Other events in Baltic States

On 6 November 2015, at 11.15 o’clock in Kronvalda Park (Elizabetes street 2, Riga) the monument to the famous Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko will be installed. The monument was build upon the initiative of the non – governmental organization “Latvijas Ukraiņu congress”, the Embassy of the Republic of Ukraine in the Republic of Latvia, reports BC Viktors Urvacovs from the Academic Library of the University of Latvia.

Taras Grigorjevich Shevchenko, a famous poet, writer, artist, public activist and political figure, as well as folklorist and ethnographer, who is well-known in his native Ukraine, Easter Europe, and the Baltic Region was born on 9 March 1814 in Moryntsi, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire (at present time Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine) and died on 10 March 1861 in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire (at present time, Russian Federation). He studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg from 1840 to 1861, served in Russian Imperial Army from 30 May 1847 to 2 August 1857, first in Orsk Fortress (1847-1850) and then in New Peter Fortress (1850-1857).

Taras Shevchenko has ties with Latvia too. Taras Shevchenko visited Latvia twice. For the first time he visited Latvian territory in February of 1831, at the age of 16 years, when he was transported from Vilnius to Saint Petersburg, upon the order of the retired colonel Vasily Engelhart and saw Daugavpils, Rezekne, and Latgalia, that reminded him his native Ukraine. The second time, Taras Shevchenko visited Latvia in Fall of 1842, when he was a student at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg, and was travelling from Saint Petersburg to Stockholm via the Baltic sea. He visited Tallinn, Riga, and Liepaja. Taras Shevchenko became familiar with Riga of merchants and artisans, walked through its small, ancient streets, listened native population speaking German and Latvian languages. Based on this trip by the Baltic Sea he wrote a romantic poem “Gamalia” that was composed during his trip. This poem describes the old conquests of the Cossacks.      

During his first visit to Latvia Taras Shevchenko visited the same places (i.e. Ilukste and Daugavpils parishes) where 34 years later the renowned Latvian poet and philosopher Jānis Pliekšans (Rainis) (1865-1929) was born and that were later discovered by him himself. 

At present time, Taras Shevchenko became one of the symbols of the modern Ukraine, he predicted certain things that will happen to Ukraine and in his written works he showed the Ukrainian people how to avoid the main pitfalls and maintain strong spirit of the nation.