Neia Kukovalska handed over a facsimile edition of the Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk to the Ostroh Museum

The book collection of the Ostroh Museum was replenished with a facsimile edition of the Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk with a Ukrainian translation under the title “The Constitution of Cossack Ukraine of 1710”.

The museum received this gift from the hands of the general director of the National Conservation Area “St. Sophia of Kyiv” Nelia Kukovalska.

The edition of the Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk is the embodiment of a joint project of the National Conservation Area “St. Sophia of Kyiv”, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine and the State Enterprise “Center for the Protection of the Information Space of Ukraine”.

The concept of the publication is to present a unique document and historical source to a wider audience and make it available to the Ukrainian-speaking reader through translation.

The goal of the editorial team is to focus on the main provisions of the document. Among them: justification of Ukraine’s right to independence from moscow and regulation of relations in the state. This is the idea with which Pylyp Orlyk pursued the policy of Ukraine’s relations in the European space. The division of power declared in the document into judicial, legislative and executive branches is noted as progressive.

Reference: The Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk is a constitutional agreement between the hetman of the Zaporizhian Host, Pylyp Orlyk, and the General Cossack officers and the Cossacks, which defined the rights and duties of all members of Host. Signed on April 5, 1710 in Bender city during the election of Orlyk as hetman. On behalf of all the elders and the Cossacks, the Orlyk Constitution was signed by Kost Hordienko, the Kish Otaman of the Cossacks.

The document is considered one of the first constitutions in Europe and actually declared Ukraine an independent republic with the protectorate of the Swedish king instead of subjection to the tsar, which was a big step forward in the political thought of that time.