In the footsteps of the Kobzar: a unique death mask of Taras Shevchenko to be installed in Nizhyn

Nizhyn is preparing for a special date — the 165th anniversary of the reburial of Taras Shevchenko in Ukraine.

The city, which became one of the key stops of the funeral procession in the distant year 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 choose a place for installing a copy of the Kobzar's death mask. We explain where exactly the relic will appear and why it matters so much for modern Ukraine.

A shrine that remembers the voice of the Kobzar

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

Mykola Tomenko, together with city mayor Oleksandr Kodola and the heads of local educational institutions, personally inspected the church to find the best location for the memorial sign. The mask itself was made by the well-known Ukrainian sculptors Oles Sydoruk and Borys Krylov, who managed to convey every feature of the face of the nation's prophet.

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

Educational outreach: books for Nizhyn and the war-ravaged Novhorod-Siverskyi region

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

The politician recalled that Nizhyn once became the subject of a film within the well-known campaign “7 Wonders of Ukraine.” But the most important moment was the handing over 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 to the university's students and faculty. As usual, I handed over our ideological book gifts to the University library and to the Novhorod-Siverskyi city library, ruined by the Russian horde of barbarians,” Mykola Tomenko noted.