In honor of the 60th anniversary of the Khortytsia National Reserve

In honor of the 60th anniversary of the Khortytsia National Reserve

The independence of Ukraine as a Sovereign State is, first and foremost, a return to the pure sources of its history and culture, and a revival of the centuries-old traditions of the Ukrainian people. In this regard, it is essential to study and preserve the memorable places in the history of the Ukrainian Cossacks and honor our glorious predecessors.

P. Tronko

P. Tronko was born on July 12, 1915, in Zabrodi, Bogodukhov District, Kharkiv Province. He was born into a peasant family and faced hardships from an early age, including those of the civil war. He worked as an auxiliary mine worker, taught, studied at a naval pilot school, headed an orphanage, and was the first secretary of the regional Komsomol committee in Stanislav. He also fought in the active army during World War II. He then worked in leading Komsomol positions until he was dismissed for “national narrow-mindedness.” From 1948 on, he studied at Kyiv State University named after T. G. Shevchenko and defended his candidate and doctoral theses. He served as Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR for 17 years, overseeing the development of education, culture, and the protection of historical and cultural heritage. Since 1978, he has been an academician and vice president of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Since 1979, he has headed the Department of Historical and Local History Studies at the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. His contribution to Ukrainian historical science is immeasurable: He led the process of publishing the 26-volume History of Towns and Villages of the Ukrainian SSR, worked on preparing the “Compendium of Monuments of History and Culture of Ukraine”, and authored over 600 scientific works. He was the initiator of the large-scale, nationwide project, “Rehabilitated by History” (over 80 volumes), as well as the publication, Repressed Local Lore. He was the chairman of the Board of the Ukrainian Society for the Protection of Monuments of History and Culture and the head of the Union of Local Loreologists of Ukraine. He contributed to the restoration of the St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery, the Assumption Cathedral, the Golden Gates, and the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. With his direct participation, work began on the National Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine, the first open-air museum in Ukraine, in Pereyaslav, as well as the “Cossack Graves” museum near Berestechko. The list of his achievements can continue.

P. Tronko, like every extraordinary person, had things that ran through his life like a red thread. For him, it was perpetuating the pages of national history related to the originality and triumph of the Zaporozhzhia Cossacks. Despite political and ideological warnings, he persistently implemented large-scale projects important to every Ukrainian. One such project was the extensive monument protection program of 1965, which covered historical events of the Cossack era in Ukraine. The program’s focal point was Khortytsia, the cradle of Ukrainian Cossacks. P. Tronko led all the work on creating a state historical and cultural reserve on Khortytsia Island. The Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, with which P. Tronko was closely affiliated, also made significant contributions. Local researchers also didn’t remain aloof and continued to make many interesting proposals. In Zaporizhzhia, M. Kytsenko, the deputy chairman of the regional executive committee, and S. Kyrychenko, the head of the Zaporizhzhia regional department of culture, led this work.

The Council of Ministers of Ukraine issued Resolution No. 911, “On the perpetuation of memorable places connected with the history of the Zaporozhzhia Cossacks,” on September 18, 1965.

State Archive of the Zaporizhzhia Region, Р-5760. Оп. 1, спр. 36. Арк. 22–23.