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TARAS SHEVCHENKO
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF KYIV
SERGII RUDENKO
Lectures in the History
of Ukrainian Culture
Edited by Liliya Grigoryan
Kyiv
2019
UDK 930.85(477)(075.8)=111
R83
Edited by Liliya Grigoryan
Recommended by the Council of the Faculty of Philosophy at
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv,
protocol № 2 dated 18.06.2019
Rudenko, Sergii
Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture/ Sergii Rudenko;
edited by Liliya Grigoryan. – Kyiv: Vadex, 2019. – 66 p.
ISBN 978-966-9725-57-8
© Sergii Rudenko, 2019
© Vadex, 2019
Contents
Preface
1. Introduction to the course
1.1. Definition of culture
1.2. Brief Outline of Ukrainian History
1.3. The sources of Ukrainian culture
1.3. Emerging the Ukrainian National culture
2. Religious life in Ukraine
2.1. The Earliest Times
2.2. Kyivan Rus’
2.3. Early Modern Period
2.4. Religious life in the 20th century
3. Ukrainian Architecture
3.1. Kyivan Rus’
3.2. Ukrainian Architecture of the Early Modern period
3.3. 19th century
3.4. 20th century
4. Ukrainian Fine arts
4.1. From Kyivan Rus’ to 19th century
4.2. Ukrainian Architecture in the 19th century
4.3. Ukrainian Architecture in the 20th century
Contents | 3
5. Ukrainian Literature
5.2. Kyivan Rus’
5.3. Ukrainian Literature of the Early Modern period
5.4. Ukrainian Literature of the 19th century
5.5. Ukrainian Literature of the 20th century
6. Education and Science in Ukraine
6.1. Kyivan Rus’
6.2. Early Modern period
6.3. 19th – 20th centuries
7. Philosophy in Ukrainian culture
7.1. The main periods
7.2. Kyivan Rus’
7.3. Early Modern period
7.4. Ukrainian philosophy of the 19th century
7.5. Ukrainian philosophy of the 20th century
Bibliography
4 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
Preface
This short coursebook on the History of Ukrainian
culture is written for the International students, who study at
the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv Institute of
Biology and Medicine. However, it could be useful for other
specialities students, which want to improve their general
competences.
The main aim of this short book is to reveal the main
branches, historical periods, cultural, political and artistic
movements, pieces of art and personalities in the History of
Ukrainian culture in order to make international students
acquainted with contemporary Ukrainian cultural, political,
religious, artistic and academic milieu. Nevertheless, this book
should be considered more as supportive material than as a
complex and self-efficient product.
The learning course on History of Ukrainian Culture
includes 7 Units, which cover the main fields of culture like
Historiography, Religious life, Architecture, Fine Arts,
Literature, Education and Science. The special unit is devoted
to Philosophy as a part of Ukrainian national culture. This unit
seems to be an additional rather compulsory element of the
learning course.
In our humble opinion, there is one more advantage of
this book for a wide range of non-English speaking readers
from the lexical point of view. This book also could be useful as
Preface | 5
a glossary of English equivalents of typical and the most
representative objects (pieces of art, religious, educational,
scientific movements, etc.) of Ukrainian culture.
I would like to express profound gratitude to Rector of
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, academician of
NAS of Ukraine, Prof. Leonid Huberskiy and my colleagues
from the Taras Shevchenko National University Faculty of
Philosophy Anatolii Konverskiy, Myroslav Rusyn, Natalia
Kryvda, Andrii Pogorilyi, Iryna Adamska.
I would like to appreciate for encouragement and
support to the International Society of Philosophy and
Cosmology (ISPC), especially to Head of ISPC Prof. Oleg
Bazaluk.
Special thanks to my Polish colleagues from the
University of Zielona Góra Institute of Philosophy Prof.
Roman Sapeńko, Prof. Tomasz Mróz, Prof. Piotr Bylica, Prof.
Bogdan Trocha, Dr. Paweł Walczak, who encouraged and
support my writings about the History of Ukrainian Philosophy
and Culture.
Also, I would like to appreciate to Liliya Grigoryan, who
carefully read this text and made valuable improvements, and
my colleagues Anastasiia Polushyna form the First Cambridge
Education Center (Kyiv, Ukraine) for supporting this project.
6 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
Unit 1. Introduction to the course
1.1. Definition of culture
There are more than 500 definitions of culture in
contemporary scholar literature. The notion of culture has been
discussed since the beginning of the 20th century by a number
of scholars and nowadays there is no consolidated definition of
this term in contemporary cultural studies.
However, in our course we will use the most convenient,
in our opinion, definition of culture, which fits best to its aims
and goals. There are two approaches to understanding the
phenomenon of culture. According to the first of them, culture
could be considered as the worldview. According to the second
one, culture is considered as a system of signs and symbols,
thus, as semiotic process.
Definition of culture in terms of the Worldview.
Culture is a complex of characteristic material, spiritual,
intellectual and emotional features of society, which includes
not only different arts, but also lifestyle, basic rules of human
existence, system of values, traditions and beliefs.
Semiotics definition of culture. Culture is a form of
fixation and translation of social experience, which is carried
out through symbolic systems (signs and symbols).
Unit 1. Introduction to the course | 7
Culture as the worldview is being investigated in
research areas of Philosophy, History, Political Science,
Religious studies, Psychology, Education and so worth.
Culture as the system of signs and symbolic world is a
subject of Linguistics, History of Arts, Computer science,
Anthropology and Semiotics, of course.
The Semiotics could be briefly defined as an
interdisciplinary research area that studies signs and symbols,
their meaning, and their usage.
Both of mentioned definitions of culture are not
contradictory rather complimentary. That is the main reason
for our using these definitions of culture in this coursebook.
1.2. Brief Outline of Ukrainian History
In general, the History of Ukrainian culture could be
divided into five main periods.
1) The Earliest Times
2) Kyivan Rus’
3) Early Modern period
4) National Revival (19th century)
5) Modern Ukrainian culture (20th century)
8 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
Please note that cultural periodization does not coincide
with general historiography of Ukraine.
The Earliest Times covers the period from the IV
millennium B.C.E. to the IX century C.E. and includes
following historical dates.
• Trypilian archaeological culture
(5400 – 2000 B.C.E.)
• Scythian archaeological culture
(7th century B.C.E. – 2nd century C.E.)
• The Greek colonies in Ukraine
(4th century B.C.E. – 5th century C.E.)
• Slavic archaeological cultures
(2nd century B.C.E. – 7th century C.E.)
The culture of Kyivan Rus’ covers the 9th – 12th
centuries C.E. and includes following historical dates.
• Rise of Kyivan Rus’
(9th – 10th centuries C.E.)
• Zenith of Kyivan Rus’
(10th -11th centuries C.E.)
• Decline of Kyivan Rus’
(12th – 13th centuries C.E.)
The Early Modern period in Ukrainian culture covers
the 15th – 18th centuries C.E. and includes following
subperiods.
Unit 1. Introduction to the course | 9
• Polish-Lithuanian time
(14th – 16th centuries C.E.)
• The Cossack era
(16th – 18th centuries C.E.)
The period of National Revival of Ukrainian Culture
covers the 80s of the 19th century up to 1914 and includes the
following stages (according to Ivan L. Rudnytsky).
• The Age of Nobility (1780 – 1840th)
• The Populist Age (1840 – 1880th)
• The Modernist age (1880th - 1914)
The period of Modern Ukrainian culture covers 1914
to the present time and includes the following subperiods.
• Ukrainian Independence (1917 - 1922)
• Soviet period in Ukrainian culture
(1922 - 1991)
• Contemporary Ukrainian culture (1991 –
present time)
1.3. The sources of Ukrainian culture
There are typical sources of each national culture:
• natural environment, including physical and
biological peculiarities of its carriers; ethnic cultural
inheritance from ancient historical periods;
• features of history;
10 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
• relations with neighbours, external cultural
receptions;
• professional cultural creativity, including
intellectual culture.
Omelyan Pritsak pointed out two groups of sources of
Ukrainian culture. The first group includes the earliest sources,
which have internal and external origins: Pre-Indo-European,
Indo-European, Proto-Slavic, Balkan, Iranian and Altaic. The
second one includes Ancient (Greek, Roman), Germanic,
Byzantine and Western European sources.
One more influential source of Ukrainian culture was
Christianity in its Orthodox version.
1.4. Emerging the Ukrainian National culture
The concept of Nation has at least two meanings.
According to the first one, the nation could be defined as a
community of people, united by the cultural and psychological
context, which is created historically (ethnic nation). The
second meaning represents the nation as a unity of citizens
within a certain state (political nation).
The Ukrainian nation is considered as an ethnic nation,
which has a long period of historical development. However,
the emerging of Ukrainian national culture started only in the
XIX century, because only in those time we may observe the
Unit 1. Introduction to the course | 11
consolidation of political and cultural elites, development of
modern language through the professional fiction literature and
poetry, the appearance of the idea of building the independent
state.
That is why the personalities of Gregory Skovoroda,
Taras Shevchenko, Ivan Kotlyarevsky, Ivan Franko and many
others are significant for contemporary Ukrainians.
Developing of Ukrainian national culture is deeply
connected with growing Universities in Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odessa,
Lviv, where the new generation of Ukrainian elite in fields of
politics, science, education, arts and philosophy were growing
up.
The process of creation of Ukrainian national culture has
not accomplished yet. The crucial milieu of Ukrainian national
culture development is Education (including Universities),
Science, Arts and Philosophy as well.
12 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
Unit 2. Religious life in Ukraine
As it was mentioned in the previous Unit, Religion could
be considered as one of the sources of Ukrainian culture
development. History of Ukrainian religious life is a quite
complicated subject. However, the main feature of Ukrainian
religious milieu is religious dualism, also called in Ukrainian
language as Dvovirya, which means co-existing Christianity
and Paganism in the interwoven form.
2.1. The Earliest Times
The main religion of the Slavs was Paganism. Paganism
is an early form of religion, which worships the forces of
nature and the cult of ancestors. The term paganism rose in the
clerical environment to designate all non-Christian religions.
Slavic paganism was a polytheistic religion, namely, it
presumes belief in many different gods.
It is important to note that paganism is not just an early
religion. Paganism should be considered as a worldview,
namely a holistic system of ideas about the world and the place
of man in the world. The pagan gods embodied the phenomena
of nature and space, and, eventually, social processes.
Unit 2. Religious life in Ukraine | 13
Agriculture was the basis of the economy of ancient
Slavs, therefore, the subject of the pagan cult was the Sun,
“Mother-Earth”, forests, rivers, water and so worth. One more
feature of Slavs paganism lies in the fact of domination of
female force over the male.
The pagan gods, which were organized in the pantheon,
represented in a calendar and in a social structure. The feature
of Slavs pagan pantheon lies in a fact that it was variable.
Nevertheless, before adopting Christianity, we may observe
well-structured pantheon of pagan gods. Some scholars believe
that Kyivan Prince Volodymyr the Great had created this
pantheon before he baptized Kyivan Rus’.
The Slavs pagan pantheon includes the following gods.
• Svarog is a god-blacksmith and a god of
heavenly fire. He is a father of Perun and grandfather
of Dazhbog. In some scholar resources, Svarog is
represented as the supreme god.
• Dazhbog is a god of the Sun and god of good.
• Perun is a god of thunder and lightning. He is
formidable, but at the same time, wise god. Perun was
a protector of the Prince and his army.
• Chor (the Iranian deity of the Moon) is a god
of night light.
14 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
• Strybog is a god of cold, bad weather and
winds. He was believed as a destroyer of good.
• Symargl is a god of the Earth and the
“underground kingdom”.
• Mokosh is a fertility and household deity.
The main god in the Volodymyr’s the Great pagan
pantheon was Perun.
2.2. Kyivan Rus’
Before 988 the religious life of Kyivan Rus’ was based
on paganism.
In 988 Prince Volodymyr the Great adopted the
Byzantine Christianity, baptized the Kyivan Rus’ and Orthodox
Christianity became an official religion of State.
The Kyivan Rus’ Church became part of the Patriarchate
of Constantinople. The Kyiv Metropolitanate was established
in 1039.
The adoption of Christianity had a great influence on the
political, social and cultural development of the Kyivan Rus’.
The main results of Christianity adoption are following.
Unit 2. Religious life in Ukraine | 15
1) Strengthening the power of a prince and
boyars.
2) Accelerating the development of feudal
relations in the Kyivan Rus’.
3) Increasing and intensifying political and
cultural relations between Kyivan and Byzantium,
Western European countries and peoples of the
Caucasus.
4) A noticeable increase of the Kyivan Rus’
culture, especially in fields of architecture, fine arts,
literature, philosophy, music, education, science.
5) Development of Church institutions.
However, Christianity interwove with Paganism in
Kyivan Rus’, which generate the peculiar, for the culture of
Kyivan Rus’, phenomenon well-known as religious dualism or
Dvovirya. The main feature of Kyivan Rus’ religion dualism
was co-existing Christianity and Paganism in the interwoven
form. One more peculiarity of the adoption of the Christianity
in Kyivan Rus’ lies in the fact that in contrast to Western
European states Christianity in Rus’ was adopted firstly by the
political elite and only than by citizens.
16 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
2.3. Early Modern Period
There were two of the most crucial circumstances that
determine religious life at the Early modern period of
Ukrainian culture. It was a confrontation between Orthodox
and Catholic Churches on the one hand and confrontation
between Kyiv and Moscow Metropolitan power on another
hand.
The confrontation between Orthodox and Catholic
influenced appearing of the Religious polemic in literature.
The polemic focused on the problem of the Union between
Orthodox and Catholic Church inspired by Poland power.
We may notice at least two directions in the Religious
polemic literature.
The first one was concerned against the Union Orthodox
and Catholic Church, namely by Poland power, whereas the
second one was focused on supporting the Union.
The most significant representatives of the first
movement of the religious polemic were Ivan Vyshenskiy,
Gerasym Smotrytsky, Christofor Philalet, Zahar Kopystensky.
Unit 2. Religious life in Ukraine | 17
The most noticeable representatives of the pro-Union
movement of the religious polemic were Hipacy Pociej Poltiy,
Cyrill Stavrovetsky, Stefan Zyzaniy, Lavrentiy Zizaniy.
Evaluation of the religious polemic phenomenon seems
to be quite complicated in the contemporary Ukrainian studies,
because it is deeply connected with the political, religious and
cultural situation, political and religious movements in
contemporary Ukraine. Nowadays, Orthodox and Union
Churches are co-existing in Ukraine and have a noticeable
number of adherents.
After Kyivan Rus’ declined, Metropolitan Peter in 1305
transferred the centre of Orthodox Church from Kyiv to
Moscow as the strongest principality. In 1325, a separate
Metropolis was created in Moscow. In fact, it was the Kyiv
Metropolis, and formally, it was Moscow, which from the
Russian Church grew up later.
In May 1686, the Patriarch of Constantinople Dionysius
issued a Letter of Deed on the assignment of power over the
Kyiv Metropolis.
The canonicality of this action is rather dubious because
the Patriarch of Constantinople Dionysius was soon deprived.
One of the accusations against him was that he handed Kyiv
Metropolis to Moscow in a non-canonical manner.
18 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
In 1721, according to the "Spiritual Rules", the Kyiv
Metropolis was formally liquidated as an autonomous
ecclesiastical region and became a regular eparchy of the
Moscow Patriarchate.
2.4. Religious life in the 20th century
In 1918, during the Skoropadsky’s governing, the idea of
the Autocephalous Ukrainian Church was created in order to
deter people from anti-state Bolshevism.
The first communities of the Autocephalous Church
originated from 1919-1920 and actively supported the
Ukrainian state. After the defeat of the Ukrainian People
Republic from the Russian Bolsheviks, the Ukrainian clergy of
the Autocephalous Church conducted their ministry in the
underground.
Soviet period
Religion and church were considered as bearers of hostile
and anti-communist ideology. In the Soviet state, the Atheism
was adopted as a state ideology. The Bolsheviks destroyed a
great number of Church buildings and related to religion
artworks, which had historical and cultural value.
In the middle of 1930s, 9% of the existing churches
remained in comparison with 1913.
Unit 2. Religious life in Ukraine | 19
Since 1991 Ukraine has been pursuing a policy of
supporting the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of the Kyiv
Patriarchate (Metropolis), which aims to incorporate all
Ukrainian Orthodox churches.
20 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
Unit 3. Ukrainian Architecture
Ukrainian Architecture has been leading its history since
the period of Kyivan Rus’ and includes a variety of styles,
movements and personalities. Undoubtedly, architecture had
existed before the Kyivan Rus’ rise, yet the most architectural
objects in the Earliest Times were built from the wood, which
caused their extinction, and, therefore, unavailability for
observation and further research.
3.1. Kyivan Rus’
There are two main periods in the Kyivan Rus’
architecture, which affected its stylistic variety. The first one is
called the Period of borrowings and the second one is often
headlined as the Period of Original Architectural styles.
After adoption of Christianity the Kyivan Rus’ borrowed
the Byzantine architectural style (canon), which brought stone
made buildings to Kyiv and other cities of the Kyivan Rus’.
The most significant architectural objects that represent
the Byzantine style are following.
• Church of the Tithes (in Ukrainian, Desiatynna
Tserkva) in Kyiv (built at the end of the IX
century)
• St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv (built around
1017/1032)
Unit 3. Ukrainian Architecture | 21
• St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod (built around
1051-1095)
• Dormition Cathedral in Kyiv Caves Lavra in
Kyiv (founded at 1073)
• The Cathedral of Borys and Glib in Chernihiv
(built in 1120 - 1123)
• Transfiguration Cathedral in Chernihiv
(founded near 1033-1034)
The Period of Original Architectural styles represented
by the following architectural objects.
• St.Michael’s Cathedral (in Ukrainian,
Mychailivsky sobor) in Kyiv (built in 1108 -
1113)
• St.Michael’s Church in Kyiv (built around 1070
- 1088)
• St.Fridays Church (in Ukrainian, Piatnytska
Tserkva) in Chernigiv (built near the end of XII
century)
• The Golden Gates in Kyiv (built around 1017 -
1024)
• St.Cyryl’s Church in Kyiv (founded around
1140)
• Assumption Cathedral in Kaniv (built in 1144)
22 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
3.2. Ukrainian Architecture of the Early Modern period
The dominant style in Ukrainian architecture of the Early
Modern period was baroque, also known as Ukrainian
(Cossacks) baroque. Baroque was accepted by Cossacks and
became a widespread style in professional architecture and in
the folk architecture as well. The main features of baroque are
decorativeness, irrationality, mysticism, and a high level of
ornamentation. Some scholars believe that baroque style was
deeply close to worldwide of Cossacks, which explains the
popularity of baroque style in the Ukrainian cultural milieu of
the Early Modern period.
However, the baroque style in Ukraine differed according
to the territorial character.
In Western Ukraine, which was under the Polish-Catholic
influence, the Baroque was quite largely European. Due to the
difficult economic situation and the oppression of the Polish
administration, the stone made architecture was declining
whereas the wood made architecture had significant
flourishing.
In Eastern Ukraine, the Baroque underwent a radical
influence on the part of the locals and acquired a distinct
national character. During the zenith period of the left bank
Hetmanate, the Ukrainian national architectural school was
born and Kyiv became a center of culture in Ukraine.
Unit 3. Ukrainian Architecture | 23
The Cossacks leaders, especially hetman Ivan Mazepa,
supported the development of architecture. They invited
famous European architects and supported a national
architectural school.
The most significant architects (foreign and domestic
origin) of that period were Bernard Meretyn, Johan Pinzel,
Bartolomeo Rastrelli, Ivan Hryhoróvych-Barsky, Stepan
Kovnir, Johan Shedel.
There were several directions in the Ukrainian baroque
architecture of the Early Modern period.
• Rearrangement of Kyivan Rus’ architecture
buildings
• Cossacks buildings (housing and defensive
objects)
• Religious architecture
In the baroque style were rearranged:
• St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv
• Dormition Cathedral in Kyiv Caves Lavra in
Kyiv
• The Cathedral of Borys and Glib in Chernihiv
• Transfiguration Cathedral in Chernihiv
• St.Michael’s Cathedral in Kyiv (built in 1108 -
1113)
• St.Michael’s Church in Kyiv
24 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
• The Golden Gates in Kyiv (built around 1017 -
1024)
• St.Cyryl’s Church in Kyiv (founded around
1140)
• Assumption Cathedral in Kaniv (built in 1144)
Among the new architectural buildings, we may point out
the following.
• St. Andriy Church in Kyiv (by Bartolomeo
Rastrelli)
• St. George Cathedral in Lviv (by Bernard
Meretyn)
• The Great Lavra Bell Tower in Kyiv (by Johan
Shedel)
• Kovnir’s house in Kyiv Caves Lavra in Kyiv (by
Stepan Kovnir)
• The Goblet Church of St.Cyryl’s Monastery in
Kyiv (by Ivan Hryhoróvych-Barsky).
This list of architectural objects is obviously incomplete.
Only with the support of Hetman Ivan Mazepa more than 50
architectural buildings were founded in Kyiv. In conclusion,
we must notice that baroque architecture completely changed
the architectural image of Ukraine and Ukrainian cities in the
16th – 18th centuries. Plenty of Ukrainian baroque architectural
Unit 3. Ukrainian Architecture | 25
monuments has been preserved and they continue to be a part
of architecture layout in contemporary Ukrainian cities.
3.3. Ukrainian architecture in the 19th century
From the middle of the 18th up to the end of 19th
centuries, the main style of Ukrainian architecture development
was classicism. The emergence of this new style was affected
by foreign architects, who introduced a new type of imperial
style in Ukrainian cities and villages like Baturin, Sokirintsy,
Kachanivka (Chernigiv region), Mikulintsy (Ternopil region)
etc. The architectural classicism was developing in Kyiv,
Odesa, Kharkiv, Chernihiv and smaller towns.
In our opinion, the best illustration of architectural
classicism could be Kyiv, where a famous architect Vincent
Beretti (1781 - 1842) was working. Vincent Beretti had Italian
origin, yet lived and worked in the Russian Empire, which
included Ukraine in those times.
He was an author of a new layout of the central part of
Kyiv and co-author of the master architectural plan of Kyiv.
• The main building of Taras Shevchenko
National University of Kyiv (in colloquial
speaking – the Red building)
• Volodymyrska street in Kyiv and boulevard
(nowadays named after Taras Shevchenko)
26 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
• Botanic garden in Kyiv
• St. Volodymyr Cathedral in Kyiv
• Astronomic Observatory
All of these nowadays well-known objects were built
based on the project of Vincent Beretti.
There are much more examples of architectural
classicism in Ukraine, but this style had less influence than
baroque. Some scholars explain this fact referring to the value
of rationality, which leads in the basic principles of classicism.
The value of ratio fit well to Empire culture, yet was not
appropriate for the Ukrainian elite.
3.4. Ukrainian architecture in the 20th century
Ukrainian architecture of the 20th century has been
affected by the Soviet period and principles of Soviet
architecture. As it was mentioned, plenty of valuable
architectural objects from Kyivan Rus’ to the 19th century
were destroyed by the Soviet State. The Soviet State was
against religious architecture, which was considered as an
enemy of Communist ideology.
The main architectural style in the Soviet State headlined
the Socialistic realism. Socialist realism is an artistic method
and style that predominated in the USSR from the 1930s. In
fact, this style was a Soviet variant of monumentalism that is
Unit 3. Ukrainian Architecture | 27
inherent for totalitarian states. Socialistic realism was the only
officially authorized in the Soviet Union “a creative method of
literature and art”.
Socialistic realism could not be considered as a pure
architectural style, because it includes the elements of political
ideology.
However, we may notice some interesting from the
artistic point of view architectural objects.
• The building of Ukrainian Government in Kyiv
• The building of Ukrainian Parliament in Kyiv
• The building of House of State Industry in
Kharkiv
• The building of Vernadsky National Library of
Ukraine
The soviet period has caused a noticeable decrease in a
variety of architectural styles. Since 1991, Ukrainian policy has
been focused on leaving totalitarian elements in architecture
and developing new architectural image through the revival
and preservation of traditional Ukrainian architectural heritage,
which has historical and cultural value in addition to
supporting new national styles in architecture.
28 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
Unit 4. Ukrainian Fine arts
Quite similar to Architecture, developing of Ukrainian
fine arts were affected by such artistic styles and movements as
Byzantine style (canon), Kyivan Rus’ original style, Baroque at
the Early Modern period, Realism in the XIX century,
Modernism and Soviet socialistic realism in the XX century.
4.1. From Kyivan Rus’ to the 19th century
The adoption of Christianity brought into Kyivan Rus’
Byzantine style and Kyivan Rus’ original style a century later.
We have to note that fine arts were deeply integrated with
Architecture in Kyivan Rus’ and almost did not exist as an
independent direction.
Frescoes, mosaics and, of course, iconography are
mostly represented by Kyivan Rus’ fine arts.
Fresco could be defined as a picture made by painting on
a wet plaster, wall or ceiling.
Mosaic is a pattern or picture made using many small
pieces of coloured stone or glass.
Icon (also ikon) is a holy painting, usually on wood, of
Jesus Christ, or of a person considered holy by some
Christians, especially in Orthodox tradition (Greece, Kyivan
Rus’, Ukraine, Russia).
We can distinct following most significant examples of
frescoes, mosaics and iconography in Kyivan Rus’.
Unit 4. Ukrainian Fine arts | 29
• The complex of mosaics in St. Sophia Cathedral
in Kyiv, especially the Great Panagia (Oranta)
• The Eucharist in St. Michel’s Cathedral in Kyiv
(mosaic complex)
• The complex of frescoes in St. Sophia Cathedral
in Kyiv, e.g. a multi-figured portrait of Prince
Yaroslav the Wise family.
• The icon of St. Maria in St. Michel’s Cathedral
in Kyiv.
There is one more peculiarity in Kyivan Rus’ fine arts,
which could be observed in St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv.
Simultaneously to canonic images, there are plenty of secular
plots depicting the everyday life of Kyivan Rus’ elite,
including hunting, celebrations, wars and so worth;
mythological creatures and mythological narratives.
This mixture of plots in Kyivan Rus’ fine arts shows
existing the previously mentioned phenomenon of religious
dualism, also called as Dvovirya, which means co-existing
Christianity and Paganism in the interwoven form.
In the middle of the 18th century, new artistic tendencies
were embodied in such genres of fine arts as the Ceremonial
portrait. Ceremonial portrait obtained a leading place in the
cultural life of that period, bestowing the spiritual interests of
the Ukrainian Cossack, an elder and the highest clergy.
30 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
As usual in the genre of Ceremonial portrait were
depicted Cossacks Hetmans and Cossacks elite. Among the
great number of ceremonial portraits of that time, we may
highlight portraits of Hetmams Perto Sahaidachnyi, Petro
Mohyla, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Ivan Mazepa and so worth.
The most famous representatives of Ukrainian
iconography in the 18th century were Mykola Petrakhnovych,
Ivan Rutkovych, Yosyp Kondzelevych. They created icon
compositions (in Ukrainian, iconostas) in Cathedrals and
Churches in Lviv city.
Among the most remarkable painters of the 19th century,
we could highlight Mykola Pymonenko and Taras Shevchenko.
Mykola Pymonenko worked in the genre of household
painting. Most of the paintings he devoted to reflecting the life
of his contemporary village. He studied at an icon painting
school at the Kyiv Caves Lavra and the Kiev Drawing School.
He organised the first state art school and taught graphics in the
newly opened Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.
Taras Shevchenko used the etching technique for his
periodical "Picturesque Ukraine". He was the first and foremost
etching painter in the Russian Empire, for which he was
awarded the title of Academician of St. Petersburg Academy of
Arts.
Unit 4. Ukrainian Fine arts | 31
4.2. Ukrainian Fine arts in the 20th century
In a short period of Ukrainian independence from 1917 to
1921, we may see a noticeable development of modern fine
arts. Almost all styles and genres of modernistic art were
growing up in Ukraine, for instance, Futurism, Cubism, Post-
Impressionism, Constructivism, Suprematism, Surrealism and
so worth.
Futurism could be defined as a new way of thinking in
the arts that tried to express through a range of art forms the
characteristics and images of the modern age, such as
machines, speed, movement and power.
Cubism is a style of modern art in which an object or
person is shown as a set of geometric shapes and as it is seen
from many different angles at the same time.
Impressionism is a style of painting, in which the artists
tries to represent the effects of light on an object, person, area
of countryside, etc.
Constructivism is a style of art based on an idea that art
should have a social purpose.
32 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
Surrealism is a type of art in which unusual or impossible
things are shown happening.
Suprematism is a type of painting, which is based on an
idea that painting should break up with showing the real world.
The most significant painters of this short period were
Mychailo Boychuk and Georhiy Narbut.
Mychailo Boychuk is a painter, who worked in the
monumental style, leader of the group "Boichukists", one of the
founders of the monumental art of Ukraine of the 20th century.
He is an author of such famous paintings as The Harvest, The
Ukrainian woman, The Painter.
Georhiy Narbut is a Ukrainian graphic artist and
illustrator, author of the first Ukrainian state signs (banknotes
and stamps). Also, he was one of the founders and a rector of
the Ukrainian Academy of Fine Arts.
In the Soviet period the Socialistic realism became the
main style for Fine arts, which was supported by a totalitarian
ideology.
Until the period of the "Khrushchev thaw" (from 1953),
fine arts of the peoples of the USSR were within the
framework of brutal ideological control and censorship.
However, the period of "thaw" generated the first wave of
Unit 4. Ukrainian Fine arts | 33
liberalization that came into history as a course of "sixties."
The purpose of the «Sixties" work was seen in the revival of
national consciousness, historical and spiritual heritage and
culture, the abolition of ideological restrictions in the field of
culture. The most famous representatives in fine arts of that
period were Alla Horska, Halyna Sevruk, Lyudmyla Semikina.
Nevertheless, ideological restrictions concerned secular
art. Folk art, as it was purely decorative, did not suffer such
harassment. The most famous representative of this trend in the
middle of the twentieth century was Maria Pryimachenko. She
was a folk artist, who worked in the genre of "naive"
decorative art that surrounds "every day". For instance, she was
decorating houses. Also, she was painting images of fantastic
mythical animals, flowers and birds.
The true masterpiece of the series of animals was The
Pea Beast (1977). The 2009 year was recognized by UNESCO
as a year of Mariya Pryimachenko.
34 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
Unit 5. Ukrainian Literature
Ukrainian literature has been leading its history since the
Earliest Times when it was represented only in Oral form. The
written Ukrainian literature appeared only in Kyivan Rus’
almost simultaneously with Christianity adoption. Ukrainian
literature includes a great number of authors, texts, genres and
styles. Nevertheless, it is important to notice that modern
national Ukrainian literature appeared at the beginning of the
XIX century simultaneously with the modern Ukrainian
language. Before the 19th century, Ukrainian literature had been
written in Old Slavonic language, also called Church Slavonic
language.
5.1. Kyivan Rus’
The Kyivan Rus’ literature could be divided into two big
groups. The first one is usually called Translated and
Borrowed literature and the second one is headlined as
Original literature.
The Translated and Borrowed literature of Kyivan Rus’
originated from predominantly Bulgarian and Byzantine
sources, some pieces of which were translated or paraphrased
into Church Slavonic language.
Translated and Borrowed literature is represented by the
following genres.
Unit 5. Ukrainian Literature | 35
• Liturgical Books
• Canonical Christian Literature
• Apocrypha
• Scholarly works
• The Narrative
Liturgical Books are represented by Paroemenarium (a
selection of quotations used during divine service); Liturgicon
(in Ukrainian, Sluzhebnyk) and Euchologion (in Ukrainian,
Trebnyk), which give the instructions how Devine services and
Church ceremonies must be performed, etc.
Canonical Christian Literature, except the Holy Bible
translations, is represented by Hagiographic works (writings
about the lives of holy people such a saints) like the Patericon
of Sinae, the Patericon of Rome, the Patericon of Kyivan Caves
Monastery, etc.
Apocrypha is writings devoted to events and persons of
sacred Christian history, which are nor recognized as canonical
by the official Church. The typical examples of Apocrypha in
Kyivan Rus’ are The Acts of Paul and Thekla; The Tale of
Borys and Hlib; The Pilgrimage of Abbot Danyil, etc.
Scholarly works could be conditionally represented by
writings on History and writings on Natural Science.
For instance, the typical Scholarly works on History are
the Chronicle of John Malalas, the Chronicle of Georgius
Hamartolos, the History of Jewish War by Josephus Flavius.
36 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
The most outstanding Scholarly works on Natural
Science was the Hexameron (in Ukrainian, Shestodnev) and the
Physiologus. The Hexameron includes compilations of the
facts of natural history related to the six days of creation,
whereas the Physiologus contains information about animals,
rocks and trees, generally speaking, the knowledge about
nature of those times.
The Narrative genre is represented by the Alexandreis
(the story about Alexander the Great), The Deeds of Troy, The
Deeds of Digenis, The Tale of Akir the Wise, The Story of the
Indian Kingdom, etc.
Among the most significant examples of Translated and
Borrowed literature, we must highlight the Collection
(Izbornyk) of 1073, also known as the Collection of Svyatoslav.
The Collection of 1073 is a compilation of different texts,
quotations, historical and literary facts, pieces of poetry by
plenty of famous authors. The Collection of 1073 is
acknowledged as one of the crucial sources for contemporary
studies of Kyivan Rus’ culture.
Kyivan Rus’ Original Literature is represented in the
Monumental style and includes at least:
• Sermons
• Hagiographic Literature
• Chronicle
• Practical Literature
Unit 5. Ukrainian Literature | 37
Among the variety of original sermons, the most
outstanding is Sermon on Law and Grace by Hilarion. He was
the first Slavic by origin Kyiv Metropolitan. In the focus of the
Sermon on Law and Grace is a problem of correlation between
Old and New Testaments, more precisely, the correlation
between Slavic Paganism and Christianity. Hilarion came to
the conclusion that Paganism and Christianity essentially are
not an opposite system of values. Furthermore, Hilarion
considers Slavic Paganism and Christianity as complementary
historical stages of Kyivan Rus’ development. That is why
contemporary scholars estimate the Hilarion’s Sermon on Law
and Grace as a philosophical work.
No less famous was the Sermons by St. Theodosius, who
was the founder of the Kyiv Caves Monastery. His sermons had
mostly moral, religious and practical character and were
dedicated to Prince Svyatoslav. As a bright example of
Theodosius’ sermon is the Sermon about God’s Punishment.
Hagiographic Literature is devoted to the description the
lives of holy people such as saints. The typical example of
original Kyivan Rus’ hagiographic literature is the Patericon of
Kyiv Caves Monastery.
The honourable place in Kyivan Rus’ literature had
Chronicles. The most famous is the Primary Chronicle (also
called The Tale of Bygone Years) by Nestor, who was a monk
38 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
at Kyiv Caves Monastery. The Primary Chronicle is the first
historiography of Kyivan Rus’ from about 850 to 1110. The
Primary Chronicle describes the Pre-Slavic history and
settlement of the Slavs, contains narratives on Kyivan Rus’
history. The Primary Chronicle is the fundamental source for
Kyivan Rus’ history and culture studies.
Practical Literature in Kyivan Rus’ is represented at
least by the Rus’ Law (the collection of laws, adopted by Prince
Jaroslav the Wise) and the Works of Volodymyr Monomach.
The most noticeable Volodymyr Monomach’s work is the
Instruction (in Ukrainian, Povchannya). The Instruction
contains thoughts about national, political and moral issues.
Prince Volodymyr teaches his children to be wise rulers in
defending the interests of Rus’. He invokes descendants fight
against princely civil strife, to be reliable, generous, educated
and moral.
The special place in Kyivan Rus’ original literature
belongs to the Collection of 1076. It is a well-structured
collection of numerous short works like “precepts” by parents
for children, translated pieces from uncanonical books,
grouped by given theme quotations, phrases and proverbs. The
Collection of 1076 is acknowledged as a unique monument of
Kyivan Rus’ literature and valuable historical source of its
studying.
Unit 5. Ukrainian Literature | 39
5.2. Ukrainian Literature of the Early Modern period
Ukrainian Literature of Early Modern period was
affected mostly by Baroque style, which refers to using
exaggerations, hyperboles, monstrous and unusual
“grotesques” and contrasts, especially in poetry.
We may highlight the following widespread genres of
Ukrainian Literature of Early Modern period.
• Religious literature
• Historiography
• Drama
• Poetry
Ukrainian religious literature of the Early Modern period
is concerned on the Religious Polemic of the problem of the
Religious Union between Orthodox and Catholic Churches.
As a bright example of Ukrainian Baroque polemic
literature, we may highlight the works by Ivan Vyshenskiy
(1550 – 1621). As it was mentioned above, Ivan Vyshenskiy
belongs to conservative Orthodox movement in the Religious
polemic. This fact explains the style and main ideas of his
works. The most famous and representative writings by Ivan
Vyshenskiy are A Letter to All the People Living in Polish
Lands; The Advice; A Terse Reply to Feodul; The Unmasking
40 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
of the Devil, the ruler of the World; Sermon about Lying; The
Spiritual Theatre, etc.
In the genre of Historiography the Synopsis was written
(by an unknown author, probably written by Innocentiy Hizel);
the Chronicle by Cossacks colonel Hryhorii Hrabyanka; the
Chronicle by Cossack military writer Samiylo Velychko, the
Chronicle by Pheodosiy Saphonovych, etc. All these
Chronicles describe the Cossacks’ political and cultural history
showing significant battles, Hetmans’ biographies, cultural
events, and so worth.
The genre of Drama in Ukrainian Baroque Literature
could be illustrated by Theofan Prokopovych’s tragedy
Volodymyr and The Ressurection of Dead written by Heorhiy
Konysskyi.
The bright representatives of Ukrainian Baroque Poetry
were Klyment Zynoviiv, Ivan Velychkovskiy and, of course,
outstanding Ukrainian philosopher Gregory Skovoroda. For
instance, the acrostic was quite widespread as a poetry, in
which particular letters, the first letters of each line, spell a
word or phrase.
A quite representative example of Ukrainian baroque
poetry, in our opinion, is Kharkiv Fables by Gregory
Skovoroda.
Unit 5. Ukrainian Literature | 41
5.3. Ukrainian Literature of the 19th century
XIX century is a crucial period for Ukrainian Literature
development and for the whole area of Ukrainian culture as
well. It is also called as a period of National Revival. Emerging
and further development of national Ukrainian culture was
induced by literature, in which the modern Ukrainian language
was invented.
Although there are a great variety of movements,
directions and personalities in Ukrainian literature of the XIX
century. Yet, they could be generalized according to the
following styles.
• Classicism
• Romanticism
• Realism
It is important to notice that classicism did not come to
Ukrainian Literature in contrast to Baroque. Furthermore, in
comparison with Baroque Classicism, it was not so widespread.
Nevertheless, definitely in the core of Literary Classicism
we may observe emerging of the modern Ukrainian literary
language. The pioneering work in developing modern
Ukrainian language belongs to a famous Ukrainian writer Ivan
42 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
Kotlyarevskyi (1769 - 1838). In the poem The Aeneid (in
Ukrainian, Enejida) the usage of typical for Poltava region
Ukrainian folk dialect was invented, which was led in a
basement of the modern Ukrainian language.
In comparison to Ivan Kotlyarevskyi, Taras Shevchenko
(1814 - 1861), except using Ukrainian dialect, created in the
Kobzar a unique poetry style, which differed from Classicism
and Baroque. That is why Taras Shevchenko is acknowledged
as a founder of modern Ukrainian literary language and
modern Ukrainian literature.
In addition, there are more examples of literary
Classicism in Ukraine. Among them it is worth to notice such
historiographical writings as the History of Russes by an
unknown author, the Sources to History of Small Russia by
Dmytro Bantysh-Kamenskyi, etc.
Romanticism in Ukrainian literature is represented by the
Kharkiv group (Izmail Sreznevkyi, Amvrosiy Metlynskyi, Lev
Borovykovkyi, Hryhorii Kvitka-Osnovyanenko, etc.) and Kyiv
group (Mykola Kostomarov, Panteleimon Kulish, Vasyl
Bilozerskyi, etc.)
The ideology of literary Romanticism was mostly
concerned with describing popular (folk) culture and national
history using national language.
Unit 5. Ukrainian Literature | 43
The most significant work, which includes fictional and
historiographical elements, is The Book of Genesis of
Ukrainian People by Mykola Kostomarov (1817 - 1885). The
ideas of his book were laid on a political program of Ukrainian
national development provided by a clandestine organization
called the Cyril’s and Methodius’ Brotherhood.
Realism could be defined as a style of writing that shows
things as they are. In Ukrainian literature, Realism concerned
on describing social life, political, cultural circumstances and
problems of Ukrainian people.
The most outstanding figure in Ukrainian literary realism
is Ivan Franko (1856 - 1916). It is important to notice that Ivan
Franko was also a scholar, publicist and political actor.
The most noticeable Ivan Franko’s novels are Zaxar
Berkut, The Crossroads, Laughing Boryslav. Among Ivan
Franko’s poetry, it is worth to highlight the collections From
Heights and Depths (1893), My Emerald (1897), From the
Days of Sorrow (1900). Within the collections, we may remark
more large poems like the Vyshensky and the Moses. Both
poems are represented by Ivan Franko’s political ideas.
Political and philosophical views are represented in Ivan
Franko’s essay Do we need to turn back to the People?, where
the author was widely criticized in those times Romantic
political ideology, oriented on the development of popular
culture instead of developing national elite.
44 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
5.4. Ukrainian Literature of the 20th century
The beginning of the Soviet period in Ukrainian literature
was affected by Modernism, which brings the emerging of
mass literature. The first modernist slogans were put forward in
1901 by a poet Mykola Voronyi. A peculiar synthesis of
Populism and Modernism were laid on the ground of the "new
school" in Ukrainian prose. Mychailo Kotsyubinsky, Vasyl
Stefanik, Olha Kobilyanska and many other Ukrainian writers
supported this idea.
Yet, the literary Modernism quickly went on a collision
course with the Socialistic Realism as an official ideology of
the Soviet State.
In 1934 the Union of Writers of Ukraine was formed, but
already in 1938, the 97 members of this organization were
repressed by the Soviet totalitarian regime. Almost all
Ukrainian writers, who rejected to cooperate with the Soviet
regime, had been killed or jailed in short period from 1937 to
1939. Later this phenomenon was called the Shooted Revival.
Until the period of the "Khrushchev thaw" (since 1953),
the literature in the Soviet Union was within the limits of cruel
ideological control and censorship. However, the period of
"thaw" generates the first wave of democratization in literature
and cinema, which is known as a movement of the Sixties.
The aim of the Sixties movement was to revive the
national consciousness through the Modernism, to preserve the
Unit 5. Ukrainian Literature | 45
Ukrainian language, to fight against Soviet totalitarian ideology
in politics and culture.
The most famous representatives of the Sixties movement
were Mykola Vigranovsky, Ivan Drach, Lina Kostenko, Andriy
Malyshko, Yuriy Mushketyk, Dmitry Pavlychko, Yevhen
Sverstiuk, Vasyl Symonenko, Grygir Tyutyunnik, Valery
Shevchuk.
The Sixties movement set up ground for contemporary
Ukrainian literature development.
46 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
Unit 6. Education and Science in Ukraine
Since Christianity Adoption by Kyivan Rus’ Ukraine has
become a part of the European intellectual world. Education,
Philosophy and Sciences are undoubtedly innate elements of
Ukrainian culture. Furthermore, in the times of colonization
and political crisis, Ukrainian culture had been keeping its
identity through the Educational, Scientific Institutions and
their prominent personalities.
6.1. Kyivan Rus’
After the Christianity had been adopted in Kyivan Rus’
Prince Volodymyr the Great established the first schools.
Inevitably, these schools were available only for children of the
elite. Prince Yaroslav the Wise introduced compulsory
education for the elite. Later the schools in Kyivan Rus’
became available for all people. The schools were located in
churches and monasteries. Teaching was delivered according
to church books, mostly, the Psalter. Thus, education in Kyivan
Rus’ was concentrated in hands of clergy. Children were taught
reading, writing, church singing and ethics. Mathematics was
limited to purely practical skills and was focused on
elementary actions.
Unit 6. Education and Science in Ukraine | 47
Also, Yaroslav the Wise set up the first Library in Kyivan
Rus’, which numbered about one thousand books (it was a
really great number). Apparently, the library was destroyed
during the Mongol’s invasion or it had been distributed
between the monasteries after the death of Yaroslav the Wise,
where some of the books were lost during the fires. One more
Library was founded during the ruling of Prince Vsevolod
(1078-1093).
Based on these historical facts we may deduct that
Kyivan Rus’ elite was quite educated and had relevant
knowledge for those times.
6.2. Early Modern period
In the XV century, Ukraine was a part of Poland State
(the Commonwealth). That is why in the field of Education the
manifestation of the implantation of Catholicism was
introduced, namely by activities of the Jesuit Order. In 1624 in
Ostroh city, and in 1647 in Kyiv, the Jesuit Colleges were
opened. Therefore, the main condition for teaching children
was the adoption of Catholicism.
That was the main reason for appearing the new
educational and cultural movement, which was conducted by
Orthodox Brotherhoods. The Brotherhoods in Ukraine were
Orthodox religious, cultural and educational organisations that
were established by cities communities with the purpose to
defend Orthodox religion and reduce Catholic influence in
48 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
Ukraine. Every Brotherhood had a school, which was available
for all citizens without any fee. The Brotherhoods’ schools
were delivering to their students the Western educational
model, yet on the basement of Orthodox religion. There were
three well-known and authoritative Brotherhoods in Lviv city,
Lutsk city and Kyiv city. Other Ukrainian cities also had the
Brotherhoods, but they were less influential.
In 1576 Prince Vasyl-Konstantin Ostroz’sky founded the
Ostroh Slavic-Greek-Latin School (which was also called the
Osrtoh Academy) in Ostroh city.
The Ostroh Academy was delivering to students seven
liberal arts well known as trivium and quadrivium. Subjects
such as Grammar, Rhetoric and Dialectics are included to the
Trivium whereas Arithmetic, Geometry, Music and Astronomy
are related to the Quadrium.
The first rector of the Ostroh Academy was famous
Ukrainian writer and religious actor Gerasym Smotrytsky. The
plenty of invited professors (from University of Krakow,
University of Padua, etc.) were teaching at the Ostroh
Academy. This allows us to conclude that the Ostroh Academy
had a significant influence on Education and Science
development in Ukraine.
In 1632, the Kyivan Brotherhood’s School and the
School of Kyiv Caves Lavra were united. As a result of this
union, the Kyiv-Mohyla Collegium (named after famous
Ukrainian Metropolitan Petro Mohyla (1597 - 1647)) was
established. The Kyiv-Mohyla Collegium borrowed
Unit 6. Education and Science in Ukraine | 49
educational system of West-European Jesuit schools with
teaching in Greek, Latin and Slavic languages. The Kyiv-
Mohyla Collegium became one of the first comprehensive
higher education institutions in Eastern Europe. In 1701, the
Kyiv-Mohyla Collegium obtained the status of Academy, which
was identical to the status of the University.
The studying process in the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy
included 8 ordinaries (compulsory) classes. From the first to
six classes students were learning Arts and Humanities, in the
seventh class (the Class of Philosophy) students were studying
Natural Sciences (Physics, Biology, Geography, etc.),
Theoretical Philosophy (Metaphysics, Theory of Knowledge,
etc.) and Practical Philosophy (Ethics, Moral philosophy, etc.).
The final class was called the Class of Orthodox Theology,
where students were doing their Master degree in Orthodox
Theology.
Plenty of famous Ukrainian Hetmans, Metropolitans,
generally speaking, political and cultural elite representatives
were alumni of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Furthermore, many
famous politicians, scientists, religious actors of Russian
Empire and Belorussia graduated from the Kyiv-Mohyla
Academy.
In 1700, the number of students at Kyiv-Mohyla
Academy was about 2000 persons, which shows that the
Academy had a noticeable influence on East European
Education and Science.
50 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
Nevertheless, since 1720 the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy had
been declining and, finally, in 1819 it was reorganized in Kyiv
Orthodox Academy, where secular education was eliminated. It
meant definitive disappearing of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy
from the educational space of East Europe. The declining of
Kyiv-Mohyla Academy was caused by Russian Empire colonial
policy against Ukrainian State and Ukrainian culture.
6.3. 19th - 20th centuries
Despite the fact that Ukraine was under the rule of the
Russian Empire in the XIX century, the Education and Science
had a noticeable increase in those times.
In the XIX century, there were established two
Universities in Kharkiv city and in Kyiv.
The University of Kharkiv was established in 1805
according to the initiative of Vasyl Karazin. He was a famous
Ukrainian public man, who supported Education, Science and
cultural development in Ukraine. Since the 1999 University of
Kharkiv has been being named after Vasyl Karazin (the full
name is Vasyl Karazin Kharkiv National University). In the
XIX century, the University of Kharkiv included four
departments. They were Department of Linguistics,
Department of Political Science and Ethics, Department of
Physics and Mathematics, and Department of Medicine.
It is important to notice that the University of Kharkiv
was set up as non-governmental.
Unit 6. Education and Science in Ukraine | 51
In contrast to the University of Kharkiv, in 1834, the
Emperor’s University named after St. Volodymyr was
established in Kyiv. Since 1939 it has been being named after
Taras Shevchenko. Nowadays former Emperor’s University
named after St. Volodymyr is headlined as Taras Shevchenko
National University of Kyiv. In the XIX century the Emperor’s
University named after St. Volodymyr included Department of
Philosophy, Faculty of Law, Department of Medicine. It is
important to remember that the Department of Philosophy
conducted Natural Sciences as Mathematics, Physics, Biology,
etc. Universities in Kharkiv city and Kyiv city were
developing as a Research centre as well.
Among the famous Ukrainian scholars of the XIX
century, we may highlight the following most significant
representatives.
Mykhailo Ostrogradsky (1801 - 1862) is an outstanding
mathematician, specialist in analytical and celestial mechanics,
mathematical analysis, mathematical physics and ballistics. He
was an Academician of the Imperial Academy of Sciences at
St. Petersburg, a member of the American, Turin, Roman and
Parisian Academies of Sciences.
Ilya Mechnikov (1845 - 1916) is a physiologist,
embryologist, founder of the theory of immunity, professor of
the University of Novorossiysk. He organized the first
52 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
Bacteriological Station in the Russian Empire and created the
first research school of microbiologists, immunologists and
pathologists. Ilya Mechnikov is a Laureate of the Nobel Prize in
Physiology and Medicine.
Danilo Zabolotny (1866 - 1929) is a microbiologist and
physician. He graduated from the Department of Medicine at
the University of Novorossiysk and the Department of
Medicine of Emperor’s University named after St. Volodymyr
in Kyiv.
He was a rector of the Medical Institute of Odessa.
Danilo Zabolotny established the first department of
epidemiology in the world. He founded the Bacteriological
Laboratory in Kamyanets-Podilsky city. As a result of his
research in the field of infectious diseases, he awarded the
French Order of the Honor Legion.
Agatangel Krymsky (1871 - 1942) is a Ukrainian scholar
in the field of linguistics. He made a significant contribution to
Ukrainian and Russian Oriental studies and Ukrainian studies,
the first translator of the Koran. Agatangel Krymsky worked as
a professor of the Department of Oriental Languages at
Moscow University. He was one of the founders of the
Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.
Unit 6. Education and Science in Ukraine | 53
At the first half of the 20th century, the Soviet policy was
focused on literacy enhancement, which was headlined in
official documents as the “Termination of Illiteracy”.
This policy has required a compulsory free education for
children from 7 to 16 years old as well as for adults. All
persons under the age of 50 were required to study in Russian
or in their native language. As a result, in 1939 there were only
15 per cent illiterate people in the Soviet State in comparison
with 72 per cent of illiterate people in 1897 in the Russian
Empire.
The Education and Science in the Soviet State were
under the pressure of Soviet totalitarian ideology, which is
called as the Marxists-Leninist philosophy. Nevertheless, we
may observe the development of Education and Research in
Soviet Ukraine in the field of Natural Sciences and
Engineering whereas Education and Research in the field of
Arts and Humanities were almost isolated from all of the
World, therefore, completely controlled by Marxists-Leninist
ideology.
All in all, we may highlight several significant scientific
achievements made in the Soviet period.
• In 1947 the turbojet engine for the supersonic aircraft
was invented by Arkhip Lyulka.
• In 1946 the first atomic reactor was launched.
54 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
• In 1948-1950 at the Institute of Electrical Engineering of
the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian Soviet
Republic, under the leadership of Sergii Lebedev, the first
electronic computer in Europe was invented.
• In 1957 the Computing Center under the Academy of
Sciences of the Ukrainian Soviet Republic was founded
by Victor Glushkov. In 1962 the Computing Center was
transformed into the Institute of Cybernetics.
After Ukraine had gained an Independence, Education
and Science faced typical problems for a post-totalitarian
society. Among them, we may notice long-term actual isolation
of Ukrainian science from the World, insufficient material and
technical base and unsatisfactory level of financing, high level
of scholars’ emigration.
Unit 6. Education and Science in Ukraine | 55
Unit 7. Philosophy in Ukrainian culture
Philosophy in its very nature is a part of the culture and
could be considered as a generalisation of cultural practices
through the theoretical concepts and, of course, reflection. In
our opinion, philosophy is always national and it could not
exist separately from the existence of certain people or nation.
Furthermore, sometimes philosophy could turn culture to
become national. However, national philosophy could
sometimes have a value not only for the culture of its origin but
for other cultures as well. For instance, it happened with
Ancient Greek philosophy
There are no doubts that philosophy is a part of
Ukrainian culture. Therefore, it reflects the main cultural
practices of Ukrainian people, to be more precisely, their
Worldview. That is why studying national philosophy and its
history is also a way of learning the culture.
It is obvious that not only original ideas or ideas that
have national origins might be significant for the development
of culture. For instance, the subject of the history of Ukrainian
philosophy embraces philosophical ideas, conceptions, studies,
schools, theories directions and movements that functioned in
history and contemporary Ukrainian culture. What is important
is the fact that the historical and national origin of
philosophical ideas does not matter. As well as does not matter
the originality of philosophical ideas which are considered in
56 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
the history of Ukrainian philosophy. In other words, the history
of Ukrainian philosophy studies value certain philosophical
idea, school, direction, movement or personalities for the
development of Ukrainian culture.
7.1. The main periods
We tend to think that in general history of Ukrainian
philosophy has two main periods: pre-national and national.
The first one represents the development of philosophical
thought in Ukrainian culture in pre-national form (from the
time of Kyivan Rus’ until the 19th century). The second one
(from the 19th century to our days) indicates the period in the
historical development of Ukrainian philosophical culture
while it has been developing correspondingly to the needs of
national promotion.
More precisely, we may highlight the following periods
in the History of Ukrainian philosophy.
• Philosophical thought of Kyivan Rus’
• Philosophical thought of the Early Modern period
• The separate phenomenon of Ukrainian
philosophical thought is the philosophy of Gregory
Skovoroda
• Ukrainian academic philosophy of the 19th
century
Unit 7. Philosophy in Ukrainian culture | 57
• Ukrainian non-academic philosophy of the 19th
century
• Philosophical thought in Ukraine in the Soviet
and Post-Soviet period
• Philosophical thought of Ukrainian diaspora.
7.2. Kyivan Rus’
In the development of Philosophical thought of Kyivan
Rus’ the key personality was Hilarion. In his the most known
work the Sermon on Law and Grace Hilarion made historical
and philosophical analyses of the place of Kyivan Rus’ in the
World history and culture.
Hilarion’s philosophical views represent such a specific
trait of Kyiv Christianity as Sophia. It is a complex image that
represents beliefs about salvation through the practice of social
life opposite to religious ascetic practices. The last was more
widespread in the Byzantine tradition of Christianity. This
tradition was supported in Kyivan Rus’ by Theodosius from the
Kyiv Caves Monastery.
The meaning of the opposition "Sophia - Wisdom",
according to which the world is not just God’s creation, but
also has as its ground a special "Divine origin" - "the soul of
the world". “Sophia” is an instance that is in-between the
58 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
Creator and creature, it is a source of divine energy, supplies
moving up and moving down. Via Sophia’s incarnation nature,
the world, nature and a person are (as if) allowed inside
Divinity, inside Trinity. Divinity and Trinity accept the world
inside and at the same time represent themselves in the world.
Thus, the gap between a creature, that is a task of God, and
salvation, that is the need of mankind, the gap which is
characteristic in Roman and Byzantine Christianity is
overcome. The philosophical culture of Kyivan Rus’ Kyiv
Christianity overcomes this gap due to Sophia approach. Trust
and salvation are grounded on active religious life, which is a
continuation of creating, opposite to ascetic-monastic
contemplation and logically reasoned constructions.
The mentioned is a main essential difference between the
philosophical culture of the Kyivan Rus’ and the Byzantine
model of Christianity.
7.3. Early Modern period
The development of Humanistic and Reformation ideas
in Ukrainian culture of XV-XVII centuries took place in close
connection with Polish culture.
Humanism is represented by such thinkers as Gregory of
Sanok (Grzegorz of Sanok) (1406–1477), Yuriy Drogobych
(Kotermak), Paul Krosnenskyy (Rusin from Krosno) (about
1470-1517), Lucas of New Town (? - About 1542), Stanisław
Unit 7. Philosophy in Ukrainian culture | 59
Orzechowski-Roksolan (1513-1566), Joseph Vereschynskyy
(1532-1598) Sevastyan Klenovich Fabian (about 1545 - about
1602), Shimon Šimonović (Simon Symonid) (1558-1629),
Simon Pekalid (Penkalskyy), Ivan Dombrowski (end of XVI -
early XVII century).
They were pioneers of humanistic culture in Poland and
Ukraine. Almost all of them, after the education in Western
Universities, were operating in Western Ukraine, in Poland
“Ruska province”, where, in addition to many Western
Ukrainian cities, also were included Przemysl, Holm, Jaroslaw,
New City, Krosno, Rzeszow, Sanok.
All these thinkers were calling themselves “russins” but
at the same time, they appear to be figures in Polish culture,
and all of them were adhered to the Catholic faith. Vladimir
Litvinov calls this stage in the development of Polish-
Ukrainian philosophical culture by the term "Catholic Rus".
According to Serhii Yosypenko, the main problems of this
period was the separation of religious and political discourse,
rethinking the "old" and "new." These problems were typical
for such phenomena of Ukrainian culture of the time as
polemical literature, fraternal movement.
In the first place within this period comes out political
philosophy. The most interesting for the studying personalities
of this time are Dmytro Tuptalo, Stefan Jaworski, Innocent
Gizel.
60 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
7.4. Gregory Skovoroda
Gregory Skovoroda (1722–1794) is one of the most
generally respected person in the historical and cultural
Ukrainian development. According to Dmytro Chyjevskiy, “the
life of Skovoroda is his philosophy, and his philosophy is his
life”. Grasping the sense of life and direction of Gregory
Skovoroda’s philosophy are explained by his words: “The
world tried to capture me, but didn’t succeed”.
Philosophical position of Gregory Skovoroda does not fit
into the general context of the Early Modern period.
The main intention of Gregory Skovoroda is a search for
a genuine sense of Christianity, based on philosophical doubt
about "official" Christianity. In the centre of philosophical
views of Gregory Skovoroda is anthropological mystical
teaching about the possibility of playing back the unity of man
and God within the terrestrial life (dialogue “Narcissus, or
know yourself”), teaching about essential dual nature of the
world, mystical teaching about happiness and “affinity”.
Gregory Skovoroda’s philosophy represents the
Worldview of Ukrainian culture. Philosopher metaphorically
speaking was the son of his time, which was the time of
Rationalism and Enlightenment. He refuses to think of
philosophy as a science, insists on its functioning for a person,
and opposes “heart” with rationality. Philosophy of Gregory
Unit 7. Philosophy in Ukrainian culture | 61
Skovoroda became the basis for the development of a whole
direction of religious philosophy in Ukraine and Russia
(Pamphil Yurkewich, Vladimir Solovyov, Nikolai Gogol,
Fyodor Dostoevsky, etc.).
7.5. Ukrainian philosophy of the 19th century
Ukrainian academic philosophy of the XIX century
develops together with such educational centres as University
of Kharkiv, Emperor’s University named after St.Volodymyr in
Kyiv, Kyiv Orthodox Academy and University on Odesa (in
Odesa city).
There were several intellectual movements in Ukrainian
academic philosophy of the XIX century.
• The Historical systematic school of religious
philosophy in Kyiv Orthodox Academy
(Vasyl Karpov, Pamphil Yurkewich, etc.)
• Romanticism in University of Kharkiv
(Johann Shad, Ivan Ryzhskiy)
• Hegelianism, neo-Kantianism and positivism in
Emperor’s University named after St.Volodymyr
in Kyiv (Orest Novitsky, George Chelpanov
Vladimir Lesevych, Alexiy Gilyarov).
Among the main directions of development of Ukrainian
non-academic philosophy of the 19th century can be
62 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
considered the Populists (Mykola Kostomarov, Panteleimon
Kulish, etc.), the Anti-populists (Ivan Franko, Mykhailo
Drahomanov, Volodymyr Antonovych, etc.). The Populists and
Anti-Populists differed in their visions of driving forces and
values of national culture creation and Ukrainian state creation.
The Populists saw the foundation of the national identity
development in a practice of preserving samples of national
(ethnic) culture; whereas, the Anti-Populists believed that the
foundation of national culture development in the formation of
supra-ethnic (meta-national) elites and, therefore, supra-ethnic
values.
7.6. Ukrainian philosophy of the 20th century
Inside the development of Ukrainian Soviet philosophical
culture, there should be highlighted such individuals as Peter
Demchuk, Volodymyr Yurynets, Viktor Petrov (Domontovych),
etc. Some scholars believe that in Soviet Ukraine the Kyiv
School of Philosophy was established. The founders of the Kyiv
School of Philosophy were Pavlo Kopnin, Volodymyr
Shynkaruk, Anatoliy Canarskiy, etc.
However, it is very important to remember that Arts and
Humanities, especially Philosophy, in Soviet State were under
the pressure of Soviet totalitarian ideology, which is called as
the Marxists-Leninist philosophy. This fact is the reason for
Unit 7. Philosophy in Ukrainian culture | 63
avoiding the final conclusions concerning the original
philosophical schools in Soviet Ukraine.
Completely different was the political and cultural
situation of the Ukrainian Diaspora, which was independent of
Soviet totalitarian ideology. The key issues of philosophical
thought of Diaspora are political philosophical studies, directed
to the revival of Ukrainian statehood and national culture
(Vyacheslav Lypynskiy, Dmytro Dontsov, Ivan Lusyak-
Rudnytsky, Mykola Shlemkevych, Alexander Kulchytsky, etc.).
Also, there were investigations in the field of Ukrainian history
of philosophy and culture (Dmytro Chizhevsky, Ivan Ogienko,
Myroslav Semchyshyn, etc.).Touchstones for the scholars of the
Ukrainian Diaspora were issues of mental traits of the
Ukrainian nation, problems of its ethnogenesis and
interdisciplinary studies of Ukrainian culture.
After Ukraine had gained an Independence, Ukrainian
philosophical culture faced typical problems for post-
totalitarian society, which is simultaneous to Education and
Science. Among them, we may notice long-term actual
isolation of Ukrainian science from the World, insufficient
material and technical base and unsatisfactory level of
financing, high level of scholars’ emigration.
64 | Lectures in the History of Ukrainian Culture
Bibliography
Cultural Studies. Student’s book. [Edited by Anatoliy
Konversky]. Kharkiv: Folio, 2013. (in Ukrainian language)
Cyzevskyj, Dmytro. A History of Ukrainian Literature (From
the 11th to the End of the 19th Century). Second Edition. New
York and Englewood, Colorado, 1997.
Doroshenko, Dmytro. A Survey of Ukrainian History.
Winnipeg: Humeniuk Publication Foundation (Canada), 1975.
History of Ukrainian Philosophy. Student’s book. [Rusin M.Y.,
Ogorodnyk I.V., Bondar S.V., etc.]. Kyiv: Kyiv University
Press, 2008. (in Ukrainian language)
Plokhy, Serhii. The Gates of Europe: a history of Ukraine.
New York, 2015.
Rudnytsky, Ivan. Essays in Modern Ukrainian History.
Edmonton, 1987.
Subtelny, Orest. Ukraine: a history. 4th edition. Toronto –
Buffalo – London, University of Toronto Press, 2009.
The Cambridge History of Russia. Volume 1. Form Early Rus’
to 1689. Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Ukrainian Arts. New York, 1952.
Bibliography | 65
Навчальне видання
РУДЕНКО Сергій Валерійович
Лекції з історії
української культури
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