Григорій Сковорода (1722-94) – was a philosopher of Ukrainian Cossack origin who lived and worked in the Russian Empire. He was a poet, a teacher and a composer of liturgical music. His significant influence on his contemporaries and succeeding generations and his way of life were universally regarded as Socratic, and he was often called a "Socrates".Skovoroda's work contributed to the cultural heritage both of modern-day Ukraine.
Monument to Hryhorii Skovoroda was erected on Kontraktova Square opposite the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, where he received his education. The bronze figure of the philosopher, 5 meters high, is placed on a low pedestal made of black polished granite, 0.4 meters high. The philosopher is depicted as a barefoot traveler who came from afar to Kyiv and looks reverently at his alma mater. A slender thin figure in a long scroll, a canvas bag with meager possessions, pressed to his chest with his right hand, give an idea of his ascetic life. The compositional clarity of the sculpture is combined with the processing of individual details, the thorough modeling of forms, and the restrained expressiveness of the sculpting manner.
The opening of the monument to Hryhorii Skovoroda took place on March 1, 1977.
Opposite the monument, on the facade of the old building of the academy, a memorial plaque to Hryhorii Skovoroda was installed.
Authors: sculptor Ivan Kavaleridze, architect Vasyl Hniezdylov.
