Ivan Mazepa (1639–1709) was a prominent military, political, and statesmen, Hetman of the Zaporizhian Host, and head of the Cossack state in Left-Bank Ukraine. As a wise ruler, he cared not only about the economic and military power of Ukraine, but also about its cultural and spiritual development. Mazepa actively supported education, science, art, and the Orthodox Church. During his reign, about 350 churches were built and restored, many of them in the style of Ukrainian Baroque. The Hetman and his mother, Maria Magdalena, invested significant funds in the development of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. In particular, the Church of All Saints was built, the Dormition Cathedral was restored, powerful defensive walls with towers were erected around the Upper Lavra, and the Trinity Gate Church was renovated.
The Monument to Ivan Mazepa in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra is installed near the Dormition Cathedral. The bust was presented on December 1, 2025, and the solemn opening of the monument in its permanent location took place on June 28, 2026, on Constitution Day of Ukraine. On July 14 of that year, it was consecrated by the Primate of the OCU, Metropolitan Epiphanius Dumenko.
The monument is a bronze bust of the Hetman on a granite column, the front of which is decorated with the bronze coat of arms of Mazepa (“Kurch”). The prototype was a lifetime engraving by Martin Bernigeroth. The pedestal uses a real granite base that survived after the destruction of the Dormition Cathedral in 1941, as well as elements of its carved iconostasis. The total height of the monument is a little more than two meters.
Authors: sculptors Oles Sydoruk and Borys Krylov, architect Viktor Yurkiv.
Address: 9 Lavrska Street.
