UPDATE: Replacing One Icon With Another

UPDATE 10-21-2014 : The mural of Taras is progressing nicely!

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A few days ago citizens of Kharkiv, Ukraine made the news by tearing down their famous Vladimir Lenin statue in the city's Freedom Square. The statue was located two blocks from where we lived in Kharkiv and I wrote about the statue a couple times, here and here. It was one of Kharkiv's main tourist attractions and served as an historical oddity that reminded you Russia was about 50 kilometers away and that the Soviet past wasn't that long ago.

But with one icon gone, Kharkiv may have a new and better one to replace it. It turns out that on the side of one of the high rises a portrait of poet Taras Shevchenko. I've written about Shevchenko many, many times..;too many to highlight individually. The building's portrait would be undoubtedly the largest Shevchenko painting and I can't wait to see what it looks like completed.

Visiting the Ukrainian Gift Shop in Minnesota

While Laura and I were up in Minnesota in July we made our first trip to the Ukrainian Gift Shop in Roseville, MN. We went hoping to get some pysanky supplies to maybe give decorative egg design another go and did we ever hit the motherload! They had so many great pysanky eggs on display.

It's not the kind of store that gets too many customers that the owners didn't know personally and so they had a few questions as to why we were there. We explained that we had lived in Ukraine last year and we soon became fast friends. We got a little tour of the shop and even got to see some pysanky being made. 

We did also find all the supplies we would ever need.

On one wall they had a wooden painting of Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko...who I've written about many many times.

They even had a small profile bust of Taras that I bought. It was some very old stock and was originally made in Russia before the fall of Communism based on the tag on the piece.

A Little Yellow Church In Kiev

 Although I'm now home in America, I'm going to keep posting as if we recently had these adventures around Europe. I'll post the dates we actually visited these locations at the start of each posts in an attempt to keep things straight. 

A Little Yellow Church In Kiev

Photographed: April 11th, 2013

This little yellow chuch is the Church of the Birth of Christ was was originally built in 1814 and then rebuilt in 2005.  I had no idea at the time of taking this photo but this is the church at which the Ukrainian poet and unofficial champion/mascot of this blog, Taras Shevchenko, was laid to rest while his body was transported back to his home in 1861.  In 1930 the church was destroyed by the Communists and rebuilt 75 years later.  There is a more famous yellow church in Kiev, St. Volodymyr's, but I like this one for its smaller size and more subtle mustard yellow color.  

And here are two views of St. Andrew's which is also in Kiev and is, I'm pretty safe to say, my favorite church to take photos of. This may not seem like a controversial statement but Kiev has quite a few beautiful churches to choose from.

 Its location on one of the city's hills allows it to appear imposing while up close it is also a pretty tiny church. 

My Taras Shevchenko Mega Post

One of my favorite blog topics while I was in Ukraine was showing the monuments and memorials to the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko.  I had several examples saved up to show on a rainy day when I didn't have anything else to write about but a bit of serendipity during our recent trip to Paris has forced me to dust them off a little sooner.  We were walking around Paris searching for the famous cafe Les Deux Magots when we noticed a familiar name on one of the signs on a park fence.  

After a little translating, it turns out the park was dedicated to Shevchenko in 1937 and inside the gates you can find a bust honor our dear poet.

It was like Ukraine reached out and tapped us on the shoulder and so here are the other Shevchenko sightings we made before in the weeks before leaving Ukraine in April.   This plaque was seen on a building in Ivano-Frankivsk.

I'm sad to admit I have forgotten exactly which city I saw this statue...it may have been Lviv, possibly?

This flower decorated statue was seen in Kolomyia.

We unfortunately came the weekend after Kolomyia had held a Shevchenko celebration.  Here's a poster advertising the events:

This bust was in Kharkiv's Art Museum and it makes me think what Taras would look like if he were to star in The Incredible Hulk.  

These next two paintings and small statue were discovered in Kharkiv's History Museum.  After seeing so many monochromatic statues of Shevchenko this is the first color painting I've seen done of him.  

Another Shevchenko portrait.

And lastly a lovely little statue of Shevchenko that would be a great addition to the inventory of the History Museum's gift shop if there was such a thing.  I think I will try to track down a similar bust as a final memento of my days in Ukraine. 

My Shevchenko/Che T-Shirt

I think we are all familiar with the iconic Che Guevara image hanging in nearly every college dorm in America.  While walking around Lviv yesterday I found this great t-shirt logo which features Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko in the famous Che pose.  They also replaced "Che" with "She" which is the start of spelling "Shevchenko."   

As every major Ukrainian city does, Lviv also have a Shevchenko memorial in the square near our hostel.  I like this photo I took as it give him a little of a halo effect.  You can find my other Shevchenko related posts here.

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.  

Taras Shevchenko

Today expedition led us to this massive statue in honor of poet and author Taras Shevchenko.  He is considered the father of Ukrainian literature and a huge national hero.  The statue is so striking that it makes me wonder why we don't honor American authors this way.  How about a huge marble statue of Mark Twain?  I've been to Mark Twain's home in Hannibal, MO and I think a large Mark Twain monument would be a nice addition.

Taras is also on the 100 Ukrainian Hryvnia bill.  I'll be doing a post on all the Hryvnia bills in a little bit.