Juan David Latorre
The Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Ukrainian Embassy organised last Thursday the presentation of the book, Descend, Angels of Heaven, Songs and Fables of Grygoriy Skovorodá, Wandering Ukrainian Thinker, on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Ukrainian intellectual and philosopher (1722-1794).
The Managing Director of the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Evelio Acevedo, welcomed the attendees, calling for “the freedom of the Ukrainian people and all those rights that have been attacked in a way that was absolutely unexpected at a time like the one we are living through in Europe in the 21st century”. He also recalled the difficulties they had at the time in inaugurating the exhibition currently on display at the Museum, The Eye of the Hurricane, because “the day the paintings left Kiev, 500 missiles fell on the city”.
“The work of Grygoriy Skovorodá, said the managing director, is compared in Ukraine to that of Calderón de la Barca in Spain or John Milton in England… Skovorodá was a thinker, intellectual, poet, mystic, creator of the concept of the education of the heart, which was his original maxim as a pedagogue, following the education of people in wisdom, piety, purity of spirit, integrity and faith. A man who linked happiness to a person’s talent and who considered work, already in the 18th century, not only as an obligation, but as a factor of personal growth and enjoyment, a way of affirming one’s freedom, which the Ukrainian philosopher considered the supreme gift and the main goal of life”.
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Sport and Culture, Eduardo Fernández Palomares, then took the floor, stating that “at such a difficult time as the one Ukraine is going through, what we can do is offer our spaces, such as this National Museum, and maintain our commitment to continue offering all these spaces to collaborate and be aware of the importance that Skovorodá had, or has, in Ukrainian culture.”
Dmytro Matiuschenko, Minister-Counsellor of the Ukrainian Embassy, noted in his speech that “the eyes of the world remain focused on Ukraine today, unfortunately because of the war. An unjust war, waged by Russia against my people. A war that has already taken the lives of thousands of civilians, including innocent children. The Russian armed aggression against Ukraine, he continued, causes not only enormous economic damage, but also irrecoverable damage to the historical and cultural heritage of Ukraine. To this day alone 320 buildings of high cultural value, including museums with works of art, 89 cathedrals and churches and other religious sites, have been destroyed by Russian shelling.”
The Ukrainian Minister Counsellor pointed out that “Ukrainian culture, poetry and painting are still little known in Spain. In this context I am particularly pleased to inaugurate this event dedicated to the book inspired by the legacy of Grygoriy Skovorodá Bajad, Angels of Heaven. This edition commemorates the 300th anniversary of his birth. The works of Grygoriy Skovorodá become very topical with his philosophy of happiness and the heart, born in the distant 1750s, and which have so much in common with the ideas of modern Europe. He was the first to bring Europe closer to Ukraine and Ukraine closer to Europe with his philosophical thinking. For three hundred years, the world perceived Skovorodá as a modern mystical poet, the founder of the Ukrainian “philosophy of the heart”, a thinker, a Christian philosopher, who sketched the humanistic contours of Ukrainian identity. Skovorodá became a key figure of Ukrainian baroque literature.”
“This edition is a kind of album,” finished Dmytro Matiuschenko, as its pages are illustrated with a series of masterpieces of Ukrainian painting of the 19th and early 20th century, which are exhibited in the National Art Museum of Ukraine. I am proud that this book is presented in the framework of the state project Ukrainian Bookshelf, launched by the Office of the President of Ukraine, under the patronage of the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska.
The presentation ended with performances by Anastasia Gólub, first soloist of the Odessa Opera, Tetiana Lobodá (playing the kobza, a kind of Ukrainian lute), and Olena Koreniak (violin and flute), who sang songs from Skovorodá’s texts, translated by the translator of the book presented on this occasion, Olena Kúrchenko.
