Lviv in the Cossack Era

Exhibit 7

The Cossack L’viv

This Exhibit tells the stories of some prominent figures of the Cossack epoch, who left a mark in the history of L’viv, Halycia and the Dnieper region of the 16th-17th centuries. Those were the times when many great people were born in Halicia, of whom Ukraine is proud. 

One of them is Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny, a brilliant military leader, thanks to whom many victories over the Crimean Khanate, Ottoman Empire and Moscow Tsardom were won.  He had never lost a battle and played the key role in the siege of Khotyn.  The battle of Khotyn was very important for the history of Europe, since as a result the Ottoman Empire was fought back and stopped its advance into the European continent.   

Job Boretsky, named the “Cossack Metropole”, was in charge of the L’viv and Kyiv Brotherhood schools.

Nastia Lisovska, who was born in the Ukrainian town of Rohatyn, is known to the world under the name of Roksolana, the wife of the Turkish Sultan Suleiman I the Magnificent. She became the most influential woman in the Ottoman Empire, while her son Selim was the ruler of the country after the death of his father.  

Bohdan Khmelnytsky, the creator of the Cossack State, is walking along the wall of the Jesuit Collegium, where he studied in the early 17th century. The role of Bohdan Khmelnitsky in the development of the Ukrainian nation is inestimable. He was the leader of the Ukrainian Cossack revolution and laid the foundation of the independence of Ukraine. He considered the move of the country under the aegis of Moscow a temporary measure.  

The scene of the execution of the Cossack Hetman Ivan Pidkova demonstrates the fight of the Cossacks with the Ottoman Empire in the lands of Ukraine and Moldova, as well as the insidious politics of Poland. Hetman Pidkova was beheaded in L’viv on June 16, 1678, however, he is still remembered by the Ukrainian people. There is a square in L’viv named after Ivan Pidkova, and a monument to this Cossack leader. 

The diorama “The assault of the High Castle” tells the story of this citadel of great strength, that could not be taken until the Cossacks under the command of Maksym Kryvonis managed to seize it. Colonel Maksym Kryvonis, by order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, took control of the High Castle in October, 1648, however, failed to invade the city of L’viv. The frightened citizens paid the ransom, and the Cossacks stopped the siege.   

To read about other famous people of that period, please, use the monitor.

My knowledge will stay with me forever, and this is more than all the regalia of the world. From this knowledge I will make the chronicle of my life, like Law of Moses, for I was compared to Moses, who saved his people from slavery. My life never ends, for I am Bohdan, the gift of God!

Those who do not want to fight and die for their Motherland, will then have to perish together with her…

Father Bohdan! Are we not able to bring to their knees those sparrows that are chirruping so loudly in front of us! After Zhovty Vody, Korsun, and Pyliavtsi, must we negotiate with those outcasts who were fleeing from us for hundred miles without looking back? Come to your senses, brothers! We should not bargain with the Shliakhta, but rather drive them out of our land. Give your command, Father, so that we do not let the Shliakhta rest, but chase them away as far as Warsaw!

In the foreign land everything is not like at home.
Birds will bring me from far away those things, that make me cry, 
for I know them all my life,
So I am saying good-by to the cranes.
There seems to be an abundance of everything here, 
Only I immerse in sorrow deeper and deeper day after day,
For there are no little white huts here, 
Only the foreign land is around me. 

People of Poland! I have been brought here to meet my death, though I have not done anything in my life for which I would deserve such an end. I know one thing: I always fought bravely, as a good knight, against the enemies of the Christianity, and what I did was always for the good and for the benefit of my Motherland, for my only wish was to be her pillar of support and protection from nonbelievers, so that they stayed in their country and did not cross the Danube. However, my good intentions were in vain, God knows why, for the one, on whose command I am sent to my death, has always been on my way. But I hope that after a short time he, the rotten sultan, will be revenge for shedding my innocent blood. Please, remember, that very soon you will learn yourself what I am living through now, for that will happen to you and your property, and your heads and the heads of your kings will be taken to Constantinople, when the heathen sultan commands”.

Though life is the most precious thing for the humans,
They still are ready to sacrifice it in battle or in work
For the freedom of their country.
So, what is then the most precious thing for them?