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Museum of money of Feodosia
>> MONEY ABOUT UKRAINE >> TRANS-DNIESTER REPUBLIC >> T. Shevchenko. 
TARAS HRYHOROVICH SHEVCHENKO was born 9 March 1814 (Lithuania) (1828 – 1831) and then Saint Petersburg. Engelhardt noticed boy’s artistic talent, and in Saint Petersburg he apprenticed him to the painter V. Shiriaev for four years. Shevchenko met the famous painter and professor Karl Briullov, who donated his portrait of the Russian poet Vasilii Zhukovsky as the prize in a lottery whose proceeds were used to buy Shevchenko's freedom on 5 May 1838.Soon after, Shevchenko enrolled in the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg. In 1840 his first poetry collection, Kobzar was published in Saint Petersburg. It was followed by his epic poem 'Haidamaky' ('The Haidamakas', 1841) and the ballad 'Hamaliia' (1844). While living in Saint Petersburg, Shevchenko made three trips to Ukraine, in 1843, 1845, and 1846. Distressed by the tsarist oppression and destruction of Ukraine, Shevchenko decided to capture some of his homeland’s historical ruins and cultural monuments in an album of etchings, which he called 'Zhivopisnaia Ukraina' ('Picturesque Ukraine', 1844). After graduating from the academy of arts in 1845, Shevchenko became a member of the Kyiv Archeographic Commission and traveled widely through Russian-ruled Ukraine in 1845 to sketch historical and architectural monuments and collect folkloric and other ethnographic materials. While in Kyiv in 1846, Shevchenko joined the Kyrylo-Methodius Society. Like the other members of the society, he was arrested, on 5 April 1847. The authorities’ confiscation and discovery of his anti-tsarist satirical poems in the 'Try lita' album brought Shevchenko a particularly severe punishment – military service as a private in the Orenburg Special Corps in a remote region by the Caspian Sea. While serving at the Orenburg and Orsk fortresses Shevchenko hid his secretly written poems in several handmade 'bootleg booklets' (1847, 1848, 1849, 1850). Many of the drawings and paintings he made while in exile depict the life of the indigenous Kazakhs. In 1850 Shevchenko was transferred to the Novopetrovskoe fortress (now Fort Shevchenko in Kazakhstan). Finally released from militaryexile in 1857, two years after Nicholas I’s death, Shevchenko was not allowed to live in Ukraine. After spending half a year in Nizhnii Novgorod, he moved to Saint Petersburg. Shevchenko remained under police surveillance until his death. He was buried in Saint Petersburg, but two months later, in accordance with his wishes, his remains were transported to Ukraine and reburied on Chernecha Hora (Monk’s Mountain) near Kaniv. Since that time, his grave has been a 'holy' place of visitation by millions of Ukrainians. Today it is part of the Kaniv Museum-Preserve (est 1925). Shevchenko's literary oeuvre consists of one mid-sized collection of poetry ('Kobzar'); the drama 'Nazar Stodolia' and two play fragments; nine novellas, a diary, and an autobiography written in Russian; four articles; and over 250 letters. Already during his first period of literary activity (1837 – 1843), he wrote highly sophisticated poetic works. Shevchenko’s early works include the ballads 'Prychynna' ('The Bewitched Woman', 1837), 'Topolia' ('The Poplar', 1839), and 'Utoplena' ('The Drowned Maiden', 1841). Their affinity with Ukrainian folk ballads is evident in their plots and supernatural motifs. Of special note is Shevchenko’s early ballad 'Kateryna' (1838), dedicated to Vasilii Zhukovsky in memory of the purchase of Shevchenko's freedom (see also his painting Kateryna, which is based on the same poem). Some of his other poems also treat the theme of the seduced woman and abandoned mother – 'Vid'ma' ('The Witch', 1847), 'Maryna' (1848), and the ballads 'Lileia' ('The Lily', 1846) and 'Rusalka' ('The Mermaid', 1846). The oblique reference to Ukraine's history and fate in 'Kateryna' is also echoed in other early poems, such as 'Tarasova nich' ('Taras's Night', 1838), 'Ivan Pidkova' (1839), 'Haidamaky' (1841), and 'Hamaliia' (1844). Cossack raids against the Turks are recalled in 'Ivan Pidkova' and 'Hamaliia'; 'Tarasova nich' and, especially, 'Haidamaky' draw on the struggle against Polish oppression. Shevchenko wrote the Romantic drama 'Nazar Stodolia' (1843 – 1844) toward the end of his early period of creativity. Its action takes place near Chyhyryn, the 17th-century capital of the Cossack Hetmanate. www.encyclopediaofukraine.com Ukraine has been struck its own coins dedicated to T. Shevchenko. There are commemorative gold coin 'Taras Shevcenko' of 200 Hrinyas denomination (1997), silver coin of 20 Hryvnias denomination 'Our Soul Does Not Die...' (2004) is dedicated to 190th anniversary of Taras Shevchenko and also three paper notes: 1 000 000 karbovanets (1995) and 100 Hryvnias (1996, 2005).
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