In April of this year it became known about a unique find: in the Ukrainian city of Chudnov, Zhytomyr region, a tombstone of Jan Borshevsky, one of the most prominent Belarusian writers of the 19th century, was found.
On June 21, representatives of the Maria Magdalene Radziwill Foundation visited Chudnov to establish cooperation in perpetuating the memory of our famous compatriot.
Ales Sapega, President of the Maria Magdalene Radziwill Foundation:
“One of the tasks in its activities, the Foundation puts the implementation of activities to preserve the cultural and historical heritage of Belarus. Therefore, we found it necessary to take steps to honor the memory of Jan Borschevsky, one of the founders of the new Belarusian literature. Back in April, the Fund sent appeals to the Belarusian embassy in Ukraine, to the Chudnovsky City Council and to the Church of the Acquisition of the Holy Cross with a request to preserve the interests of the Belarusian side during further actions related to the name of our famous compatriot.
Now the representatives of the foundation visited the city to hold talks with those responsible for the preservation of historical and cultural values and agree on cooperation in carrying out activities to perpetuate the memory of Yana Borschevsky”.
In Chudnov, representatives of the foundation met with the head of the city council administration, Galina Sergeyevna Verbelchuk and Svetlana Vladimirovna Zakharchenko, the head of the department of culture, youth and sports.
Svetlana Vladimirovna is impressed by the high interest of the Belarusians in their heritage. As a result of the appeals sent by the fund, employees of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus contacted her and discussed events related to finding the gravestone.
Svetlana Vladimirovna: “After finding a tombstone in April, the news about this was the most important for our area at that time. The event and the name of Jan Borschevsky attracted the attention of Belarusians, Poles, and Ukrainians. On this occasion, on May 14, a working group to perpetuate the memory of Belarus and the Polish writer, which includes representatives of the city council and the public. The tasks of the work of this group are the restoration of the tombstone, the creation of a memorial sign to Jan Borschevsky, the definition of its installation site and the celebration ennye event, timed to coincide with the opening of the memorial sign. Representatives of the working group is necessary to cooperate with Belarusian and Polish parties who are interested in this issue".
Svetlana Vladimirovna reacted positively to the activity on the part of the foundation and believes that this meeting with its representatives is timely.
Negotiations and agreements on further cooperation and cooperation in the preparation of proposals on the form of a memorial sign to Jan Borschevsky, raising funds for its creation, and in organizing ceremonial events during the official opening took place.
At the moment, the tombstone is being preserved in the Roman Catholic Church of the Acquisition of the Cross of the Lord, where it was handed over by representatives of the Union of Poles after accepting the tombstone from the owners, on which the tombstone was found.
Father Miron: "In the coming days, representatives of the Union of Poles will take the plate to Kiev to register it with the Ministry of Culture as a cultural and historical value, and then return it to the restoration. After restoration, it will be returned to Chudnov".
One of the places where the memorial sign of Jan Borschevsky is established and the tombstone is preserved is considered the territory of the church.
Jan Borschevsky - Belarusian writer, poet, publisher, one of the founders of the new Belarusian literature. Born in the village of Muragi, Polotsk district (Rossonsky district, Vitebsk region, Belarus). A lot of research has been done, but so far we haven’t managed to find out the exact year of birth of Jan Borschevsky (1790?, 1794? 1 796? 1797?).
Borshevsky wrote most of the works in Polish, but in them the writer turned to Belarusian folklore subjects and Belarusian images. The main work of the author is a collection of fantastic works from the life of the Belarusian hinterland "Shlyakhtich Zavalnya, or Belarus in Fantastic Stories" in 4 volumes (1844-1846). Also, Yan Borschevsky wrote poems in the Belarusian language.
By 1850, at the invitation of the Polish writer Heinrich Rzhevussky, he moved to Chudnov, Ukraine. The last years of his life he spent in the house of Countess Y. Rzheusskoy, where the artist Napoleon Orda also lived at that time.
Jan Borschevsky died from tuberculosis. The writer was buried in the Catholic cemetery, but since there were several of them in Chudnava, the exact place of his burial is not yet known.
The inscription in Polish found on the tombstone:
JAN
BARSZCZEWSKI
MILOSNIK
BOGA
NATURY I LUDZI
PISARZ
NATCHNIEN
UCZUCJA
ZYL CNOTLIWIE
LAT 70
UMARL
28 LUTEGO 1851 ROKU
