#Шевченківські_дні
Today it is especially important to remember Ukrainian artists. Because culture is our memory, our strength and our voice to the world.
One of the most powerful figures in Ukrainian culture is Taras Shevchenko — poet, painter and thinker, a man who through the written word was able to convey the pain, the dignity and the yearning for freedom of the Ukrainian people. His poetry does not age. It speaks of freedom, justice and love for one’s own land — themes that people understand in any country.
Today Taras Shevchenko is a symbol of Ukraine all over the world. Dozens of monuments to the Kobzar — “the bard”, as Ukrainians call him — have been erected in countries around the globe. In all, there are more than 1,167 monuments to Taras Shevchenko worldwide: 99 of them stand in 44 countries, and more than a thousand in Ukraine. It is one of the largest numbers of monuments ever raised to a cultural figure anywhere in the world.
Fittingly, there are monuments to Shevchenko in Italy too — in Florence and in Rome among other places. They are a reminder that Ukrainian culture is part of Europe’s cultural heritage, and that the voice of Ukrainian poetry is heard far beyond our country’s borders.
But monuments are only symbols. What matters most is that Shevchenko’s word lives on.
Read his poetry.
Learn it together with your children.
Share it with your friends.
If you live abroad, tell people from other countries about Shevchenko. Share translations, organise readings, introduce Italians to Ukrainian poetry.
Culture is a bridge that helps peoples understand one another.
Let the voice of Ukrainian artists be heard around the world.
Because as long as culture is alive, so is the nation.
The Department of Education of the National Congress of Ukrainian Associations in Italy (CNAUI) has also joined the Shevchenko Readings (#Шевченківських_читань).
