Museum exhibition

The beginning of the exhibition is dedicated to the history of the field, which is home to 30 ancient mounds and 4 settlements. At various times, important events took place here: an episode of the battle between the troops of Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania and the Horde Khan Temir-Kutlui (1399); the decisive battle between Hetman of Ukraine I. Vyhovskyi and Poltava Colonel M. Pushkar (1658); the Battle of Poltava in 1709; the grand operation ‘Frantic’ during World War II (1944). Poltava region was mostly considered an initial part of Ukraine, and played some part in Cossack activities in the 16th and 17th centuries, however, the main cultural and educational centre was the Kyiv Collegium, founded in 1615. Among its graduates were 16 hetmans of Ukraine, including I. Mazepa and P. Orlyk, as well as Cossack chroniclers S. Velychko and H. Hrabianka. Fundamental changes in Ukrainian political balance of power in the mid-17th century are associated with the name of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, who in 1648 launched the full-scale uprising against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which later grew into the Cossack Revolution. It resulted in something, which was never achieved before – creation of the Cossack State, and had some influence on international relations in Eastern Europe at that time. The exposition of the hall is represented by archaeological material collected during excavations on the battlefield, weapons of the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries, household items of the seventeenth century, objects of Ukrainian religious art, a copy of Guillaume Levasseur de Beauplan's map (1639), portraits of famous statesmen and cultural figures of Ukraine and neighbouring countries of that period.

During the second half of the 17th century, Ukraine went through a complex and dramatic path from an almost independent Cossack state in the time of Bohdan Khmelnytsky to subjugated part of the Moscow Tsardom at the time of I. Mazepa's ascension to power. During Bohdan Khmelnytsky's hetmanship, Ukrainian lands were going through a gradual process of formation of the main institutions of the Cossack state. The Cossack army organised by the hetman won several key clashes with Polish-Lithuanian forces near Zhovti Vody, Korsun, Pyliavtsi (1648). The territory of the Cossack state was reorganized using the regimental system. Hetman of the Zaporozhian Army B. Khmelnytsky became de-facto head of state with all the attributes of power, and many other rulers (of the Crimean Khanate, the Ottoman Empire, the Swedish Kingdom) recognized the Cossack State by signing political alliances with it. After Bohdan Khmelnytsky's death, the hetman's mace was handed over to I. Vyhovsky, who, like his predecessor, was elected by free vote. At the same time, opposition to the new Hetman arose in Ukraine, led by Poltava Colonel M. Pushkar and Sich Otaman Y. Barabash. This opposition was heavily funded and supported by the Moscow authorities. The decisive battle between I. Vyhovskyi's troops and the rebels took place on 1 June 1658 near Poltava and ended in victory for the Hetman's forces. This event marked the beginning of the civil confrontations in Ukraine. Since then, an important factor in Cossack politics has been the constant interference in the internal affairs of the Hetmanate by the governments of the Moscow Tsardom, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Ottoman Empire. Hetman I. Vyhovsky's attempt to compromise with the Polish king through the 1658 Treaty of Hadiach was brilliant in its terms (as it put Ukraine on the same level with Polish and Lithuania, as an equal member of the Commonwealth), but unpopular amongst people. Even the brilliant victory of Cossack forces near Konotop in 1659, which resulted in total annihilation of invading Moscow army did not help him to remain in power. The next period of Ukraine's history is characterised by the breakup of the Cossack state into Left-bank and Right-bank parts, the rule of Hetmans I. Bryukhovetskyi and D. Ihnatovych (Mnohohrishnyi), unpopular among the Cossacks, and the gradual encroachment of the tsarist authorities on Cossack freedoms. There was a rapid decline in the organisational structures of the Cossack state, which became an arena of armed confrontation between both internal and external forces. A period of partial stabilisation of the Left-bank Hetmanate occurred during the reign of I. Samoilovych. Mazepa's accession to power in Left-Bank Ukraine in 1687 marked the end of a period of civil strife inspired by Muscovy and the beginning of Ukraine's economic and cultural revival. At the same time, the treaty of Kolomak in 1687 and the following treaty of Moscow in 1689, signed by I. Mazepa, severely downgraded the political sovereignty of the Hetmanate and obliged it to actively participate in all wars, waged by the Moscow Tsardom. Cossak regiments played an important role in the development of the Cossack state: Pryluky, Pereyaslav, Myrhorod, Lubny, Hadiach, and Poltava regiments were ones active in our region. The latter was formed at the turn of 1648-1649. It became an active participant in the Cossack Revolution of the 17th century. As the southernmost military and administrative unit of the Hetmanate, the Poltava Regiment took an active part in struggles against the Turks and Crimean Tatars and suffered losses on several occasions, while remaining interested in maintaining mutually beneficial trade relations with the Crimean Khanate. The political preferences of the Cossacks of this regiment traditionally gravitated towards the principles of the Zaporozhzhian Sich, which contemporaries often compared with Christian republic or the knightly order. The legendary Cossack Otaman I. Sirko (1605/1610-1680) was considered to be the embodiment of the image of a Zaporozhzhian Cossack. He was repeatedly elected the head of the Cossack army in the Chortomlyk Sich (1652-1709). However, mostly fighting for the ‘Zaporozhian liberties’ and acting as an armed force of the Ukrainian people, the Sich also played sometimes a destructive role in the process of Cossack state-building. The Cossack era left behind not only the memory of military victories and the struggle for having own state, but also unique cultural heritage. Poltava region was one of the centres of Ukrainian cultural development. It is no wonder that household items used in our region are considered to be typically Ukrainian. The events of the Cossack times were described by the most prominent chronicler and our countryman, Samiilo Velychko. The exposition of the hall is represented by a gallery of portraits of the holders of the Hetman's mace and the most famous Cossack leaders of Ukraine in the 17th century, Cossack weapons, symbols of power, household items, archaeological finds, documents of the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as cartographic material.

In the second half of the seventeenth century, the Moscov Tsardom began to pursue a policy of active expansion in Eastern Europe. This period was an era of constant and prolonged wars for Moscow: with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for control over Ukraine; with Swedish Kingdom for subjugation of the Baltic States; with the Ottoman Empire for conquering southern Ukraine and the Black Sea coast. The Cossack troops of the Hetmanate were forced to take part in the military campaigns of the Moscow Tsardom. During the Azov campaigns of Peter the 1st, Hetman of Ukraine I. Mazepa also demonstrated his military talents, and in 1700 the tsar awarded him the Order of St. Andrew Pervozvanny, the highest award of the Moscow Tsardom by that time. Starting in the 16th century, the centre of gravity of world trade gradually shifted from the Mediterranean to the Baltic and North Seas. Since then, the main focus of the diplomatic and military actions of European countries in the 17th and early 18th centuries was the struggle for trade and political dominance in the Baltic region, which by that time was mostly controlled by Swedish Kingdom. Dissatisfaction with Swedish absolute dominance in the Baltic region led to the creation of the Northern Union in the late 17th century, consisting of Denmark, Saxony and Moscow Tsardom. This alliance later will start one of the biggest military clashes of that time, which will go down in history as the Great Northern War. The hall's exposition includes portraits of historical figures, cartographic material, weapons, military armor, a collection of numismatics, copies of documents, and a model of the stern of an early 18th-century warship.

After the Northern Union declared war on Sweden, eighteen-year old King Charles XII stood up to defend his country, led the army created by his father and began a victorious march in the war with the defeat of Denmark (August 1700) and Peter the 1st army near Narva (18 November 1700). In the spring of 1701, Charles XII and his army entered the Polish possessions of Augustus II of Saxony, which resulted in the entry of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth into the war (1704), dualism in Poland (Charles XII had proclaimed his associate Stanisław Leszczynski as king), and, after the Swedish occupation of Saxony in 1706, the surrender of Augustus II and his abdication of the Polish crown. After the brilliant conclusion of the Polish campaign, Charles XII reached the height of his power and in 1707 set out from Saxony to march on Moscow. However, on its way, the Swedish army encountered the territory of White Ruthenia ravaged by the Muscovites and was forced to temporarily suspend the Moscow campaign in the autumn of 1708. At the beginning of the war, the twenty-eight year-old Tsar Peter the 1st was actively forming a regular army and navy. While Charles XII was busy conquering Poland, Peter I focused his attention on the Baltic provinces of Sweden and, due to small amount Swedish forces there, completely seized Ingermanland by 1704, founding the northwestern outpost of his state, the future city of St. Petersburg, where the capital of the country was later moved, on 16 May 1703. Hetman Mazepa, who was sixty-one at the time, provided substantial assistance to Peter the First's army from the very beginning of the war. The Cossack regiments of the Hetmanate were involved in battles and auxiliary service. Ukraine not only took part in the war with its armed forces, but also suffered economic exploitation and provided human resources for the implementation of Peter the 1st's construction projects (the Ladoga Canal, St. Petersburg, and the Pechersk Fortress). All of this led to an increase in anti-Moscow sentiment in Ukrainian society and to the elites’ dissatisfaction with the Moscow tsar's policy towards Ukraine. At that time, Colonel D. Apostol of Myrhorod regiment addressed Mazepa on behalf of the high-ranking Cossacks with an appeal: ‘The eyes of all are on you, and we pray to God that he saves you from death, as without you we will remain in such captivity that even chickens will make fun of us.’ The decisive factor that influenced Mazepa's decision to oppose Peter the 1st was the coming of Charles XII's army to Ukraine in the autumn of 1708. This was a consequence of the implementation of the so-called Zhovkva plan of ‘scorched earth’, which the Muscovites used against the Swedish forces on their way to Moscow. Another reason for Hetman Mazepa's defection to the side of the Swedish King Charles XII was centralist policy of Moscow Tsardom: constant decrease of Cossack rights and freedoms, restrictions put on the Hetmsn’s administration, tax and economic pressure on the Hetmanate, and the intention to eliminate the regimental system in Ukraine and reorganise the Cossack army into a regular army. Charles XII, having entered Ukraine, hoped to receive, first of all, winter quarters and food, planning to resume the campaign against Moscow in the spring of 1709. The exposition of the hall includes portraits of Charles XII, Peter I, August II, and S. Leshchynskyi. Particular attention is paid to the participation of the Ukrainian Cossacks and one of their leaders, D. Apostol, in the war, and pictures of Cossack uniforms are presented. Materials about Peter the 1st's annexation of the Baltic coast and the participation of Ukrainians in this process are presented, as well as weapons, maps and schemes of troop movements during the first period of the war. The medals and medallions commissioned by Peter the 1st and presented in the exhibition are examples of the Moscow tsar's powerful information warfare to promote his victories.

In early October 1708, the Swedish army of Charles XII entered Ukraine. It was also joined by Hetman Mazepa's troops. On 29-30 October 1708, a Ukrainian-Swedish treaty was signed in Hirky near Novhorod-Siverskyi. This caused immediate retaliation by Peter the 1st. On 2 November 1708, Moscow forces destroyed the Hetman's residence in Baturyn, where, according to contemporary Ukrainian historians, almost 7,500 defenders of the fortress and the same number of civilians were killed. At the same time, Peter I addressed the Ukrainian people with a manifesto in which he accused Mazepa of intending to ‘sell’ Ukraine to Poland, replace the orthodox church with the Greek-catholic one. Peter declared himself the sole defender of the Orthodox faith and the ‘rights and freedoms of the Hetmanate’. By order of Peter I, the Moscow Church proclaimed anathema on I. Mazepa, and I. Skoropadskyi was appointed as the new Hetman. Both Hetman I. Mazepa and Charles XII addressed Ukrainians with manifestos,but intimidated by the events in Baturyn, Hlukhiv, and Lebedyn, was suspicious towards these appeals. The so-called ‘war of manifestos’ was lost by the Mazepa and Charles. The Cossack armed forces were divided into two groups. According to contemporary Ukrainian historian O.Sokyrko, I. Mazepa was supported by three to four thousand of Cossacks, alongside with 7-8 thousands of K. Hordiienko’s Zaporozhzhians. I. Skoropadskyi had up to eight thousand Cossacks. A wave of arrests of active supporters of the Hetman swept across Ukraine, they were taken to Hlukhiv and Lebedyn, where they were executed en masse after brutal tortures to make an example for Ukrainian population. The Swedish army in Ukraine, supported by Hetman Mazepa and his subordinates, met with a tolerant attitude of the population, which supplied Charles XII's army with provisions. At the same time, Swedish troops were constantly attacked by irregular Moscow units. Most Ukrainian cities preferred to remain neutral, letting the troops that came first into their fortresses and cities. This was the decision made by Colonel I. Levenets of Poltava, who tried to retain good relations with both sides. In the absence of the main part of the Poltava regiment, Moscow troops entered Poltava unhindered on 3 December 1708, making the city one of Peter the 1st's main outposts in Left-Bank Ukraine. The Poltava fortress housed more than four thousand Moscow garrison, led by Colonel O. Kelin. Most of the Poltava Cossacks, including regimental and hundredth officers, supported Mazepa's anti-Moscow protest. I. Levenets failed in his schemes and alongside with his family was exiled to Kharkiv as unreliable. In January-February 1709, Charles XII tried to resume his march on Moscow through Sloboda Ukraine. However, the scorched earth tactics used by Peter I, when the population was expelled under penalty of death and cities and towns were burned, and the early thaw forced the Swedish monarch to cease the offensive and fall back. In March 1709, the Cossacks of the Zaporozhzhian Sich, led by K. Hordiienko, joined the alliance of Charles XII and I. Mazepa. The way for the Cossacks to join the Swedish-Ukrainian forces was provided by the southern hundreds of the Poltava Regiment. On 27 March 1709, a new Ukrainian-Swedish treaty was signed in Velyki Budyshchi, the essence of which was to unite the Right and Left Bank parts of Ukraine and transfer it to the Swedish protectorate, without the right of its monarch to claim the title of hetman. Peter I's reaction to Mazepa's accession to the Sich Cossacks, whom he hoped to use on his side, was the destruction of the Chortomlyk Sich by the troops of G. Yakovlev and G. Galagan on 14 May 1709. In the second half of April 1709, the allied forces began to concentrate near Poltava. The blockade of the city lasted from 1 May until 27 June. Charles XII was expecting help from his allies (S. Leszczynski from Poland and Devlet Geray from the Crimea). The blockade of the fortress was uneventful, with almost no activity. This was used by the Moscow command, which strengthened the garrison of Poltava by bringing Brigadier F. Golovin's unit (1200 soldiers) into the city on 15 May 1709. At the end of May 1709, all possible armed forces of Peter the 1st were concentrated near Poltava, and he arrived there on 4 June himself. Since then, the Moscow tsar, who had offered Charles XII a peace agreement on 2 May, began to prepare for a possible battle. The hall's exposition recreates the Poltava fortress of the early 18th century, featuring weapons, uniforms, and illustrative cartographic material about the Great Northern War in Ukraine and Poltava region.

As of 26 June 1709, the deployment of troops around Poltava was as follows. The united Swedish-Ukrainian army was stationed in a camp south of the Yakivchanskyi forest, near the Holy Cross Monastery, in the siege trenches under the fortress, in a camp between Pushkarivka and Rybtsi, and had a convoy near Pushkarivka. The Moscow army was stationed in a fortified camp near Yakivtsi, in redoubts, between the fortified camp and the Malobudyshchanskyi forest, behind the Takhtaulivska ravine (Velykyi Yar). Axel Julenkruk's map ‘Plan of the Siege and Battle of Poltava’ shows the Swedish cavalry camp. The maps of the Swedish General Staff, compiled by Carl Benedik (1918), also show the presence of the Zaporozhzhian Cossacks and Cossacks of Ivan Mazepa in this area. Archaeological objects from the 17th and 18th centuries (bullets, buttons, a fragment of a cauldron, nails, horseshoes, and musical instrument fragments) found in the area confirm the historical cartographic sources. The hall exhibits portraits of King Charles XII and Hetman Ivan Mazepa, representatives of the military and political elite of Sweden, the commander of the Moscow army, Boris Sheremetev, and Hetman Ivan Skoropadsky, who was appointed by the tsar. The showcases feature original cold steel and firearms from the early 18th century.

On 11 June 1709, at a military meeting in the village of Krutyi Bereh, the Moscow command decided to provide assistance to the garrison blockaded in the fortress of Poltava. It was decided to launch a combined attack on the allied forces near Poltava. On the night of 13-14 June, Moscow units struck at the enemy, but failed to cross the Vorskla River. Clashes between the armies continued constantly. On the night of 20 June, Peter the 1st's army crossed the Vorskla and encamped near the village of Semenivka (modern Semianivka). On 25 June, the Muscovites approached Poltava near the village of Yakivtsi, set up a new camp between the Yakivchansky and Malobudyshchansky forests to protect infantry and deploy artillery, and surrounded it with ditches and ramparts. The general line of these fortifications was not continuous, but was broken at certain intervals. The 16 exits made it possible to quickly leave the camp. The camp was supposed to be fortified on three sides (however, due to lack of time, Muscovites managed to raise only eastern fortified line), and from the rear, the plain was bounded by the steep bank of the Vorskla River, which flowed 60 metres below. To protect the cavalry, a system of redoubts was built on a 1,500-metre-wide gap, tied to the terrain. Second redoubt line was supposed to block exits from ravines and roads leading from the Poltava fortress to Semenivka and Petrivka, but Muscovites didn’t manage to complete them all in time as well. A redoubt is a closed earthen fortification in which an infantry battalion with artillery was able to hold position. These fortifications were supposed to limit the enemy's freedom of action and narrow the space for manoeuvre. The Moscow army consisted of 33,000 infantry, 21,000 cavalry (54,000 regular troops in total), and 23,000 irregular units (Kalmyks, Don and Ural Cossacks, and 8,000 Ukrainian Cossacks of Ivan Skoropadsky). According to the estimates of contemporary Russian historian P. Krotov, the artillery consisted of 302 cannons, mortars and howitzers. The Swedish army selected for the battle by Charles XII consisted of about 17,000 soldiers (8,170 infantry, 7,800 cavalry, 1,000 Wallachians) and 5,000 irregular units (Zaporozhzhians and Cossacks of Hetman Ivan Mazepa). The final battle, which took place on 27 June 1709 was divided into 2 stages: The first was the battle near the redoubts, which began at about 4 a.m. and was characterised by the Swedish infantry storming the redoubts and a clash between the opposing cavalry units; The second consisted of line-on-line confrontation, where weathered and numerically lacking Swedish line wasn’t able to overpower fully-deployed Moscow forces. The 2nd - from 9 a.m., a battle on the plain between the Malobudyshchansky and Yakivchansky forests in front of the Moscow camp. Swedish sources record an unsuccessful attempt by a part of I. Skoropadskyi's Cossacks to unite with the allied Swedish-Ukrainian army. By 11 o'clock, the battle ended with the Swedes and their Cossack allies completely driven off the field. In the afternoon, the Moscow army celebrated its victory on the battlefield, while the Swedish-Ukrainian units, having retreated to Pushkarivka, began an organised retreat along the Vorskla River towards the Dnipro. On the evening of 27 June, after the celebration, Peter I ordered the pursuit of the enemy, who had already abandoned their positions near Poltava. Modern Ukrainian, Swedish, and Russian historians estimate that the bloody battle resulted in the following casualties: Moscow side: 1650 killed; 3290 wounded Swedish side: 6900 - killed; 2800 - wounded There is no accurate information about the losses of Ukrainian Cossacks on the battlefield. The hall exhibits drawings of soldiers' uniforms and a diorama by the M. Grekov studio. Peter the 1st's view of the Battle of Poltava is represented by a masterpiece by Denis Marten the Younger, created in the first quarter of the eighteenth century and commissioned by the Tsar himself. Engravings by N. Larmessen and S. Simoneau (first quarter of the 18th century) are among the famous works of the battle genre. The hall also houses weapons, uniforms, and equipment of soldiers of the early eighteenth century. The information and exhibition project "Mazepa. Charles XII. Peter I. Top 10 myths of russian propaganda"(created jointly with the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, Kyiv) busts the most common myths about the Great Northern War in Ukraine and the Battle of Poltava. The information and exhibition project "Battle of Poltava: The True History" shows the inconsistency of historical truth with the plots of artworks created according to the narratives of Soviet historians.

The surrender of Charles XII's army near Perevolochna was the end of the Ukrainian campaign for the Swedish side. The army reached the Dnipro River on 29 June 1709 and found the fortress completely destroyed and with no means of crossing. Thanks to the efforts of Zaporizhzhian Cossacks, Charles XII, I. Mazepa, their entourage, and part of the allied army have managed to cross the river. After Moscow troops led by A. Menshikov (over 19,000) approached Perevolochna, part of the Swedish army (over 14,000) surrendered by order of General A. Levenhaupt. Muscovites hunted Mazepa’s cossacks all over the area and executed them on capture. After retreating through the barren steppe, accompanied by Cossack guides, military units led by Charles XII and I. Mazepa, with the permission of the Turkish government, settled near Bendery (Moldova). Hetman of Ukraine I. Mazepa died on 22 September 1709. His successor, P. Orlyk was appointed as Hetman in exile. He not only renewed the agreements with the Crimea and Sweden, but also signed the Treaty between the Hetman and the Zaporozhian Army on 5 April 1710. This document was the result of a long development of state and legal thought in Cossack society and went down in history under the title ‘Treaties and Regulations of the Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporozhian Host’. P. Orlyk and his associates (including many Poltava residents) devoted their entire life to the struggle for Cossack independence. After the Battle of Poltava, I. Skoropadskyi was finally confirmed as hetman in the territory subordinate to Moscow. Instead of a traditional agreement with the Moscow government, the new leader received the so-called `Reshetylivka Articles`, which left the Hetmanate with only nominal autonomous rights. In the Poltava regiment, after the June 1709 events, the entire vertical of regimental and hundredth officers was completely changed, due to having actively or sympathetically reacting to Mazepa's ideas. After the Battle of Poltava, the Great Northern War lasted for another twelve years. One of the little-known pages of the second period of the war was the so-called ‘Pruth campaign’ of Peter the 1st in 1711. It was the result of the Ottoman Empire's entry into the war against Moscow. The High Porte was concerned about the strengthening of Peter the 1st's position after Poltava victory. The war with Turkey and its allies ended in a complete disaster for Moscow army and the signing of a humiliating peace, according to which the tsar was forced to give the Turks Azov, Taganrog, Kamyanyi Zaton, don’t interfere with Polish affairs and recognise P. Orlyk as hetman of Right-Bank Ukraine. Although the main requirements of the Prut Peace regarding Ukraine were never fulfilled, Moscow position in the region was significantly weakened. At the same time, Turkish diplomacy ignored the interests of its ally Charles XII, which led Peter the 1stt to switch his attention to the conquest of the Baltic states. The second period of the war was characterised by the return of Augustus II to Poland; the renewal of his alliance with Peter the 1st; Denmark, Prussia, and Hanover's entry into the war with Sweden; the ousting of the Swedes from their possessions outside the Scandinavian Peninsula; naval warfare; and Moscow landings on the Swedish coast. During 1716-1718, the Swedes made two campaigns to Norway. On 30 November 1718, Charles XII was assassinated near the walls of the Norwegian fortress of Fredriksten. Due to significant military losses, Sweden was forced to sign a peace treaty in Nystadt (now – Uusikaupunki, Finland) on 30 August 1721 in Nystadt. Under the terms of the treaty, Moscow Tsardom not only gained access to the Baltic Sea, but also control over a large part of the region. It turned into a great empire that later tried to completely assimilate Ukraine, Poland, Crimea, and Finland. The hall's exposition presents cartographic and illustrative material about the second period of the war and its consequences for Ukraine and other countries. The section ‘The Prut Campaign of 1711’ is presented with unique documents from Swedish archives. Peter the 1st's medals for the victory in the Battle of Poltava and medallions in honour of victories in military competitions at sea are examples of a powerful information campaign conducted by the Moscow tsar to glorify his actions and convey information to the most remote lands. The documents of that era introduce the political and legal acts after the Poltava period in the history of Ukraine. A fragment of the deck of an early 18th-century warship is recreated and weapons of the time are presented.

For Sweden, Ukraine and Russia, the Battle of Poltava had diametrically opposite consequences, and thus each nation developed a different views and interpretations of the event. Immediately after the battle, the Moscow authorities, represented by Tsar Peter the 1st, began to create their own vision of the event and its historical significance. In letters sent from the battlefield on June 27, 1709, to his inner circle, primarily to his heir, Alexei, Peter I called the victory “impossible,” and “absolutely unexpected” In other words, Peter I perceived this victory as a result he would never hope for. But later it became necessary for Peter to further detalize reasons of the victory of the Moscow army, both for himself and, more important, for Europeans. The Moscow tsar set in motion a powerful propaganda machine. Letters, documents, altered battleplans, engravings, paintings, medals and medallions, historical works began to be produced en masse. All this was to convince contemporaries and descendants in the greatness and importance of the event. For more than three hundred years, the Battle of Poltava has been subject to various assessments and interpretations that formed the basis of the myth about it. Peter the 1st ordered a series of medals and medallions related to the victory at Poltava from famous foreign masters Franz Muller, Solomon Guen, and others to provide propaganda for his military victories. Engravings also became one of the means of conveying information, as it made possible to obtain a large number of prints of the same image. The best available foreign engravers, Peter Picart and Andrian Schonebeck, as well as local artists, brothers Ivan and Oleksii Zubov, were commissioned to create thematic subjects. The images of the medals and engravings were allegorical in nature: Peter the 1st compared himself to the greatest generals of the ancient world, Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. The Battle of Poltava on June 27, 1709, commenced in totally unpredictable scenario, but the Moscow tsar consistently convinced Europe that the victory was achieved thanks to his military genius. He personally altered the original battleplans and the `Book of Mars (1713)` (Books of Mars were texts about military actions in Moscow stardom back then). It claimed that the victory was won with “almost no losses and in small numbers,” and gave false information about the size of the enemy forces. This information formed the basis of all subsequent historical `research` on the Battle of Poltava. Peter the 1st claimed the victory over the Swedish army as the grace of God. Theophan Prokopovych, prefect of the Kyiv Collegium and ideologist of the Moscow tsar, in his “Word of Praise” delivered on July 24, 1709, in St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv in the presence of the tsar, compared Peter I to the biblical hero Sampson, who tore open the lion's mouth in a fight with him. The allegory proved to be successful, as the Battle of Poltava took place on St. Sampson's Day according to the church calendar, and the traditional symbol of Sweden was the lion. Feofan Prokopovych called Peter the 1st “the father of our homeland,” who `saved his native land from mortal danger`, ignoring the fact that the tsar actually was the one who started the war. While the “heroic Poltava myth” at first served to shape the ideology of the Russian Empire, when the Bolsheviks came to power, the topic of the Battle of Poltava lost its relevance. Tsarist monuments were demolished throughout the country. In the 1930s, the victory of 1709 became relevant again due to active implementation of the thesis about `common heroic past of the Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian people`. The Soviet myth of the events of the Great Northern War in Ukraine included the concepts of “people's war” and “partisan war against the Swedish invaders,” which were combined with the “class struggle of the people against Mazepa’s exploitations.” Emphasis was placed on the Ukrainian people's loyalty to the union with the Russian people and Russia. On September 23, 1950, the Museum of the History of the Battle of Poltava was opened in Poltava. In Soviet times, the museum was assigned the role of an active propagandist for communist ideology. In 2009, the 300-year anniversary was approaching. Ukrainians mostly focused on honoring the memory of all those who died on the battlefield. The position of the official Russian delegation was manifested in ignoring the laying of flowers at the monuments to the fallen Ukrainian Cossacks and Swedes by their compatriots. For Sweden, the defeat at Poltava by Peter the 1st's troops meant the end of the Swedish military state, but it marked the beginning of the ‘era of liberties’ - eventually leading to the creation of a welfare state, the so-called ‘Swedish model’ - which has become the subject of research and, to some extent, imitation around the world. Sweden was the first country in the world to adopt the Press Freedom Act in 1766. The stability of Swedish life has contributed to the preservation of unique documents on the country's history. Moreover, the Swedish archives contain a large number of historical sources related to Ukraine's past, including the data, gathered by «Cosacica» foundation. Swedish military historians were first to explore the territory of the Poltava battlefield. In 1897, Swedish Army Major Klaus Grill visited the site and initiated the erection of a monument to his fallen compatriots in Poltava. In 1911, the historical sites were visited by lieutenants of the Swedish General Staff Carl Benedik and Frei Rüdeberg. The result of this expedition was the creation of maps of the Swedish General Staff (95 pieces) published by Karl Benedik in 1918 and the four-volume edition “Charles XII on the Battlefield”. This work was continued by the International Archaeological Expedition, which worked for two field seasons (2007-2008). It was headed by a well-known military archaeologist, Dr. Bo Knarström from the Swedish National Monument Preservation Service. Since 1998, our reserve has been cooperating with the Swedish Military History Society (SMB), headed by Per-Anders Lundström, with retired Brigadier General Einar Liet as honorary chairman. The current King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustav, is an honorary member of the society. Over the 25 years of cooperation, the museum's exposition has been significantly replenished with items that significantly expand it’s Swedish part. According to the leading Ukrainian historian Oleksandr Ogloblyn, “...the subsequent history of Ukraine has clearly shown that this huge defeat of the Cossack state and the Ukrainian statehood idea, which occurred in 1708-1709, was at the same time the beginning of the further development of Ukrainians” Ukrainian national life did not die with the fall of the Hetmanate, but continued to exist in various patriotic environments. Among the most prominent works of Ukrainian progressive thinkers of the second half of the 18th and early 19th centuries are: Semen Divovich's ‘Conversation between Great Russia and Little Russia (1762)’ and Vasyl Kapnist's ‘Ode to Slavery (1782)’ as a protest against the abolition of Ukraine's state autonomy by the Russian government. “Both Mykola Gogol and Taras Shevchenko also had their part in development of Ukrainian culture. In their works, both reflected on the role of Hetman Ivan Mazepa in the history of Ukraine. The Taras Shevchenko Scientific Society played an important role in the development of national historical science. In 1908-1909, the notes of the Scientific Society published in-depth studies by Mykhajlo Hrushevsky, Stepan Tomasziwski, Alfred Jensen, and other members of the Scientific Society on the history of Ukraine in the 17th and 18th centuries. In contrast to the Russian Empire's pompous celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Poltava, nationally conscious scholars, artists, the public, and youth organizations celebrated the anniversary of Hetman Ivan Mazepa's military and political actions and his alliance with King Charles XII of Sweden. In 1909, they published protests against the celebration in the Rada and Dilo newspapers. Special envelopes, postcards, and postage stamps dedicated to Hetman Ivan Mazepa and his era were published. The imperial approach to assessing the history of the Hetmanate was also preserved by Soviet ideology. Under totalitarian conditions, some members of the national elite were forced to leave Ukraine and work abroad. Starting in the 1920s, they spread through research centers, the most famous of which are the Ukrainian Free University, the Ukrainian Scientific Institute, the Ukrainian Free Academy of Sciences, and the Ukrainian Research Institute of Harvard University. Leading historians of the diaspora have collected a lot of factual material about Hetman Ivan Mazepa: they have established the date of his birth and burial place, and studied the issue of an authentic portrait of the famous figure. The researchers highlighted the multifaceted activities of the hetman, in particular as a patron of education and culture, and the core principles of domestic and foreign policy pursued by the leader of the Hetmanate. The reasons for the break with Moscow and the conclusion of the Ukrainian-Swedish alliance were proven according the source base. Ivan Mazepa's name is represented on the world map, and monuments and memorials in his honor exist both in Ukraine and abroad. Almost every Ukrainian city has a street named after Ivan Mazepa. Since restoration its independence, the Ukrainian state has honored and immortalized pages of its history. By a decree of the President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko of March 25, 2009, the Ivan Mazepa Cross, a state award of Ukraine, was established. The Hetman's image appears on the ten-hryvnia banknote, and the National Bank of Ukraine has issued silver commemorative coins dedicated to the Mazepa era and the Ukrainian-Swedish military and political alliances. Ukrposhta has prepared a series of themed postage stamps and envelopes. On May 6, 2020, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy decrees that the 54th Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is named after Hetman Ivan Mazepa. In independent Ukraine, contemporary historians continue the work of their predecessors. They have prepared many interesting, informative, scientific, popular science publications. Among them is the two-volume publication `Hetman`, dedicated to Ivan Mazepa and his era, which was written by well-known researchers Olha Kovalevska, Oleksii Kresin, Serhii Pavlenko, Oleksii Sokyrko, Viacheslav Stanislavskyi, and Volodymyr Panchenko. The hall's exposition uses paintings, archival documents, rare prints, and photographs to show the process of emergence and formation of radically opposing views on the Battle of Poltava. The painting “Apotheosis of Ivan Mazepa” by contemporary Poltava artist Ihor Hrechanovskyi is an attempt to show the multifaceted activities of the Ukrainian statesman, who for many became a symbol of defiance and a fighter for the independence of his homeland. The information project “Mazepa’s subordinates – true fighters for Cossack independence” was created with the financial support of the Embassy of Sweden in Ukraine.