Heorhy Melnychuk

A young, talented, and ambitious man born into a noble Ukrainian Cossack family found himself in Saint Petersburg and began to serve with distinction “for a cause without fear,” his Fatherland, which he understood as the Russian Empire. This kind of situation was typical for many of our eighteenth...

(Continued from previous issues) The successful performance of Petro Zavadovsky in the field of education prompted Catherine II to appoint him Chief Director of Public Schools. In 1784 he chaired the commission in charge of building St. Isaac’s Cathedral. It took twelve years to construct the...

(Continued from previous issues) Immediately after the church wedding ceremony in the summer of 1775, Empress Catherine II and Grigory Potemkin arrived in Moscow on the eve of celebrations in honor of the conqueror of Turks, Count and Field Marshal P ё tr Rumiantsev. But the latter refused to...

(Continued from The Day No.14, 15, and 18) Viktor Pavlovich Kochubei (1768-1834) was nephew of the “Most Illustrious Prince” Oleksandr Bezborodko, a powerful dignitary of the time of Catherine II. Wishing to bring up the boy, the uncle took him from Ukraine to Petersburg. Kochubei began...

(Continued from Nos. 14, 15) It was the sad lot of Kyrylo, Oleksiy Razumovsky’s younger brother, to be the last hetman of Ukraine. When Kyrylo moved to Saint Petersburg in 1742, Empress Elizabeth sent the youth to study abroad. From 1743 to 1745 Kyrylo (now Kirill) was educated in the...

(For the beginning see The Day, No.14, April 23. 2002) In 1730 Colonel Vishnevsky, en route from Hungary to Saint Petersburg, was passing through the settlement of Chemery, Chernihiv province. He called at a local church and heard the charming voice of a handsome youth,...

Oleksandr Bezborodko was born 255 years ago on March 14, 1747 by the Julian calendar, in Hlukhiv, Chernihiv province. His father, a general clerk, had been investigated for almost ten years for alleged bribery. Under these circumstances, the family lived in a far from ideal atmosphere. So the apt...

Kobzars, Ukrainian itinerant musicians playing the kobza (traditional Ukrainian eight-stringed lute —Ed.) represent a unique, truly national historical phenomenon. They can be compared to the minstrels at royal and princely courts of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The kobzars, however,...