Legacy of Taras Shevchenko

A monument to Taras Shevchenko in Irpin, created by Oles Sidoruk and Boris Krylov.

There are many monuments to Shevchenko throughout Ukraine, most notably at his memorial in Kaniv and in the center of Kyiv, just across from the Kyiv University that bears his name. The Kyiv Metro station, Tarasa Shevchenka, is also dedicated to Shevchenko. Other notable monuments to the poet located throughout Ukraine are in Kharkiv (in front of Shevchenko Park), Lviv, Luhansk, and other localities.

A monument to Taras Shevchenko in Melitopol

After Ukraine gained its independence in the wake of the 1991 Soviet collapse, some Ukrainian cities replaced their statues of Lenin with statues of Shevchenko.[5] In some locations that lacked streets named after him, local authorities renamed the streets or squares to Shevchenko.

In 2001, the Ukrainian cultural organisation Prosvita raised the initiative of building a church near the Chernecha Mount in Kaniv, where Taras Shevchenko is buried.[6] The initiative got a rather supportive response in the society. Since then many charity events have been held all over the country to gather donations for the above purpose.

A marathon under the slogan "Let's Build a Church for the Kobzar" by the First National Radio Channel of Ukraine collected ₴39,000 (about US$7,500) in October 2003.[7]

Outside of Ukraine, monuments to Shevchenko have been put up in several locations of the former USSR associated with his legacy, both in the Soviet and the post-Soviet times. The modern monument in Saint Petersburg was erected on 22 December 2000, but the first monument (pictured) was built in the city in 1918 on the order of Lenin shortly after the October Revolution.

There is also a monument located next to the Shevchenko museum at the square that bears the poet's name in Orsk, Russia (the location of the military garrison where the poet served) where there are also a street, a library, and a Pedagogical Institute named for the poet.[8]

There are Shevchenko monuments and museums in the cities of Kazakhstan where he was later transferred by the military: Aqtau (the city was named Shevchenko between 1964 and 1992) and nearby Fort Shevchenko (renamed from Fort Alexandrovsky in 1939), and a street after him in Vilnius, where he also lived. T.G. Shevchenko University in Tiraspol, the capital of Transnistria, is the main university of that region. There is also a bilingual Taras Shevchenko high school in Sighetu Marmatiei, Romania.

A monument to Shevchenko on a street that bears his name can also be found in the city centre of Tashkent, Uzbekistan. A boulevard named after Shevchenko appeared in Minsk, Belarus in 1964, and a small monument to Shevchenko at the beginning of the boulevard in 1978. In 2002 another monument to Taras Shevchenko was inaugurated in Minsk (at the Stepanovski garden).

Outside of Ukraine and the former USSR, monuments to Shevchenko have been put up in many countries, usually under the initiative of local Ukrainian diasporas. There are several memorial societies and monuments to him throughout Canada and the United States. The most notable American monument is the large bronze and granite monument in Washington, D.C., near Dupont Circle designed by artist Leo Mol. The carving of the granite stonework was by Vincent Illuzzi of Barre, Vermont. There is also a monument in Soyuzivka in New York State, Tipperary Hill in Syracuse, New York.

A park in Elmira Heights, N.Y. has a memorial to Shevchenko and to the Ukrainian diaspora. A street is named after Shevchenko in New York City's East Village. A section of Connecticut Route 9 that goes through New Britain is also named after Shevchenko.

The most notable Canadian monument is the bronze and granite statue of Taras Shevchenko in Ottawa, created by Leo Mol, and unveiled on June 26, 2011.[9] (see Taras Shevchenko Monument Ottawa). The Leo Mol sculpture garden in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, contains many images of Taras Shevchenko.

A two-tonne bronze statue of Shevchenko, located in a memorial park outside of Oakville, Ontario was discovered stolen in December 2006. It was taken for scrap metal; the head was recovered in a damaged state, but the statue was not repairable. The head is on exhibit at the Taras Shevchenko Museum & Memorial Park Foundation in Toronto.

A Taras Shevchenko Museum & Memorial Park Foundation is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[10] A video tour of the museum was created in March 2010. Among other exhibits, the video tour includes footage of Shevchenko's death mask.

There is a Shevchenko Boulevard in the Lasalle borough of Montreal, Quebec. The town of Vita in Manitoba, Canada was originally named Shevchenko in his honor.