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Materials for the Article by Victor Kyrkevych
Photos by Yuriy Buslenko
Welcome to Ukraine Magazine, Kyiv, Ukraine
Issue Number Two, 1999
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General view of the
fortifications of the Carmelite monastery facing the river
Hnylopyat.
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Honore de Balzac
was married there, Joseph Conrad was born there, Levi-Itskhak, a prominent
Hassidic zaddik preached and died there.
Berdychiv is a
provincial town of a hundred thousand inhabitants. At the same time, it is
a cultural phenomenon worth studying, since in the nineteenth-century
Ukraine it was looked upon as an embodiment of the very idea of
provincialism.
It is a town of several ethnic groups, each of which
has contributed to the town's cultural makeup.
A book published in
Paris in 1884 about Russia and Ukraine (La Russie et les Russes. Kiev et
Moscou, by Victor Tissot) gave more space to Berdychiv than to Kyiv or
Moscow.
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The town of Berdychiv is believed to have been founded in the 11th or
possibly even in the 10th century. The first settlers were, in all
probability, the Berendeyis, people of the steppe who defended the lands,
ruled by Kyiv, against incursions of other nomads. The name Berdychiv is
thought to have been given to the town by these Berendeyis. It’s good
luck, some say that the town did not get named after the nearby river
Hnylopyat (hnyl means putrid). The devastating Mongol invasion of the
thirteenth century reduced the town to rubble. It was resurrected back to
life only to come into possession of the Polish and Lithuanians. For a
considerable stretch of time, beginning from 1320, the Tyszkevyches, a
Polish noble family, had the town as their estate.
For generations, this family was known
for the stateliness and beauty of their members, and in the second half of
the twentieth century, one of the descendants of the Berdychiv castle
founders, Beata Tyszkevych, was a Polish film star, much admired for her
great looks. In 1483, the fortifications of Berdychiv proved to be
impregnable for the invading hordes of Mengly-Hyrey, a Tartar-Mongol
ruler.
In fact, Berdychiv, as the residence of the Tyszkevyches, was
only one, albeit the strongest, of several fortified towns and castles
that stood in the way of Tartar-Mongol raids. Even at the end of the 16th
century, in spite of the emergence of new, more powerful weapons, the
Berdychiv castle was considered to be impregnable. One of the
Tyszkevyches, Yanush, was captured by the Tartars, and when in 1626, he
returned from captivity, he founded a monastery, dedicated to the Virgin
Mary, and gave it to monks of the mendicant Order of the Barefoot
Carmelites. The monks, evidently forgetting their mendicancy, began
exploiting the local population who once in a while exploded in anger and
attacked the monastery.
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The Church of St
Mykolai. Interior.
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The Church of St Mykolai.
General view
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The monks, to protect themselves, had
to build high walls around the monastery.
The local population, made up
mostly of Ukrainian peasants who lived outside the walls of Berdychiv,
felt cheated and ripped off. They were Orthodox Christians and the town’s
predominantly Polish population was Catholic. It added to the tension and
not once the peasants, aided by the Cossacks, erupted in anger and,
burning with vengeance, tried to storm the town and the castle. In 1648,
when the war of liberation began under the leadership of Bohdan
Khmelnytsky, the monastery was laid siege to and taken by storm. Neither
the fortifications with 60 cannon, nor a miracle-working icon, stolen from
the St Michael’s Orthodox church, prevented the attackers from wreaking
havoc on the monastery.
In 1663, the monastery was rebuilt and since
then has remained a remarkable architectural landmark, one of the most
impressive of its kind in Ukraine. Considerable sums of money were donated
by the Vatican for the monastery’s renovation, and one of the then
prestigious architects Ian de Witt was commissioned to supple designs. One
of the churches of the monastery acquired a distinct Baroque look. B.
Frederice, an Italian painter, decorated the church with frescoes.
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The church suffered a considerable
damage in W.W.II, and now, so many years after the war, restoration work
is under way. There is still a sizeable Catholic community living in
Berdychiv.
The building, formerly housing the cells of monks, has been
turned into a flourishing music school, around which the cultural life of
the town now centers. Many young people, with no temptations of a major
city to distract them, devote themselves to cultural pursuits.
The town
of Berdychiv used to have and still has a large Jewish community. In the
16th century the town’s advantageous geographical position at the
intersection of many trade routes attracted merchants and craftsmen, among
whom there were many Jews.
In fact, the Polish kings, who ruled over a
considerable part of the Ukrainian territory at that time, encouraged
trade in the area. By the 19th century the population of the town, with
the exception of the castle and monastery, was almost entirely
Jewish.
The outskirts were inhabited by Ukrainian peasants. It was a
very curious cultural situation, with Polish, Jewish and Ukrainian
traditions not only co-existing but also intermingling. Honore de Balzac,
one of the most prominent French writers of the 19th century, after his
visit to Berdychiv wrote in 1847: “The place is thoroughly Jewish, Jews
are everywhere.
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The underground chapel of the
Mariyinska Church containing the miracle-working icon of the Holy Mother
of God of Berdychiv.
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The underground chapel of the
Mariyinska Church. 1634.
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They seem to be out in the streets
most of the time, with apparently no one staying inside their tiny houses
which look more like boxes that could be easily carried from place to
place by a couple of sturdy men. The streets are so crowded that the
progress of my coach, pulled by six horses, was excruciatingly slow in
spite of constant shouting by my coachman to make way.”
In 1832, Balzac
became friendly with Eveline Hanska, a Polish countess who was married to
an elderly Ukrainian landowner. She, like many other women, had written to
Balzac expressing admiration of his writings. They met twice in
Switzerland in 1833, the second time in Geneva, where they became lovers;
then again in Vienna in 1835.
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Memorial plaque on the
Church of St Barbara, stating that
H. Balzac and E. Hanska
were
married in this church.
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They agreed to marry when her husband
died, and so Balzac continued to conduct his courtship of her by
correspondence. To clear his debts and put himself in a position to marry
Madame Hanska now became Balzac’s great incentive. He was at the peak of
his creative power. In January 1842 Balzac learned of the death of
Wenceslas Hanski. He now had good expectations of marrying Eveline, but
there were many obstacles, not the least being his inextricable
indebtedness. She in fact held back for many years, and the period of
1842-48 shows Balzac continuing and even intensifying his literary
activity in the frantic hope of winning her, though he had to contend with
increasing ill health. In the autumn of 1847 Balzac went to Madame
Hanska’s chateau and remained there until February 1848. He returned again
in October to stay, mortally sick, until the spring of 1850. Then at last
Eveline relented. They were married in March in Berdychiv, in the Church
of Saint Barbara. The newlyweds proceeded to Paris, where Balzac lingered
on miserably for the few months before his death.
The church is still
functioning, though in the Soviet times it was closed down and turned into
a gym where mostly basketball was played. The markings on the floor serve
as reminder of those unhappy times.
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Joseph Conrad, the famed British
novelist, whose original name was Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski was
born in Berdychiv in 1857. His father, Apollo Nalecz Korzeniowski, a poet
and an ardent Polish patriot, was one of the organizers of the committee
that went on in 1863 to direct the Polish insurrection against Russian
rule. He was arrested in late 1861 and was sent into exile at Vologda in
northern Russia. His wife and four-year-old son followed him there. In A
Personal Record Conrad relates that his first introduction to the English
language was at the age of eight, when his father was translating the
works of Shakespeare and Victor Hugo in order to support the household.
Much later, Conrad, after many adventures on land and on sea, came to
England to become a writer of complex skill and striking insight, but
above all of an intensely personal vision. He has been increasingly
regarded as one of the greatest English novelists.
After a period of
turbulent times and economic decline, Berdychiv rose to prominence again
in the 19th century. It became the venue of very big fairs that attracted
traders and buyers from many places. Banks were opened, mostly owned by
Jews. The main street of the town was called Golden and was lined with
offices of many companies.
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The Church of St Barbara,
built in 1826.
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The bustling economic activity
supported cultural life. The Rubinstein family of Berdychiv, for example,
produced two great musicians, Anton and Nicholas.
It was in Berdychiv
that Levi-Itskhak, an eminent zaddik (a leader of a Hassidic community)
lived and died. Hassidism found many followers in Berdychiv. Levi-Itskhak
preached that a simple life and working for the benefit of others was more
acceptable to God than constant, exhausting prayers. His grave at the
local cemetery has been attracting the Hassidim from all over the world.
They come to Berdychiv to pay homage to the much-revered zaddik.
Berdychiv, since 18th century, has often been referred to as Jerusalem
Volynnya.
By the turn of the century Berdychiv was again in decline and
many Jewish families moved to other towns, Odesa in particular. A local
joke had it that the fame of Odesa began with the decline of
Berdychiv.
A hundred years later, Berdychiv is not going through
prosperous times either. There are still several factories working here
but like the rest of the country the town has been badly hit by an
economic crisis.
Apart from the Hassidim, very few tourists come these days to
Berdychiv. One can only regret it, since this small town has an excitingly
rich history and consequently a lot to show. Hopefully, a day will come
when Berdychiv will once again be a much-visited place. |
"Welcome to Ukraine" Magazine, Issue Number Two, 1999
Kyiv, Ukraine, http://www.wumag.kiev.ua
Not for reproduction or distribution,
FOR PERSONAL and ACADEMIC USE ONLY
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