Description

Canadian and Ukrainian archaeologists and historians present their eighth annual booklet on the research of 17th-18th-century Baturyn in 2018-19 illustrated with 63 mainly colour figures. CIUS has sponsored the Baturyn Archaeological Project since 2001. Authors survey the history of Baturyn that was the capital of the Cossack Hetman state in 1669-1708 and 1750-64. Special attention is paid to its fortifications and heroic defence against the Russian army in 1708 during Hetman Ivan Mazepa’s anti-Moscow revolt. A new version of the capture of Baturyn fortress by tsarist troops is described in this booklet and the archaeological evidence of the ravaging of Mazepa’s capital and its environs are provided.

This brochure examines in detail the fragmented glazed ceramic stove tiles of local manufacture excavated at Baturyn in 2017-19. Researchers have established that some of them feature the hitherto unknown design of the coat of arms of Hetman Mazepa as the Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, a title he received in 1707. These heraldic tiles are uniquely decorated with the images of Cossack weapons, munitions, and symbols of power in the Ukrainian baroque style. Such archaeological finds are of tremendous importance for the Ukrainian heraldry and art history. Computer graphic reconstructions of Mazepa’s glazed ceramic armorial bearings as well as the general view, plan, and defensive structures of Baturyn are published in this booklet for the first time.

This publication is dedicated to the 350th anniversary of the designation of Baturyn as the capital of the Cossack Hetmanate in 1669.