I think each of us has a box, probably it looks something like a post office, a chest of stories that are connected with that city – the city of N, Kyiv, Zhytomyr … From my school-age childhood on Mykhailivska street I remembered the book point where books were bought, and from the early memories – well-known cartoon Cossacks at the store windows in front of the city council … And in the cinema “Zhovten” with friends and classmates watched a screen adaptation of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”. My chest of stories about the city … It’s a little bit, absolutely micro …
We invite you to listen to the stories of the titans houses, which are located in the historical, central part of our Zhytomyr. They were told by Maryna Kruhlyak, Ph.D. in historical sciences, the assistant professor of the Department of Social and Humanitarian Sciences of Zhytomyr State Technological University
Record with the researcher Maryna Kruhlyak was made during the local project “Ancient buildings – Titaniums of our Zhytomyr”. Its authors and coordinators – teachers of Zhytomyr State Technological University Viktoriia Zahurska-Antoniuk, Oksana Lytvinchuk, University’s masters Dmytro Tkachuk. The project was created for children from 5 to 12 years old. In addition to the historical excursion, his program provided for a cognitive walk with children along the route Zamkova Hora – Svyatoshinskiy Cathedral – Svobody Square – Kyivska Street – Mykhailivska Street. During the excursion, the teachers introduced the children to the old and at the same time modern buildings of our city, interesting stories and facts about them. The next day, the children credited their impressions in their own designs of titans houses
“Let’s start with the bishop’s yard, which is now on Koroliov Square, 9. Once in this room lived the main bishop of the Volyn province. The most famous thing about this is that Taras Shevchenko stopped here in 1846. In general, there are three places in Zhytomyr, where he was this time. One of these places is the bishops’ court ”
“The house, located near the bishop’s court, on the Korolova Square, 10, is a women’s Mariinsky gymnasium. Originally built as a lucrative house in the middle of the XIX century. In January 1875 this house was purchased by the gymnasium. And this was the only one in the Volyn province until the end of the XIX century, a women’s secondary school. I would note that at that time the high school students taught such prominent personalities as the father of the Ukrainian singer, People’s Artist of the USSR Zoya Gaidai, Mykola Gaidai. Zoya studied here in 1912. Pupils of the gymnasium were well-known sisters of Lesia Ukrainka Nina and Olga Kosachi, natural scientist Kopachevska, poet Veronika Morozivna, Moskalova, mother of the famous composer, pianist Sviatoslav Richter. In 1919 the gymnasium was closed. The dressing room of the 44th Rifle Division was located in her room. In the following years, there was a school of Party and Soviet construction in the house, one of the city schools, boarding school, and the Korolevsky district executive committee. And since 1983 there is a city center for children’s art and a children’s art gallery”
“One more important monument of our city is the Water Tower at Pushkinska Street. They founded it at the end of the XIX century. On the occasion of this event, souvenir cups were made on the water channel, some of them in my collection”
“City Theater. It is located, more precisely, in the central part of the city, next to the water tower on Pushkinska Street. Built in 1855 by the architect Stroma. One of the enthusiasts and organizers of the construction of the theater and the formation of his troupe was the classic of Polish literature, Juzef-Ignaz Kraszewski, who lived in Zhytomyr in 1853-60, was the trustee of educational institutions. He also invited the first troupe of the theater from Lviv to Zhytomyr. In 1865-1866 years, Zhytomyr citizens gladly accepted the famous American tragedian, the second Schepkin and Taras Shevchenko, Airu Olrida, who played the role of Othello and Shylock in the plays of William Shakespeare. On April 28, 1874, a concert of the famous Polish composer Juliusz-Karol Zaremsky, who was born and lived in Zhytomyr, was in the theater”
“In 1883, in November, the theater troupe under the leadership of Staritsky showed to the Zhytomyr dwellers ” Natalka-Poltavka “, where Maria Sadovska played the main role. There was a premiere of Starytsky’s play “Za dogma zaitsiamy”, in the lead role was Maria Zankovetska. In 1902-1905, Zhytomyr citizens enthusiastically took the performance of “Winter Evening” of Staritsky, as well as the play “Beltanland” by Karpenko-Karyi. In 1919, the First Volyn State Theater named after Taras Shevchenko was created. Since 1934, the mobile music and drama theater of the name of the Kyiv regional council has been stationary. He was named after Shchors, the artistic director was Magar, and in the future he was a People’s Artist of the USSR. During 1924-1934 years, the playwright Ivan Kocherga, the Honored Artist of Ukraine, collaborated with the theater. His famous pieces such as Diamond Mill, Fairy Bitter Almond, Candle Wedding, were written just in Zhytomyr and first put on the Zhytomyr stage. In 1938, for the first time on the Zhytomyr stage a drama “Bohdan Khmelnitsky” Korniychuk was put. In the postwar years, the Zhytomyr Theater named after Shchors became very popular, becoming one of the best regional theaters in Ukraine. On January 8, 1944, the team of the newly-formed troupe of Zhytomyr city theater “Natalka-Poltavka” opened theatrical season. Since 1945 the theater has been called Zhytomyr Regional Ukrainian Music and Drama Theater. In 1981, he was named after Ivan Kocherga, and since 1966 the theater has moved to a new, specially built room for him on the Cathedral Square. Since then, a building 26, Pushkinska Street has been settled down. And since August 1982 it has been working as Zhytomyr Regional Philharmony”
“Another interesting building in the center of our city is the House of Mutual Credit Societies. Its address is 4/2, Koroliov Square on the corner of Mykhailivska Street. Now the house of knowledge as a room of our Zhytomyr city council. It was built in 1900 for a modern-day baroque-style mutual credit partnership. Interestingly, the company had an average of 600 members, and among them was even Lesia Ukrainka’s father, peace judge Petro Kosach, local sculptor Olayshkevich and other well-known personalities”
“After the end of the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1914, composer Mykhailo Skorulsky returned to Zhytomyr. He teaches in the musical classes of the Zhytomyr Artistic Society and in the hall of the partnership of mutual credit on the second floor of the house in 1916-1918 performed with concerts. And on May 20, 1903, the famous singer Fyodor Shalyapin gave his concert here. The walls of the halls are remembered by such artists as Platon Tsesevich, Mykhailo Erdenko, Josef Hoffmann”
“I would also like to draw attention to another interesting building – the building of the Zhytomyr male gymnasium. Located in the central part of our city, 40, Velyka Berdychivska Street. Now it is known to Zhytomyr citizens as the central building of Zhytomyr State University named after Ivan Franko. The building was built in 1862 for the Zhytomyr Men’s Gymnasium, which was housed here until the close of 1918. During 1881-1888, the director of the gymnasium Omelyansky worked. At the gymnasium, the father of Serhii Koroliov, a well-known designer of the spacecraft, worked as a teacher of the Russian language. From 1863 to 1866, the well-known writer Volodymyr Korolenko studied in elementary school. Other well-known figures who studied or worked at the Zhytomyr Men’s Gymnasium include the literary critic Dashkevych, the pathologist Podvysotsky, the geologist Tutkovskii, the ethnographer Sternberg, the botanist Lipsky, the microbiologist Omelyansky, the botanist Artsekhovsky, the historian Lipinsky, the writer Botsinovsky, the Polish composer Zaremsky, the composer Skorulsky, statesman Feshchenko-Chopivsky and others”
“One of the houses of Titans of our city is located on 6, Velyka Berdychivska Street, a house of the Volyn governorate. The date of its foundation is 1854. The board worked such well-known figures as Ivan Bilyk, he was a Ukrainian writer, brother of writer Panas Mirny, author of the first Ukrainian dictionary “Ukrainian sayings, proverbs and so on” by Mykola Nomis. On November 15, 1917, in a house in front of the Ukrainian community of Zhytomyr speeches were made by Symon Petliura”
“St. Michael’s Cathedral, or the Cathedral of St. Michael’s Archangel, is also located in the central part of the city – Kyivska St., 14. This is a monument of history and architecture. Built in 1856 on the initiative of the Zhytomyr merchant Mykhailo Khabotin, he was named Mykhailivska. Khabotin gave to the construction of the temple 15 thousand rubles. The amount was then insufficient, and he added another nearly 22 thousand rubles. The merchant had the support from the public of the city and then Volyn governor Nikolai Sinelnikov. The temple was erected on the lands of the manor of Alexander Skalkovsky, whose representative, Apolon Skalkovsky, became an outstanding historian of the Zaporizka Sich and was a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, one of the founders of the Odessa Society for History and Antiquities.
One of the first superiors of the temple was Andriyan Puriyevich, and his son Konstantin was a well-known Ukrainian scientist, physiologist of plants, a professor at Kyiv University. From 1895 to 1929, an unnamed rector of the temple – a church, public figure and teacher, Mykola Buchik-Abramovich, known in Zhytomyr, was repressed in the 37th year. On March 13, 1915, at St. Michael’s Church, he baptized Sviatoslav Richter. Since 1991, the building of the temple has been given to believers. From my childhood I remember that there was a puppet theater, I was on the performances several times. In 2001, on the facade of the temple a memorial plaque with a polished gabbro with a dedicated inscription Habotin was installed”
The idea “Ancient buildings – Titans of our Zhytomyr” was carried out within the framework of the international project “Local History, Memory and Cultural Heritage in Youth Education”, held in Warsaw from May 28 to June 6 2018 The delegations from Poland, Moldova and Ukraine (Zhytomyr) took part in it. The Titanium House project, as well as a series of historical, ethnographic, cultural, artistic and creative events in Zhytomyr, took place thanks to the collaborative collaboration of the Stowarzyszenie “Pracownia Etnograficzna” im. Witolda Dynowskiego (Poland, Warsaw), Erasmus +, RITA and the Youth Foundation for European Initiatives (Ukraine, Zhytomyr).
Translated by Aliona Matushevich
