This year the traditional route of The Day’s Summer School of Journalism included town Talne, Cherkasy oblast. That is where the hunting palace of the famous Russian dynasty Shuvalov is located. The line of the family that used to own Talne and the castle was connected to the old Polish and Russian families of Potocki and Naryshkin.
The hunting palace in Talne is quite an interesting building from the architectural point of view. The utility part of the palace was designed to look like English cottage houses of that period, and the residential part resembles the style of French Renaissance castles.
However, today both the palace and the garden around it, which used to be an example of excellent outdoor decor, look as if they are a part of alienation zone. There are no living descendants of Shuvalov family who could take care of the building. And besides, Ukrainian legislation does not provide an option of the return of historically significant buildings to their former owners. During the Soviet times, the palace building served as an agricultural technical school. At the beginning of the new millennium it was closed for restoration. But those responsible for the ‘restoration’ only harmed the building by replacing some authentic parts with modern building materials.
As a result, Shuvalov hunting palace is still in scaffolding, though nobody works on it anymore. The place is abandoned and ruined. The architectural monument is not guarded, so it will be no wonder if it is taken apart by locals in a few years.
The worst thing is that this story is not one of a kind. A few years ago in Stare Selo, Lviv oblast, my friends witnessed a striking scene: a “caring” village dweller attached his garage to one of the castle walls. The castle has been in a bad shape for a long time, but even its ruins still remain a historical sight! In general, as a result of such treatment, only about 20 out of 200 Ukrainian castles survived to this day.
During my visit to Talne I remembered the Czech Republic with its numerous castles and chateaus. This small country, where the distance of 150 kilometers is quite long, with the total population that does not exceed that of three Ukrainian Eastern oblasts, which has experienced the life in the “socialist camp,” this country managed to preserve much more than we did. When I visited the Czech Republic with a group of journalists within the Czech Tourism program (www.czechtourism.com), our guide Indra told us that there are about 4,500 castles in the country right now.
During the early 1990s, historical buildings were returned to their rightful owners; this was done as a part of the decommunization process. As Indra told us, out of 4,500 castles, 200 were returned to the descendants of families that used to own them over many generations until the World War II. According to the guide, it was a very complicated process, but thanks to it the buildings were saved, and today some of them, for example, the castle in Telc, are on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Most of the castles that were returned to descendants of noble families were in bad shape. The latter had to restore them all by themselves. And private owners fully maintain the buildings now. That is why the combination of excursion rooms and cafes or exhibition halls is a common sight in Czech castles: this is a way to earn money for proper maintenance of the building. But such combinations do not conflict with the ancient architecture and atmosphere.
French journalist Bryce Charton told me that France also practices the transfer of castles into private ownership, provided that architecture will be preserved. Otherwise, the state would not be financially able to properly maintain all the historical monuments.
However, the mental setup of a post-Soviet person reveals the other side of the architectural monuments privatization. Unfortunately, there are almost no descendants of aristocratic families in Ukraine, who would take the responsibility of preservation of their own family homes. And modern oligarchs tend to lack the proper education and nobleness necessary for carrying out this task. The same problem is observed in the Czech Republic as well. Indra told us that sometimes the state sells castles to businessmen. And the latter often destroy castles by turning them into modern-looking villas.
Maybe that is why Czech people treat genuine nobility in a special way. For example, according to Indra, common people wrote letters to the communist government, defending one of the most famous and rich families of Europe, Lichtenstein family, which was dispossessed of property.
At the same time, there are no purely Czech noble dynasties. Each one of them is a mix of Czech, Austrian, German, and Hungarian blood. “Lichtenstein is an Austrian family, but, regardless of nationality, they supported Czechoslovakia. Some members of that family were persecuted during Soviet times. Representatives of noble families are a special sort of people,” says Indra and tells us about Zdenek Sternberg.
This man is a representative of an ancient noble Sternberg dynasty. After Czechoslovakia was occupied by the Nazi, he was not allowed to study. During the communist era, Sternberg was imprisoned and sent to a labor camp. He, a noble man, who knew several foreign languages, had to work as a miner for 15 years. In the 1960s he returned to Prague, where his friends helped him to get a job at a theater. But after the Prague Spring, Czechoslovakia was occupied by the Soviets again. And Sternberg, who went through a similar situation during the late 1940s, decided to leave the country. At the age of 45, he started his career in the US as a common worker of an American company. And in 20 years he became the director general of that company. In the 1990s, when the castles were being returned to their former owners, Sternberg came back to the country and started bringing his family castle to order. He also restored businesses that used to belong to his family.
“People that work for him, feel privileged. He can’t pay much, but his attitude towards workers plays the crucial role. He cares about every single one of them, even the janitors. The special feature of nobility is that if those people do something, they do it in the most perfect way possible,” Indra says. “Zdenek was awarded with the Hero of Socialist Labor title for his excellent duty performance at the mine. Though later communists came to their senses and removed his name from the honor roll. Today Zdenek and his wife take care of the family castle, which is situated on the Sazava River. By the way, during the Soviet times Zdenek’s father worked as a guide in this castle. And today Zdenek often conducts tours round the castle by himself. The nobility have always been trying to get the best out of any situation. The Soviet times became a real tragedy for many representatives of small business. But noble families, just like the family of former president Vaclav Havel, took things as they came, and tried to make life better even in those hard times.”
The spirit of the Czech Republic is the most vividly perceived in small towns like Telc or Lednice, where the wonderful architecture was preserved till the present. Members of Lichtenstein family still live in the castle in Telc. Sometimes their private rooms are open to tourists. But most of the castle serves as a museum. Another family residence that belongs to Lichtenstein dynasty is their summer chateau in Lednice. Today it is state-owned. But representatives of Lichtenstein family had lived there for six centuries and were forced to leave it only during the World War II. The castle in Lednice is a majestic neo-Gothic building, a marvelous example of elegance and style. It should be said that one of the chateau museum exhibits is a luxurious, fully furnished bathroom. The bath and other utilities with running water (including hot water) were built in the castle 150 years ago.
During the times of Rzeczpospolita, Ukraine was formed as a country of small but self-sufficient towns, with nobility’s fortresses serving as their hearts. Rapid and somewhat unjustified industrialization gave us megalopolises, and distorted the image of our country. How can we restore it, or at least avoid the total destruction of the European features of Ukraine? This question demands an immediate answer. It is clear that we cannot just blindly copy the other country’s example. But nevertheless, Czech experience is interesting enough to be studied.
