Until the second half of the 17th century Baturyn was a small provincial town in what is now Chernihiv oblast. But in the times of Ivan Mazepa and Ivan Samoilovych it was the seat of the Ukrainian hetmans.
This town is a symbol of irreparable loss. In the years 1687- 1708 Baturyn thrived under Hetman Ivan Mazepa, who had plans to expand his capital city, build schools and churches, and strengthen the garrison. High-ranking guests from Europe constantly visited Baturyn.
Mazepa’s plans were not destined to come to fruition. On Nov. 2, 1708, a Russian detachment led by Prince Aleksandr Menshikov, assisted by the Ukrainian traitor Ivan Nis, seized Baturyn on orders from Tsar Peter I after the Battle of Poltava, which was fought between Hetman Ivan Mazepa in alliance with King Charles XII of Sweden and Russia. Menshikov then razed it to the ground and massacred its residents, children and elders included. One thing is undeniable: it is the duty of our generation to return Baturyn to our descendants.
Today a team of archaeologists from Ukraine and Canada is recreating Hetman Mazepa’s residence and citadel, the fortress, a luxurious mansion, the hetman’s treasury, and the church, where secret underground passages have been discovered.
All this will is slated to become a museum, which is expected to be officially opened this November to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Baturyn massacre.
To recreate the look of the hetman’s capital city, the archaeologists are recreating the palace of Ukraine’s last hetman Kyrylo Razumovsky, who revived Baturyn after the massacre of 1708. Beside the palace there will be two outbuildings, a landscaped park, and a lake — precisely as Hetman Razumovsky once planned.
THE SEARCH FOR ARTIFACTS
This is the eighth summer that archaeologists have been conducting digs near the Baturyn citadel, once the residence of Hetman Demian Mnohohrishny, Ivan Samoilovych, and later, Ivan Mazepa. Over the years they have ascertained the site of the fortress that was built during the period of Kyivan Rus’, discovered timber and earthen fortifications around the citadel (a system of ramparts 10 meters high and 7 to 10-meter-deep moats), and determined the size of the hetman’s mansion.
“It was a one-story structure with an area of 21-26 m. The current total area of the citadel amounts to almost 1.5 hectares, whereas before it was 25 ha. Small wonder, considering that it could accommodate 200-250 Cossack homes, or more than 1,500 people,” said Dr. Volodymyr Kovalenko, director of the Institute of Archaeology and Ancient History of the Northern Left-Bank at the Taras Shevchenko State Pedagogical University of Chernihiv.
“Unfortunately, there is scant historical data on what the Baturyn fortress looked like. There are only fragments from the chronicles dating to 1665,” Dr. Kovalenko said. “It was only after the archaeological dig began in 1995, on orders of the President of Ukraine (suspended two years later for lack of funds and resumed thanks to the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies and the Shevchenko Scientific Society in the US), that it became possible to determine that the fortress was surrounded along the perimeter by 10-meter-high timber walls with three towers and a central entrance. On the side of the Seim River the fortress was protected by an oak palisade. Mazepa’s residence was in the center of the fortress, with the treasury and the Resurrection Church nearby. These structures are being reproduced using blueprints based on archaeological findings.”
The archaeologists are concerned about preserving the beams that were used in building the ramparts around the fortified walls, totaling 180 m in length. They are considering several options, including pulling out every beam, marking it, covering it with a special solution to protect the wood from the ravages of time, and then reinstalling all the beams at the fortified walls. This option, however, does not guarantee that the beams will endure temperature and humidity fluctuations, so the experts are inclined to use another option, which involves transferring some of the original beams to the Baturyn museum and replacing them with historically-accurate duplicates made from modern materials.
Another problem that the researchers face is the lack of historical descriptions of the hetman’s treasury. However, Ukraine’s national poet Taras Shevchenko visited the Baturyn fortress in the 19th century and made a sketch of the treasury, assuming that it was Mazepa’s home. Later, historians determined that the poet had indeed sketched the treasury. The researchers used this sketch when they were drawing the reconstruction blueprints. However, they say that the system of underground passages in the fortress is their greatest archaeological discovery, which was made by sheer accident.
“It was Easter and the archaeologists had left the fortress to celebrate the holiday at home. At that time the main dig was located at the Resurrection Church,” Dr. Kovalenko explained. “When the archaeologists returned, they were greeted by an amazing sight. After the long spring rains the ground under the church had sunk several meters. Further investigation showed that there was a gallery of underground passages underneath the fortress, one of which was 50 m long and led to the Seim. In the Middle Ages, underground passages were a compulsory attribute of every fortress. For example, during a siege they were used to store food and water or as a springboard for raids on the enemy.”
The citadel reconstruction project envisages the rebuilding of the gallery of underground passages. They will probably be 1.5 m wide and 2-2.5 m high. Historians are convinced that they will discover a number of interesting artifacts.
CHURCH STANDING ON BURIAL GROUNDS
This year’s Baturyn expedition includes over 90 student volunteers from Ukraine, Russia, and Canada. What drew them to this place was the discovery of the ruins of the Church of the Life-giving Trinity several hundred meters from the hetman’s fortress. Mazepa allocated 20,000 zlotys for its construction. Experts say that the search for this church has lasted nearly 15 years.
“On the last workday the archaeologists of the 2006 expedition stumbled onto the brickwork of the church’s apse,” said Oleksandr Kovalenko, a professor of architecture. “The dig started the following year, and the current expedition is studying the southern section of the church. In a year’s time it will be reproduced in its original size: 22 m wide and 38-39 m high. By the way, its shape is the same as that of Trinity Cathedral in Hlukhiv and Chernihiv. However, the archaeologists digging on the site of the church were not so much interested in the size of the church as the discovery of several layers of burial sites, which are solid proof of the massacre that occurred in Baturyn in 1708.”
At first, the students were horrified at the thought of digging up human remains, which cover nearly the entire area of the church. But then they got used to the idea.
“Polish historical sources state that during the massacre of Baturyn by Prince Menshikov in 1708, the wealthiest citizens hid in the Church of the Life-giving Trinity. The Russian troops, expecting to find treasures in the church, burst in and massacred the people hiding there,” explained Oleksandr Kovalenko.
Material proof of all this is found in the course of digging. Every day the archaeologists unearth dozens of human bones on the territory of the church, which is conventionally divided into squares. The archaeologists are convinced that these sites contain the largest number of the victims’ remains. Historians are not sure of how many people were killed during the massacre in Baturyn. A likely figure is between 11,000 and 14,000 people, including civilians and Cossack officers, because that was the population of the city at the time.
Similar burial sites are being found near the walls of the hetman’s fortress. A total of 170 burial sites have been unearthed, 90 percent of which contain the remains of children. According to Professor Volodymyr Mezentsev of the University of Toronto, this is confirmation of the fact that the children of Cossack officers and the civilian residents of Baturyn sought shelter in the fortress (their age ranges from 2 to 11 years).
Why no remains of adult residents have been found in the vicinity of the fortress remains a puzzle to historians. It is possible that they were buried in common graves by the survivors. The researchers hope that further excavations at the fortress will help solve this mystery.
EXCURSION TO RAZUMOVSKY’S PALACE
Baturyn’s revival began 40 years after the tragedy. Historians insist that the credit belongs to Hetman Kyrylo Razumovsky, who ordered the construction of a church with a burial vault. He dreamed of finding his last repose there, and this is what ended up happening. Historians, in turn, are dreaming of recreating the hetman’s gravesite, but Razumovsky’s descendants have expressly forbidden this. The hetman also gave orders to build his palace. Restoration works are underway in the church and at the palace. They are expected to be completed in 2010.
“Kyrylo Razumovsky’s palace has an interesting history. Its construction began in 1799 and continued until 1803. The hetman, however, was not destined to live in his palace because he died the year it was completed,” said Oleksandr Motsia, a historian working in the Institute of Archaeology at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
“According to Razumovsky’s plans, every floor of the palace had a special designation. The basement was to accommodate pantries and cloakrooms; the first floor, offices and a library; the second floor, ballrooms, and the upper one, bedrooms. In the early 19th century, the palace was devastated by a fire and eventually transferred to the Kyiv Engineering Department. The military converted it into barracks,” Dr. Motsia explained
Architects and other experts are planning to recreate the palace in its original splendor, with a luxurious garden, stone footpaths throughout, and a beautiful lake. The two outbuildings on the sides of the palace will also be reconstructed. Both of the original buildings were rather large by the standards of The Day. Historians say that the hetman had more than 260 house servants, and the two buildings were their living quarters.
Razumovsky’s palace will eventually house a Museum of Hetman Glory. The museum’s administration will be located in one of the outbuildings, and the other will be turned into a hotel.
