A unique death mask of Taras Shevchenko will be installed in Nizhyn

The city, which became one of the key stops of the funeral procession back in 1861, will now receive a symbolic reminder of that historic event. Public figure Mykola Tomenko together with the team of the "Ridna Kraina" foundation and KNUBA specialists, visited the city to determine a location for installing a copy of the death mask Kobzar's. We explain where exactly the relic will appear and why it is so important for modern Ukraine.

The shrine that remembers Kobzar’s voice

The location for the mask was not chosen by chance. It is the famous Transfiguration Church. It was in its churchyard that, on May 17, 1861, the procession carrying the poet's body from Petersburg to Kaniv stopped. A large memorial service was then held, uniting thousands of people in shared grief and prayer.

Mykola Tomenko together with mayor Oleksandr Kodola and the heads of local educational institutions personally inspected the temple to find the best location for the memorial sign. Well-known Ukrainian sculptors worked on the making of the mask itself Oles Sydoruk and Borys Krylov, who managed to convey every feature of the face of the nation's prophet.

"Nizhyn honors our ideological father Taras Shevchenko. Together with the mayor of Nizhyn, Oleksandr Kodola, Oleksandr Samoilenko, rector of Nizhyn Mykola Hohol State University, the director of the Nizhyn Agrotechnical Institute, Vasyl Lukach and representatives of the religious community determined the place for installing a copy of Taras Shevchenko's death mask”, — Mykola Tomenko shared the details.

Educational outreach mission: books for Nizhyn and the ravaged Novhorod-Sivershchyna

The visit was not limited to church matters alone. The team visited Nizhyn Mykola Hohol State University. For students and teachers, it was an opportunity to talk about Ukrainian identity and receive new publications.

The politician recalled that Nizhyn once became the hero of a film as part of the well-known “7 Wonders of Ukraine” campaign. However, the most important moment was the handover of books. Besides the Nizhyn library, gifts will also go to Novhorod-Siverskyi, where the local library was effectively destroyed by the Russian occupiers.

“I had the honor of presenting our educational projects and publications for the university's students and faculty. As usual, I handed over our worldview-shaping book gifts to the University's library and to the Novhorod-Siverskyi city library, destroyed by the Russian horde of barbarians”, — noted Mykola Tomenko.

The route of memory: from Pereiaslav to Kaniv

The project “The Last Journey of Taras Shevchenko” is a large-scale initiative of the “Ridna Kraina” foundation and KNUBA. Its goal is to mark with symbolic masks those churches where the procession stopped. The first such replica already adorns the Holy Trinity Church in Pereiaslav. Nizhyn was next in line, and the final point of the route will be the Dormition Cathedral in Kaniv, where Taras Hryhorovych found his eternal rest on Chernecha Hora. Such initiatives today are not merely a tribute to memory, but a reminder that our culture has deep roots that no enemy is able to tear out.

Source: website “Znai.ua”