Anyone who comes for the first time to the Voskresenska Street in Sumy for sure stops at an unusual well: under a stone arch there stands an old “bag of coins,” as if it has just been raised from water. Clear streams of water flow down from it to the stone bowl where in the bottom there are real coins that were once thrown to the well by tourists, lovers, and honeymooners. Around the bowl on the pavement there is a map of Sumy region with raion centers marked on it – it is splashed with artificial streams of “water.” There is a splendid cranberry bush growing nearby. It was planted here during the opening ceremony of the sign by the countryman Anatolii Mokrenko, People’s Artist of USSR and Ukraine. All of this stands against the background of an ancient Church of Resurrection.
The memorial “Sumka” (Bag) was installed in Sumy not that long ago – in 2008 on the occasion of Sumy’s 355th foundation anniversary. Today it is just as popular as the famous Sumy Altanka, which for years was considered to be the indisputable calling card of the city on the Psiol River.
The idea of building the “Bag” belongs to a native of Sumy Mykola Hrytsenko, Deputy Chairman of Sumy Community in Kyiv, famous writer, journalist, and the author of the Sumy anthem. Hrytsenko now lives and works in Kyiv, he once was the head of the main office of Symu Oblast Television. Now Hrytsenko is the head of Oblast Public Organization “Art Center Sobor,” located right here on the Voskresenska Street.
Mykola Sushchenko, head of the Pechersk District State Administration in Kyiv and local businessman Hryhorii Tymchenko joined in the project realization. The stone sign was a present to Sumy from its natives. The sculpture itself was made by Oleksii Shevchenko, sculptor who was born in Sumy but is now living in Kyiv.
Why the “bag” was chosen as an idea for the monument? According to an ancient legend the city of Sumy appeared in the place where Cossack settlers found three bags filled with gold coins and built their settlements on this money. That is why three bags are depicted on the coat of arms of the oblast center. People’s imagination soon assigned magical properties to the monument in the form of a stone Cossack well. There appeared a common belief that you should wash your face and hands in the well for luck and throw a coin there for happiness.
Therefore, right from the start the “Bag” became not only an architectural highlight of the city, but also a real treasury. For the fourth time the coins raised from the bottom of the “bag” are used as a prize fund for the winners of the children’s art contest “Sumy Treasure,” held by the Department of Culture of Sumy City Council and Sumy Art Center “Sobor.” The results of the contest are announced each year on The Day of the City.
The total of nearly 120 kilogram of coins was raised from the bottom of the “Bag” and given to children as prizes. This years treasure with the total weight of 24.6 kilograms was weighed in three leather handbags and divided equally among the three winners: Viktoria Tereshchyk (14 years old), Daria Lesniak (13 years old) – winner in the nomination “Young Readers,” and Yulia Popova (10 years old) – winner in the nomination “Young Artists.” “There are not many real things in our time,” says Mykola Hrytsenko, initiator of the original event. “This contest is real: from its beginning to the very end. Children receive the treasure of lucky coins from the Cossack well (along with Ukrainian coins, there are very many foreign coins) as the initial capital for the development of their talent. With this contest we want to once again prove the need to support things that are Ukrainian, native, and talented. Our treasure is the equivalent of not as much the financial but spiritual beginning because every coin thrown into this well has tremendous energy of hope, love, and kindness.”
