Fifty-five years ago, on June 10, 1964, a huge statue of Taras Shevchenko was unveiled in Moscow in honor of the 150th anniversary of the poet’s birth. The decision to honor the great Ukrainian poet with a monument was made after the United States and Canada had decided to honor the poet in similar fashion with monuments in Washington and Winnipeg. (The monument in Washington was unveiled on June 27, 1964, and in Winnipeg on July 9, 1961.)
The ceremony in Moscow was not advertised in the press, and the event was held in connection with a meeting of the top leadership of the Communist Party and foreign Red dignitaries including Walter Ulbricht, Communist boss of East Germany.
Nikita Khrushchev unveiled the statue, delivered remarks, and placed a wreath of flowers and planted an oak tree brought from Ukraine. Also taking part was a delegation representing the Ukrainian SSR.
The statue was described as a “huge five-meter bronze sculpture.” On the pedestal was an inscription in the Russian language: “To Taras Grygorievich Shevchenko” and on the right side, “Erected in 1964 in connection with the observance of the 150th anniversary of his birth.”
A granite wall, also brought from Ukraine, was inscribed in Russian verse from Shevchenko’s poem, “Testament”: “Then in the mighty family, of all men that are free, maybe sometimes, very softly you will speak of me!”
Many of the speakers assailed the “bourgeois Ukrainian nationalists” for alleged “falsifications” of Shevchenko, although the organizers themselves committed a huge fraud when a Ukrainian bandurist ensemble and a Ukrainian choir were forced to sing: “Mother Moscow and native Kyiv, the country is proud of you: Ukraine and Russia have become united forever.”
The ceremony also included the singing of Shevchenko’s “Testament,” “Dumy Moyi” and “The Dnipro Roars.”
Source: “Shevchenko monument unveiled in Moscow; Khrushchev and Red dignitaries attend ceremony,” The Ukrainian Weekly, June 20, 1964.