his dispo­sal, and he spent 10 years in exi­le. Incidentally, Kazakhs may as well regard Shevchenko as their artist. He painted numerous portraits (let alone landscapes) in exile.

“It would be a lie to state that people in the world do not read Shev­chen­ko today. But I would like them not only to read and interpret his works, but also understand and perceive them with their souls. Such was his will.”