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.