Zelenskyy spoke on Constitution Day at the grounds of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery, where a bust of Mazepa had just been unveiled. The president said the historical figure’s significance deserves a full-fledged monument in the capital. He named Shevchenko Boulevard as the ideal location — exactly where the Lenin statue was toppled during the Euromaidan protests.
Mazepa, who lived in the 17th and 18th centuries, has been regarded as a traitor in Russia for over 300 years. Tsar Peter I had him anathematized by the Russian church after Mazepa formed an alliance with Swedish King Charles XII. In Ukraine, however, he is revered as a patron of culture and education. The so-called Cossack Baroque style, in which he built numerous churches, is often referred to as the “Mazepa style.”
The announcement comes at a time of intensified symbolic distancing from Russia. The Russian Orthodox Church has never lifted the anathema against Mazepa. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, by contrast, revoked the ban as early as 1992.
Source: www.bbc.com
