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Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has failed to suspend the continuous archaeological, architectural, and historical research at Baturyn, Chernihiv Oblast, the capital of the early modern Cossack state. Despite ongoing military actions in eastern and southern Ukraine, limited excavations were resumed in Baturyn in summer 2024 after a two-year pause caused by the Russo-Ukrainian war. 

The Baturyn Project’s thirteenth annual booklet (Toronto, 2024, 36 pp. in Ukrainian, 37 colour illustrations) summarises the extensive pre-war archaeological and architectural studies of the remnants of the ruined principal residence of Hetman Ivan Mazepa in Baturyn (c. 1700), and presents speculative computer graphic reconstruction of its original appearance. The authors examine the exterior design and decoration of Mazepa’s residence in broad comparison with the baroque aristocratic palaces, mansions, and villas of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Western Europe. In doing so, they demonstrate the stimulating influence of Western architecture and art on the hetman capital promoted at Mazepa’s behest. The booklet is richly illustrated both with graphic reconstructions of the manor, as well as with photos of its excavated ornamental details and façade elements. These images are presented in contrast and comparison to palatial and monastic structures of 16th to 18th- century Krakow, Warsaw, Lublin, and Paris.

The Baturyn Project’s research has increased knowledge of the heretofore little-studied residences of the hetmans and the European cultural connections of the capital of Cossack realm. The total destruction of Baturyn by Russian troops in 1708 terminated the development of Western baroque palatine architectural style in Central Ukraine, and halted monumental masonry construction in the town for 80 years.

The Canada-Ukraine Baturyn Project is sponsored by the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies at the ���ϲ�����. 

Read more about the Baturyn Project