Taras Shevchenko - 200

"Kobzar’s American Friend"  and "Kobzar’s Testament Riddle”
On February, 27 the Window on America center Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine) was visited by a big group of senior students from local school # 141.
An informative slide shows «Kobzar’s American Friend» and “Kobzar’s Testament Riddle” was presented to the group. A set of quiz-type questions reminded the students the basic facts of Shevchenko’s biography with the focus on his talent of a portrait painter. This allowed to introduce to the students the personality of Ira Aldridge who ordered a portrait by Taras Shevchenko.
They were offered a slide presentation “Kobzar’s Testament Riddle” that offered a new approach to the background of the classical poem “My Testament”. The local historian D. Synytsia analyzed the text of the poem and suggested his own interpreting of the facts. According to the researcher Shevchenko wanted to be buried in the vicinity of the modern Dnipropetrovsk city.
In the slide show we took a fresh look at the poem’s text and found confirmation to D. Synytsia’s hypothesis. It really seems that after a visit to Ekaterinoslav region and the exploration of the Cossack heritage the poet wanted to be buried on a Scythian mound (“on mohyla”) with a view on the greatest Dnipro river rapid – the Insatiable, aka Roaring. Both objects are located not far from Dnipropetrovsk city. The hypothesis is supported by the original Shevchenko’s painting and the memoirs of the local dwellers about the noise produced by the rapids (before they were submerged in the water reservoir).
The new facts from Kobzar’s biography impressed the group. The kids were thrilled by the Testament’s riddle that caused so much confusion and deprived the city of the nationwide Shevchenko Memorial.
Number of participants – 21 persons.
Have a look at more pictures, please