The residents of Chernihiv are continuing the year-long celebration of the 1,100th anniversary of their city, which was first mentioned in the chronicles in 907 A.D.
AN ODD ANNIVERSARY
The anniversary organizers have no problems counting, but they decided to make the enjoyment last and came up with the idea of holding festivities for an entire year. As a precedent, they cited a curious, although dubious, event that took place 100 years ago, when the residents of Chernihiv missed the city’s millennium and celebrated it a year late, in 1908 rather than in 1907.
Today Chernihivites are thus marking a series of simultaneous anniversaries: the “protracted” 1,100th anniversary, the first anniversary after the “normal” 1,100th anniversary, and the 100th anniversary after celebrating the 1,000th anniversary.
The confusion stemming from Chernihiv’s multiple anniversaries is amplified by another event that is still fresh in the memory of the current generation: the city has already celebrated another grand date – its 1,300th anniversary. This happened during the late Soviet-era period of stagnation, so the festivities were on a characteristically large Soviet scale. The inscriptions declaring “Chernihiv is 1,300 years old” are silent reminders of this time.
This date, however, was merely a figment of someone’s imagination. It does not stand up to any criticism, and the story of how it cropped up could serve as fodder for a good yarn.
The idea of prolonging the celebrations did not imply that children in the city would see fireworks on a daily basis (we have enough fireworks because of other occasions), their parents would drink complimentary Chernihiv beer (which is actually produced in Mykolaiv), or statesmen from Kyiv would donate trolleybuses or souvenirs to the city. The festive mood was stirred up by the promise of some kind of wonderful present.
As is usually the case, the gift was a secret, stored behind a fence surrounding a construction site. However, the gates were left open and a design was even hung up for the curious to see. It is thought that the celebration was extended because the present was not ready on time. This resembles an all too familiar everyday situation: a hostess has not prepared all the dishes, so the guests wait to be called to the table.
And then, finally, it happened. A colored fountain was unveiled in the public garden across the street from city hall. In the evening it beautifies the city. But in The Daytime it is hard to call it “colored” because it is made of black stone resembling a memorial to a Ukrainian nouveau riche. It is possible to argue its artistic merits and symbolism, but the work is done and the festivities can finally be brought to a close.
TIME OF FLOURISHMENT
In one way or another, the celebration pursued the noble goal of attracting attention to the city’s history. Over 1,100 years ago a town rose up on the banks of the Desna and Stryzhen rivers. It developed as one of the tribal centers of the Siversk land but soon fell under Kyiv’s control. The Day came when Chernihiv became known in Constantinople, the largest capital in the world at the time. In 907 a Ruthenian (Rus’) army headed by Oleh forced the Byzantine Empire to capitulate and sign an agreement in which Chernihiv was listed second city of Rus’ after Kyiv.
During the next 11 centuries the city went through several cycles of political, economic, demographic, and cultural rises and declines. A comparison of historical eras shows that Chernihiv prospered during the period of ancient Rus’. Prior to the Mongol-Tatar invasion the city ranked among the five largest cities of Kyivan Rus’, and it surpassed Paris in terms of territory and population (nearly 20,000).
Chernihiv was the center of one of the biggest principalities of Rus’, and its territory stretched from the Dnipro and Oster rivers in the southwest to the Oka and Don rivers in the north and the east. On the contemporary political map it would span the area from the suburbs of Kyiv to the suburbs of Moscow.
Chernihiv’s most ancient historical relics, the famous 10th-century barrows, point to the special position of the city and its ruling elite. Hundreds of barrows were found in Chernihiv and its vicinity. This was the most extensive “archipelago” of tumuli in pre-Christian Rus’, which included the mid-10th-century barrows Chorna Mohyla and Hulbyshche, the largest in all of Rus’. These mounds of earth over the dead attest to the fact that Chernihiv had a powerful military leadership, one of the most numerous regional elites in the young country.
Mstyslav Volodymyrovych, the first notable prince of Chernihiv, fostered the Chernihivites’s feelings of pride and confidence in their might. He succeeded in convincing his brother Yaroslav, later known as Yaroslav the Wise, to divide Rus’ along the Dnipro River, which made Chernihiv the capital of a huge principality.
The Sviatoslavych-Olhovych dynasty of Chernihiv princes maintained a continual presence on the political Olympus of Rus’. Its main competitor was the ramified Monomakh dynasty whose representatives ruled over most of the principalities of Rus’, from Halych to Riazan. Volodymyr Monomakh lived in Chernihiv for 20 years. Later he was ousted by the Sviatoslavych dynasty, the members of which subsequently never gave their rivals a chance to absorb their hereditary estates.
On numerous occasions the most successful Chernihiv princes ascended to the Kyiv throne, and at least two of them, Sviatoslav Yaroslavych and Sviatoslav Vsevolodovych, were among the prominent rulers of Rus’. Several princes of the Chernihiv dynasty were proclaimed saints – Mykola Sviatosh, Ihor Olhovych, and Mykhailo Vsevolodovych.
The princes of Chernihiv were the creators of the city, providing the political preconditions for its development and caring for their capital city.
In Chernihiv Mstyslav Yaroslavych launched the construction of a grand Savior’s Church (Spasky sobor), which since the mid-11th century has been one of the gems of the city. The church rose into being not only as a mark of the prince’s piety but also as an embodiment of the political rivalry between the two princely brothers and two cities-Kyiv and Chernihiv. In the following decades the first miracle was recorded in Chernihiv, when an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared on a tree. At this time, the first caves were dug, which laid the foundations of the famous network of St. Anthony’s Caves. Chernihiv eventually became an important religious center.
During the period of Kyivan Rus’ an impressive number of stone buildings were built in Chernihiv. About a dozen stone churches were erected, five of which have survived to our day. The great scale of construction works is evidenced by the existence of large brick-firing kilns. A number of bread-baking ovens were also found, proof that large quantities of bread were produced in the city for the prince’s court, the army, and public consumption.
The artisans of Chernihiv artisans were conversant with all the crafts of the time. Archeologists found seven jewelry workshops that produced pieces for various items of jewelry, primarily pendants attached to women’s headgear and crosses. The political stability in and around the city was conducive to the growth of prosperity of the rural suburbs. In terms of the number of settlements consisting of fortified towns and large and small villages, Chernihiv had the most densely populated suburbs in Rus’.
THE COSSACK ERA
The Mongol-Tatar invasion was the first and the greatest catastrophe to befall the city. After being burned down and devastated, for the next few centuries Chernihiv fell into the abyss of the dark ages, which remain virtually unknown to us.
However, due to the legacy of Kyivan Rus’, no one denied Chernihiv’s high administrative status in subsequent centuries. Numerous architectural monuments and fortifications forever placed Chernihiv on the map as the center of a large region. Local Lithuanian princes lived here. Svitrigaila, the most widely known Lithuanian prince, became the Grand Duke of Lithuania. Moscow turned Chernihiv into a military outpost to menace Kyiv. After the city came under Polish rule, contemporaries typically noted that Chernihiv was the capital of the Siversk land. That is why the Chernihiv principality was formed within the Rzeczpospolita (the Polish Commonwealth).
One of the landmark dates in the history of Chernihiv was the year 1623, when the city received Magdeburg Law. Interestingly, the present-day city authorities ignored the celebration of this date, which was organized by the NGO “Siversky instytut” in 2003, despite the fact that it marks the historical beginnings of municipal self-government in Chernihiv and, hence, a new era in its development. In the next two decades, until the 1650s, the city adapted to European standards and saw the introduction of the positions of viit (reeve) and burmistry (heads of the city council), the city hall, and the city seal. The first artisans’ guilds were also organized according to the customs of The Day.
Under Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Chernihiv became the administrative center of a Cossack regiment. The first two Chernihiv colonels – Martyn Nebaba and Stefan Pobodailo – died in combat on the Hetmanate’s northern front against Lithuania. The Cossacks of Chernihiv participated in all the military campaigns led by the Ukrainian Cossacks for the next 50 years. The Chyhyryn and Crimean raids and storming of Turkish fortresses, including the famous Azov raid, decimated their numbers, but at the same time covered them with military glory. The heroes of these campaigns were colonels Vasyl Dunin-Borkovsky and Yakiv Lyzohub.
The colonels of Chernihiv belonged to the small influential circle in the Hetmanate, and some of them attained the position of hetman (Ivan Samoilovych, Demian Mnohohrishny, and Pavlo Polubotok). Ivan Skoropadsky, the general-secretary of Chernihiv for many years, also rose to the hetman’s seat.
The tragedy of the great Ruin did not altogether spare Chernihiv, but it only scratched it as compared to the Right-Bank cities of the Hetmanate. The energy of the liberated people was reflected in the rapid reconstruction of the largest Chernihiv churches and monasteries, which had been neglected for decades and even centuries. These buildings represent a unique synthesis of two epochs and two architectural styles – Kyivan Rus’ and the Ukrainian Baroque.
Chernihiv experienced its second revival during Ivan Mazepa’s rule, which was fostered by a combination of political and economic conditions as well as the initiative of several prominent historical figures. The Chernihiv bishops Lazar Baranovych, Feodosii Uhlytsky, and Ioann Maksymovych made a great impact on Ukraine’s religious life and greatly contributed to the city’s development. The revived monasteries and the wonder-working icons of the Virgin Mary in Yelets and Illintsi restored the city’s reputation as one of Ukraine’s preeminent religious centers. This process was actively supported by the Cossack colonels, and Hetman Mazepa personally supported the construction of Holy Trinity Church and the belfry and refectory at the Borys and Hlib Monastery, now known as the Collegium Building.
Time demanded new forms of cultural life. One of the biggest printing shops in Ukraine was set up in Chernihiv, and the first collegium in Cossack-era Ukraine was opened there to educate young people. The collegium developed the finest traditions of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and was proudly called “the Athens of Chernihiv.” Writers and poets, engravers and musicians worked in the city. Its periodicals reached the most distant corners of the Orthodox world, and local students continued their education at the best European universities. They were in the greatest demand in the Russian Empire, which engaged multitudes of educated Ukrainians to develop its educational and bureaucratic institutions.
IN THE EMPIRE
In the 1720s the first results of the Russian policy aimed at destroying Cossack Ukraine began to appear. Officials from St. Petersburg sought to control the number of students, and these efforts were countered by bishops, who declared that this was not in line with Ukrainian customs. The Synod introduced censorship of publications produced in Chernihiv and twice closed down the printing shop. Finally, total control led to the decline of these outstanding centers of Ukrainian culture.
In 1750 Chernihiv burned to the ground. Hundreds of wooden houses and stores were devastated by a fire that broke out in the central part of the city. Gunpowder was stored in the cellar of the Savior’s Church, which would have never survived if some daredevils had not moved the powder. The inside of the church was burned, but the structure remained standing. Contemporaries wrote that after this fire Chernihiv was unable to regain its prosperity and large population. It took the city several decades to revive.
A change in Chernihiv’s administrative status spurred the city’s revival. After the Hetmanate was abolished, the city became the center of a vicegerency and later the seat of the Malorossiiskaia gubernia. At this juncture, the expansion of Chernihiv’s administrative authority reached its zenith because the Chernihiv gubernia now spanned all of the Hetmanate’s territory. This did not last long, however, and the gubernia was split in two with Chernihiv remaining the seat of the gubernia (created in 1802).
The city began to expand as a result of the influx of functionaries and the opening of various bureaucratic institutions. This administrative advantage provided a living for many Chernihivites and attracted numerous officials, but it failed to spark economic or cultural growth because the city was located off the trade routes, which, coupled with the lack of natural resources, doomed it to stagnation.
Thus, throughout the entire 19-th century Chernihiv lived a double life: it was a city of bureaucrats, on the one hand, and on the other, a patriarchal Ukrainian city. Officials’ lives revolved around the governor and the ideas and conduct of a few dignitaries. What the governor did and the mood he was in all had a direct impact on the attitudes of officials. Local journalists were bold in criticizing previous administrations but praised each new governor. The primitive mode of thinking characteristic of bureaucrats doomed them to a miserable moral existence, and most of them were called “the people of the 20th,” i.e., the monthly salary day. One of the city’s visitors wrote that it would take the talent of a Mykola Hohol (Gogol) talent to describe the absurdity of their existence.
Until the end of the 19th century, cows grazed in downtown Chernihiv, utterly oblivious to the bureaucratic bustle. Leonid Hlibov, the city’s best known resident, wrote tongue-in-cheek that the cow is a useful animal that adorns a landscape, but definitely not the main square of the gubernial seat. At one point, an especially bellicose heifer even attacked a lady, but fortunately a brave soldier was passing by and saved the potential victim. So Hlibov had every reason to dub Chernihiv a gubernial village.
Cows were a kind of symbol of the Chernihivites’ penchant for tradition, their folk mentality, and adherence to customs. Visitors to the city always spoke well of them. Afanasii Chuzhbynsky and Taras Shevchenko admired the respect accorded to them by the residents, who were ready to carry them in their arms. Hohol praised the dried cherries he purchased in Chernihiv. Teachers at the theological college who had to leave the city were overcome by sadness at the thought of leaving behind the kind Chernihivites.
The greatest event in the city at the end of the 19th century was the glorification of Theodosius, a famous Chernihiv prelate. He was canonized after his relics were observed to resist decay and miracles linked to his name were recorded. In early September 1986 over 100,000 pilgrims came to Chernihiv, effectively quadrupling the city’s population. The cult of Theodosius spread throughout the empire and Chernihiv turned into a major pilgrimage center. This provided a steady influx of money to the impoverished city and led the head of the municipal council to note contentedly that long after his death the prelate was helping his fellow countrymen. The glory of the calm and inexpensive city also attracted many retired officers and officials, who flocked to Chernihiv.
The turn of the 20th century marked Chernihiv’s final rise to prominence as the center of Ukrainian culture, an event heralded by Hlibov. The actress Maria Zankovetska, a student of the Chernihiv gymnasium, made her debut in an amateur performance organized by Hlibov’s friends. An entire constellation of brilliant writers worked in the city, among them Borys Hrinchenko, Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky, Volodymyr Samiilenko, Mykola Vorony, Mykhailo Mohyliansky, as well as the members of the younger generation of writers, such as Vasyl Ellan-Blakytny, Arkadii Kazka, and Pavlo Tychyna. Such notable public figures as Ivan Petrunkevych, Illia Shrah, Oleksandr Rusov and Sofia Rusova, and others devoted themselves to civic affairs.
Chernihiv became the home of one of Ukraine’s finest museums, which was formed on the basis of Vasyl Tarnavsky’s personal collection. Interestingly, some local leaders opposed the idea of a municipal museum. Their position was aptly summarized by the author of a pamphlet, who wrote: “Why create museums when people need food for stuffing their faces?” However, the fine initiative overcame all the naysayers.
20TH-CENTURY STORMS
In the battle over Ukraine that was waged by various political regimes and countries in 1917-20, Chernihivites exhibited their eternal desire for peace and quiet. Returning World War I officers, who craved a peaceful life, founded the Union of Working Officers, and attached to the building was a cafe and a bakery that sold dumplings.
Believers dug a network of new caves. Even the Chernihiv Bolsheviks were distinguished by their tolerance and reluctance to spill blood. The historian Dmytro Doroshenko recounted the time when Sofia Sokolovska, the leader of the Chernihiv Bolsheviks, openly confronted Red Army troops from Moscow and saved dozens of officers from being shot to death.
However, Chernihiv failed to remain an island of tranquility in the sea of blood, a naive dream of every city and village in Ukraine. The city changed hands many times. The Chernihiv Duma invariably supported all the Ukrainian governments, but these were replaced by the Bolsheviks, Germans, and the White Guards, and finally, the Bolsheviks again. The war destroyed or forced into flight a significant proportion of the city’s population. In 1920 the head of the local Cheka wrote that there was no one but small fry left to investigate because everyone of note had fled.
Then the construction of socialism was launched. A monument to one of the tsars was replaced by a statue of Vladimir Lenin, and another, by Mikhail Frunze. Church property was looted, but Chernihiv was fortunate in that all its churches were spared. The socialist experiment foresaw the development of industry and improvements in education and healthcare. In the 1930s new schools and hospitals were built, but those who were deemed unworthy of them were sent to labor camps or the other world. In downtown Chernihiv old stores were razed and Red Square was built, the most beautiful square in present-day Chernihiv.
The Second World War was the apotheosis of all the tragedies of the 20th century. In late August 1941, German aviation methodically bombarded the central part of the city for several days. The famous Condor Legion of the German Luftwaffe was involved in the campaign. This legion made history with its 1938 bombing of the Spanish city of Guernica. Downtown Chernihiv, dating to the mid-18th century, was so utterly destroyed that one could see suburban forests from the main square. Chernihiv‘s “fault” was that for a brief period its location was strategically important in the battle for Kyiv.
The war decimated the population, reducing it from 70,000 to 11,000. The last major bloodshed of those cruel years was the execution of several policemen on the main square.
At the end of the war the state commission recognized Chernihiv as one of the most devastated cities in the Soviet Union, and its reconstruction took a decade and a half. The greatest achievement of this period was the restoration of all the historical monuments that had been destroyed or burned down-Church of Good Friday, St. Catherine’s Church, the Borys and Hlib Cathedral, and the Collegium Building.
During the postwar period Chernihiv grew rapidly into an industrial center, its population increasing to 300,000 residents. Chernihiv’s most famous calling card was the Chernihiv Flying College, which trained thousands of pilots and seven astronauts, including Ukraine’s first astronaut Leonid Kadeniuk.
With the dissolution of the USSR looming, in 1990 Chernihiv made a name for itself with its so-called sausage revolution. The turmoil was caused by the fact that certain meat delicacies were found in the trunk of an official’s car, and these were spotted by people who had not seen sausages in stores for ages. The revolution’s official slogan was, “Who ate my meat?” This event showed that even a quiet and calm city can hold surprises for the authorities. The tranquility of present-day Chernihiv (and Ukraine in general) is as illusory as it was 20 years ago or in 2004.
Together with the rest of post-colonial and post-totalitarian Ukraine, today Chernihiv is experiencing one of the worst crises in its history. The numbers of cars in the city are springing up like mushrooms after a rainfall. Although Chernihiv was recently recognized as one of the environmentally cleanest cities in Ukraine, nonetheless its residents believe that their standard of living is constantly dropping. One can agree with this because the most terrible crisis is the affliction of the spirit and the corruption of social relationships, which makes each person helpless in the face of the authorities and large business.
An outward expression of this crisis is found in Chernihiv’s current appearance. The demolition or distortion of every old building is stripping the city of its unique aura. Thus, the black fountain in Chernihiv is a symbolic structure: the old city is being buried while architectural ersatz is offered in exchange.
Perhaps the only way to save the idea of the black fountain is to change it into a monument to Prince Chorny, the legendary founder of the city. Then the color would be fitting because, whichever way you look at it, the name of the founder means black, the biggest Chernihiv mound is called Chorna Mohyla (Black Tomb), and the name of the city itself is linked to the color black.
This idea could be implemented by the time the next anniversary celebration rolls around. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” it is said, so it is possible to come up with a not-too-distant anniversary. For example, we could celebrate Chernihiv’s 1,325th anniversary, or in nine years we could mark a date containing only zeroes and ones-the 1,110th anniversary. An even nicer date could be offered to those who love the number one – the 1,111th anniversary. A holiday is always good.
