Ukraine is restoring its historical relics

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko believes that restoring historical relics is extremely important for the Ukrainian people and their history. She said this during her visit to the restored icon exhibit at the Ostroh Academy.

She noted that BYuT deputies are constantly involved in the restoration of Ukraine’s most valuable relics. In August 2009 the 18th century kozak flag "Kozak with a Musket," which was restored thanks to the Intellectual Cooperation Fund "Ukraine-XXI Century" (the fund’s chairman is BYuT deputy Bohdan Hubsky), was presented at the National Museum of the History of Ukraine.

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko initiated the restoration of this flag in September 2008 during the presentation of Hetman Ivan Mazepa’s flag from the 17th century.

Mazepa’s flag was restored at the National Museum in Krakow by Polish, Ukrainian, Russian and Italians experts. This was the first time that Ukrainian experts were involved in such a project.

The kozak flag was made in the mid 18th century according to the requirements of the heman order dating from 8 March 1755.

Kyrylo Rozumovsky gave the order for all ten of the Hetman regimens to make squadron flags featuring the coat of arms – the "Kozak with a Musket." Flags for the Lubny regimen were made following the same instructions.

In 1875 the flag was given to the Church Archaeology Museum at the Kyiv Spiritual Academy by Panteleymon Danyletsky, a priest from the Lokhvytsia district of the Poltava Gubernia.

Before WWII the flag was kept in the Kyiv museum archives and was evacuated to Ufa in 1941. It was returned to Kyiv in 1947.

Today, the "Kozak with a Musket" flag is the only one of its kind in museums in Ukraine and across the world.