If you do not count the busts, which can be found in all state institutions, and embroidered portraits in schools, then on the territory of Ukraine there are 28 monuments to the Great Kobzar. Naturally, the most famous monuments to Taras Shevchenko are erected in Lviv, Kyiv and Kanev on Chernechya Hill, not far from the tomb of the main Ukrainian poet. But even such native Russian-speaking or multinational cities as Kharkiv or Odessa have paid tribute to the founder of the literary Ukrainian language. Mariupol, a city in the south of the Donetsk region, which is home to more Greeks, Russians and Belarusians than representatives of the titular nation, has two monuments honoring the fieriest Ukrainian poet.
The first Monument to Shevchenko appeared in the city in 1964, when the 150th anniversary of Kobzar’s birth was celebrated. It was placed in the corner, formed by stalinist houses, on Lenin Avenue, just opposite the Theater Square. It is a bust erected on a cement stele. Shevchenko on it is a mature husband, who has already changed his mind, released into the world his best poems and created a pleiad of stunning paintings. The bust of the poet is made of stone — deliberately rough, so it makes a very strong impression on visitors. The energy that emanates from this stone sculpture of Shevchenko is enough to make a small coup or ignite in the hearts of people an interest in the history of the Ukrainian people.
The second Shevchenko monument was erected on Shevchenko Boulevard. This is the main transport artery of the city, which connects historical neighborhoods and dormitories with one of the main industrial enterprises of the city, with «Azovstal». This monument appeared in the city in 2001, to the tenth anniversary of the young Ukrainian state.
It is a real, huge and a little pompous memorial to the former cook and Cossack landlord Engelhardt. A black ribbed cube of basalt is set on a three-stage platform of red granite. A metal «torn stone» is displayed on it. A Ukrainian poet is sitting on it.
This Shevchenko is younger. Most likely, he is depicted at the age of Jesus Christ. In his 33 years Taras Grigorievich was in exile, a soldier in the Orsk fortress. This fort is located in the Kyrgyz steppe, on the shore of the Aral Sea. And the very future academician of the Imperial Academy of Arts for the period of punishment was forbidden to write and draw. Naturally, Kobzar violated both prohibitions. And now, on the stone knee of Mariupol Shevchenko lies a small «free book», in which he wrote poems and made sketches.
If you decide to visit the Azov region, you will definitely pass along Shevchenko Boulevard. Here, near Novoselovka, you will see one of the main sights of Mariupol — a monument to the poet, put by the city of metallurgists and sailors.