Taras Shevchenko

Taras Shevchenko Memorial
Washington, D.C.
image: Agnostic Preachers; Kid
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Taras_Shevchenko_Memorial_-_Church_of_the_Pilgrims.JPG)
no copyright infringement intended

The Taras Shevchenko Memorial, located near the intersection of 22nd and P Streets, NW, in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The statue was sculpted by the Ukrainian Canadian artist Leo Mol, and the stonework was created by the Jones Brothers Company. A relief depicting Prometheus is located beside the statue. The memorial was authorized by U.S. Congress on September 13, 1960, and dedicated on June 27, 1964. It is administered by the National Park Service, a federal agency of the United States Department of the Interior. The Church of the Pilgrims, located at 2201 P Street, NW, is visible in the background. Built in 1928, the church is an example of Gothic Revival architecture.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Taras_Shevchenko_Memorial_-_Church_of_the_Pilgrims.JPG)

Firstly I heard about Taras Shevchenko while in high school. A classmate, a girl that I liked a bit, was asked by our literature teacher to read a text about the life of the poet. The text was pretty long, but as I said, I liked the girl, so I listened carefully. And I remained with the image of a rebellious poet and painter, associated for ever with the image of the reader.

Years passed one after another, the girl became more and more a distant memory of the teen ages, now and then the name of the Ukrainian bard was coming to me and the image of that reader from long time ago was putting on my eyes a nostalgic smile.

And after many, many years, life brought me to Washington, I was now working at a company in the region. On Sundays I liked to make a stroll through the streets of D.C. to understand their universe (pretty different from one neighborhood of the city to another) and to enjoy.

I passed many times in front of the monument of Taras Shevchenko, it's close to other two statues, honoring Tomáš Masaryk and Mohandas Gandhi. And so, the three great heroes come for me always together.

And it happened that in Washington I also met that girl from high school, now a nice grandmother. And we shared the photos of our granddaughters, her, and mine, and smiled together at that longtime memory.

• FEMEN Tribute to Taras Shevchenko (If You But Knew)
• Lights Are Blazing
• Testament (Заповіт)

(A Life in Books)

(Washington, District of Columbia)