Description

This richly illustrated 28-page publication presents the results of excavations conducted by a team of Canadian and Ukrainian archeologists in Baturyn, the former capital of the Cossack Hetman state. The booklet provides a brief overview of the history of Baturyn during the height of its prosperity under Hetman Ivan Mazepa and the total destruction of the town by Russian troops in 1708 as well as its subsequent rebuilding by Hetman Kyrylo Rozumovsky. The siege and storming of Mazepa’s capital are described on the basis of hitherto little-known contemporaneous Swedish sources. The booklet discusses the excavations in 2011 of the remnants of Mazepa’s main palatial residence, a wooden church, living quarters and service structures at his court, and a brick house located within the Baturyn fortress. The new archeological findings testify to the wealth and high level of aesthetic appreciation prevailing at the hetman’s court, as well as to the vibrancy of Baturyn’s international commercial and cultural contacts at the turn of the 17th to 18th century.