In 2014, the Canada-Ukraine archaeological expedition continued excavating the remnants of Hetman Ivan Mazepa’s main residence in Baturyn, the former capital of the Cossack state. Prior to 1700, he constructed a richly embellished brick baroque palace that was burned by Russian troops during their total destruction of the town in 1708.
Many fragments of fine multicoloured glazed and terracotta floor, stove, and façade revetment tiles were found. These decorative details of Mazepa’s villa represent the advanced 17th-century Kyivan school of architectural majolica.
Researchers have prepared computer reconstructions of nine ornamental floor pavement patterns of the palace’s reception halls, living quarters, and office premises. Of all the known early modern buildings in Ukraine, Mazepa’s principal residence in Baturyn stands out for the largest number, variety, and distinctive features of decorative types of ceramic floor tiles and pavement methods. This attests to its comparatively large size, multistoried and multi-chamber architectural design, and exceptional embellishment.
Archaeologists have completed excavating the remnants of the spacious service structure at Mazepa’s court. It probably housed either members of the hetman’s guard (serdiuky) or Cossack officers (starshyna) from his retinue. In 2014, at this site were found: 17th–18th-century Polish and Russian silver and copper coins; locally produced bronze buttons; a clasp and four figured appliqués with relief patterns and engravings that adorned the costly leather belts of officers; lead musket bullets; ceramic Cossack tobacco pipes; and fragments of imported German glazed tableware and Dutch porcelain tobacco pipes. Using computer techniques, investigators have reconstructed three decorated belts of wealthy Cossack officers.
Among the service structure’s debris and within the Baturyn fortress, many shards of delicate milk-glass plates painted with floral motifs were uncovered. These were likely brought to early modern Baturyn from the Ottoman Empire. Finds of imported goods indicate the trade connections of the hetman capital with Northern, Central, and Eastern Europe, and the Islamic East.
In the suburb of Ostroh, a ceramic stove tile bearing the relief coat of arms of Pylyp Orlyk, a future émigré hetman and author of the first Ukrainian constitution (1710), was discovered. While in Baturyn, he was the general secretary of Mazepa’s administration. Archaeologists hope to locate the remnants of Orlyk’s residence at the site where this heraldic tile was found.
In the fortress, ten 17th and 18th -century graves of burghers were exhumed in 2014. Three of them can be identified as victims of the Russian assault on Baturyn.
The excavations of 2014 in Baturyn have yielded important data for research and reconstruction of the architectural design and decoration of hetman residences as well as the accoutrement of Cossack officers. New archaeological finds testify to the vibrancy of grain agriculture, miller’s trade, crafts, and applied arts, as well as international commercial and cultural contacts of the town before the 1708 onslaught.
The Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) at the University of Alberta, the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies (PIMS) at the University of Toronto, and the Ucrainica Research Institute in Toronto sponsor the Baturyn project. The leading historian of the Hetmanate, Prof. Zenon Kohut (CIUS), is its academic adviser. Dr. Volodymyr Mezentsev (CIUS) and Prof. Martin Dimnik (PIMS) participate in this research and the dissemination of its results. Nearly 50 students and scholars from universities in Chernihiv, Kyiv, and Hlukhiv took part in the 2014 excavations.
This year, the main excavations were carried out in Baturyn during August and on a smaller scale in September and October. Its results will be analysed and presented in academic and newspaper articles, a new booklet, and public lectures in 2016. Next summer, our Canada-Ukraine archaeological expedition will resume the systematic field research in the town. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government, burdened with heavy military expenditures, is unable to fund our scholarly project.
The continued support of archaeological explorations in Baturyn and the publication of its findings by Ukrainian organizations, foundations, companies, and private benefactors in Canada and the United States will be essential in 2015-16. Canadian citizens are kindly invited to send their cheques with donations to: Mr. Orest Steciw, President, Ucrainica Research Institute, 9 Plastics Ave., Toronto, ON, Canada M8Z 4B6. Please make your cheques payable to: Ucrainica Research Institute (memo: Baturyn Project).
American residents are advised to send their donations to: Prof. Martin Dimnik, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 59 Queen’s Park Cr. E., Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 2C4. Please make your cheques payable to: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies (memo: Baturyn Project). These institutes will send tax receipts to all donors in Canada and the USA, and they will be gratefully acknowledged in related publications and public lectures.
For additional information or questions about the Baturyn project, readers may contact its coordinator Dr. Volodymyr Mezentsev in Toronto (tel.: 416-766-1408; email: v.mezentsev@utoronto.ca).
New Publication on the Mazepa and Rozumovs’ky Palaces in Baturyn
Zenon Kohut, Volodymyr Mezentsev et al., Arkheolohichni doslidzhennia u Baturyni 2013-2014 rr. Palatsy Ivana Mazepy ta Kyryla Rozumovs’koho. Do 70-littia profesora Zenona Kohuta (Archaeological Research in Baturyn 2013-2014. Palaces of Ivan Mazepa and Kyrylo Rozumovs’ky. In commemoration the 70th birthday of Professor Zenon Kohut), Toronto: Homin Ukrainy/Ukrainian Echo Publishing Company Ltd., 2015, 32 pp., 79 colour illustrations, and glossy paper.
This is the fourth richly illustrated booklet presenting the work of Canadian and Ukrainian archaeologists and historians researching Baturyn of the Cossack era. The publication surveys the history of Baturyn during its golden age under Hetman Ivan Mazepa, the destruction of the town by Russian troops in 1708, and its subsequent rebuilding by Hetman Kyrylo Rozumovs’ky. The sack of the hetman capital is described on the basis of some little-known 18th-century French sources and the chronicle by the Cossack officer Hryhor Pokas 1751.
The authors discuss the results of the 2013-14 Canada-Ukraine excavations at the Baturyn fortress and hetmans’ estates. They examine the remnants of the ruined palatial residences of Mazepa and Rozumovs’ky and present computer reconstructions of their architectural design and decoration. Archaeological findings attest to the dynamic development of international trade, crafts, agriculture, and art in Baturyn, as well as prosperity of its population before 1708.
The publication of this booklet was funded by Buduchnist Credit Union and the Ucrainica Research Institute. I kindly thank Chrystyna Bidiak, Operations & Human Resources Manager of BCU, and Orest Steciw, President of this institute and President of the National Executive of the League of Ukrainian Canadians, for providing subsidies to cover the printing and other costs.
The four brochures of the Baturyn series are designed for both scholars and the general public and will be of interest to all students of Ukrainian history and antiquities. The latest booklet is available for purchase for $10 at the office of the National Executive of LUC in Toronto (tel.: 416-516-8223, email: luc@lucorg. com). Three brochures are on sale through CIUS Press in Edmonton (tel.: 780-492-2973, email: cius@ualberta.ca; http:// www.ciuspress.com/catalogue/history/325/sadeibi-ivana-maziepi-u-baturini; http://www.ciuspress. com/catalogue/history/333/kul%27tura-kozats%27koyi-ieliti mazi epinogheo-devoru; http://www. ciuspress.com/catalogue/history/347/palatsi-ivana-maziepi-ta-kirila-rozumovs'kogheo).
Researchers of Baturyn thank the Ukrainian communities in Canada and America for their generous support of this archaeological undertaking and related publications for fifteen years.
