Khortytsia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Great Khortytsia Island (Ukrainian: Хортиця, Russian: Хортица, Khortitsa) is a large island on the Dnieper which played a vital role in the history of Ukraine. The island, situated within the modern industrial city of Zaporizhia in the Kakhovka Reservoir and extending from northwest to southeast for more than twelve kilometers, has an average width of 2,500 meters. There are oak groves, spruce woods, meadows, and steppe.
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[edit] History
Zaporizhia takes its name from the nine Dnieper cataracts, which were leveled in the 1930s, when the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station was constructed immediately upstream. Only granite cliffs, rising to the height of 50 meters, testify to the original rocky terrain of the site.
Great Khortytsya has been continuously inhabited during the last five millennia or so. Other islands in the immediate vicinity also contain indications of intensive occupation during the Proto-Indo-European and Scythian periods. The island of Malaya Khortytsia is known for its Scythian remains and a derelict Cossack fortress. The islet of Serednyi Stih (to the northeast of Khortytsya), excavated during construction of the hydroelectric station in 1927, gave its name to the Sredny Stog culture.
In the Early Middle Ages, Great Khortytsya was a key station on the trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks. In his treatise De Administrando Imperio, Emperor Constantine VII mentions a certain island of St. George immediately downstream from the rapids. He reports that, while passing through the cataracts, the Rus would be easy prey for the nomadic Pechenegs. Indeed, the Rus' leader Svyatoslav I was attacked and killed during his attempt to cross the rapids in 972.
Starting from the 16th century, a Cossack stronghold on Khortytsia formed the core of the network of forts, which comprised the Zaporizhian Sich. The stronghold on Khortytsia was established by the Polish-Ukrainian magnate Prince Dymitr Wisniowiecki. It was there that the Cossacks would elect their hetmans. It was also there that they wrote the notorious reply to the Ottoman Sultan. By the 18th century, the Sich had been subjugated by the Russians, who built new fortifications for the wars they waged against the Ottoman Empire.
[edit] Museum
Nowadays, Khortysia is designated a national museum. The rural landscape of the island features the Zaporizhian Cossack Museum and a Cossack horse show. The museum building is modern, nestling low in the landscape with dramatic views of the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station to the north.
The museum contains exhibits dating from the Stone Age through the Scythian period (c.750 - 250 BC) down to the 20th century, including a model of the Pecheneg ambush which claimed the life of Svyatoslav in 972 and a panorama representing the Battle for Zaporizhia, fought during World War II on October 14, 1943.
[edit] Bibliography
- (German) Jana Bürgers: "Mythos und Museum. Kosakenmythos und Nationsbildung in der postsowjetischen Ukraine am Beispiel des Kosakengeschichtsmuseums auf der Insel Chortycja." In: Bianka Pietrow-Ennker (Hg.): Kultur in der Geschichte Russlands. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2006. ISBN 3-525-36293-5
- (German) Christian Ganzer: Sowjetisches Erbe und ukrainische Nation. Das Museum der Geschichte des Zaporoger Kosakentums auf der Insel Chortycja. Mit einem Vorwort von Frank Golczewski. Stuttgart: ibidem-Verlag, 2005 (Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society, vol. 19). ISBN 3-89821-504-0
[edit] External links
Media related to Khortytsya from the Wikimedia Commons.- Official web-page of Khortitsa National Preserve
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