The Battle of Poltava

Poltava, Ukraine's greatest claim to fame is probably being the location of the Battle of Poltava between the Swedish and Russian empires.  The year was 1709 and the two powers were in the middle of The Great Northern War.  They fought for only a few days and Russia's victory over the Swedes is often attributed as the beginning of Sweden's decline as a world power.  Peter the Great led the Russian forces and here's a statue of him which our guide says was life sized.

My Scandinavian heritage [a little more Norwegian than Swede] made this side trip fascinating...especially this peace arch which tries to repair the relationships between the Ukrainian and Swedish peoples more than three centuries after the battle.   

Each side of the battle has a portion of the memorial dedicated to it...it's interesting to note the similar national colors.  

Surrounding the battle grounds which has been left mainly undeveloped are some Orthodox churches and this giant mound which still holds the remains of soldiers who died in the battle.

More Shevchenko

Snow arrived in Ukraine on Saturday but it didn't stay too long, I'm afraid.  The snow looked particularly lovely brightened by the statue to the poet Shevchenko.  I wrote a little post about him back in September.

One Shevchenko statue deserves another, doesn't it?  This one is located in Poltava.  

And here's another statue...this time from Kiev.

At a museum in Poltava they also had this amazing mosaic of Shevchenko.  

Since being here in Ukraine I've embraced the need for a nice mustache and I'm trying to do my best Shevchenko impersonation...although it will probably take years to get it as bushy as his.  

The Bells! The Bells!

During our trip to Poltava it was nice to find a scenic overlook as Ukraine is about as flat as the state I used to live in, Kansas.  Here's Poltava with a view of a school's football soccer field.

From the opposite direction we have one of the move beautiful views I've seen in Ukraine thus far.  That is Khrestovozolvizhensky Church and Holy Cross Nunnery overlooking the city.

Later in the day we took a taxi over to that side of the city and got a closer up look at the church.

No cameras were allowed inside and neither were shorts, short skirts, or tight jeans.

As we were standing outside the evening bells began to ring and so I took out my camera phone and recorded some of it.

Gogol

One of the stops on our trip to Poltava earlier this week was to the Museum of Local Lore.  They had a great collection of mosaics and my favorite was of the Ukrainian author Gogol.  He was born in the small village of Sorochyntsi which is near Poltava.  

Gogol supposedly died from the grief of discovering that he had accidentally burned his only copy of the sequel to his masterwork Dead Souls [which Laura has been slogging through since we've been here].  He stopped eating and wouldn't leave the house and died nine days later.

Which leads to be to probably the most popular export from Ukraine, that of the band Gogol Bordello...named after the famous writer  Their style of punk and folk music is completely unique I hope to hear "American Wedding" at my sister-in-law's wedding in December.  Here are a few of my favorite Gogol Bordello songs:

"Start Wearing Purple" -- this one is for my wife.

"American Wedding" -- a must have for any wedding of the American persuasion