A Love-Hate Relationship with Kyiv's Marshrutkas

I love almost everything about Ukraine--but I'm not so sure how I feel about the Marshrutkas.

During my teaching trips to Ukraine I commuted to and from seven law schools in Kyiv, mostly by Metro, but occasionally by Marshrutka, or private bus. One of the schools, the National Aviation University, was some distance from the nearest Metro station, and so this required a long trip by Marschrutka. These were an adventure! Packed to the gunwhales with dour commuters, the traveler must pass the fare--two and a half hryven--from passenger to passenger up to the driver, who is the ultimate multitasker. He will be negotiating traffic, talking on two or three different cell phones, answering questions from passengers and all the while changing money arrayed in little cardboard boxes or envelopes on the console next to the driver's seat. It is absolutely insane. Also insane is the degree to which these buses will become packed with standing commuters--last week Tetiana and I rode a bus which had an advertised capacity of about 45 passengers--we counted something like 80! It is confusing to say the least, especially since the windows are usually caked with grime or fogged and iced over.

Yesterday I rode my last Marshrutka for this trip, and I didn't shed any tears of regret as I got off of that bus.

Final Lectures at Taras Shevchenko University and the National Aviation University

Today I lectured for the last time at the Taras Shevchenko University and the National Aviation University. The students at both institutions are bright and intelligent and promise to become superb advocates and attorneys.

At Taras Shevchenko I had lunch with my teaching assistant, Tetiana Rogozianska. She has a very bright future ahead of her. With her native intelligence, her great teaching ability, her ambition (not to mention her near-perfect English language skills) I expect to hear great things of her in the future.

Thus closes another chapter in my teaching adventures in Ukraine!

St Volodymyr's Cathedral

Today I was an hour or so early for my lecture at Taras Shevchenko University, and so wandered across the street to Патріарший кафедральний собор св. Володимира, or St. Volodymyr's Cathedral. This is the mother cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church--Kyiv Patriarchy (distinguished from the Russian Orthodox Church, as I have discussed elsewhere in this blog). I spent more than an hour inside, studying the neo-Byzantine architecture and the amazing interior mosaics, executed by a team of Venetian masters. This is the church that I visited briefly last week with my teaching assistant, Tetiana Rogozianska. After our lectures today, Tetiana and I returned for another visit, and she provided me with some amazing additional insights and I bought a little history of the cathedral in Ukrainian from the ikon shop, which I am trying to work out little by little.

The cathedral appears most ancient, but it actually was built in 1852 to commemorate the 900th anniversary of the baptism of the Kievan Rus by St. Volodymyr the Great. It is Volodymyr's statue overlooking the Dnipro at the site of the baptisms which has caught my special devotion and attention over the years. (Incidentally, I have recently been exploring my ancestry and find that I am a direct descendant of Volodymyr--but that is another story altogether). The cathedral is laid out as a traditional six piered Храм or temple, much like others I have seen at Pecherska Lavra and elsewhere in Kyiv.

Outside the appearance of the cathedral is most striking. The thing which has most caught my eye and captured my imagination over the years has been the amazing paint- and gold-work on the seven domes--a deep blue base filled with golden stars.

The interior of the cathedral is literally filled with colorful mosaics and gold accents which draw the eye up and up to the amazing light-filled cupolas more than 150 feet above the floor! The vast mosaics were created by a team of Venetian masters, and individual pieces by the artist Viktor Vasnetsov. I noted in the gold lettering high in the domes both Russian and Greek inscriptions. There are many, many panels depicting scriptural themes, including the Decalogue, the feeding of Elijah by the birds, the Creation (including a stunning portrait of the Father--not often seen in Orthodox Churches), and many scenes from the life of Christ and the Apostles from the New Testament.

During the Soviet era the cathedral survived essentially intact, with all of its interior artwork undamaged. The building served as a museum of religion and atheism. The cathedral was one of the only places in the entire U.S.S.R. where one could openly visit a working and largely intact Orthodox Church. In fact, some relics from other less fortunate churches were moved to St. Volodymyr's by the Soviets--thus the cathedral houses the relics of St. Barbara, a 3rd century martyr which were brought here from the desecrated Mykhailivsky Zlatoverkhy Cathedral (St. Michael's of the Golden Domes).

Tetiana told me that every Christmas and Easter a flame is brought from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem to relight the altars and in St. Volodymyr's, and from thence to relight all of the Ukrainian Orthodox churches throughout the country. She said that the transport of this flame is usually televised and publicized widely. So the individual candles of the surge of worshippers who come here--and in other churches--daily are lit and relit from the flame brought from Jerusalem. Since I will be in Jerusalem in a little more than three days, this detail appeals to me greatly.

Included here are several of Vasnetsov's most beautiful panels: a portrait of Russian Bishops, the arched representation of the Temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden, the baptism of the Kievans in the Dnipro in 987 A.D., and the baptism of Prince (and later Saint) Volodymyr by a convocation of Byzantine Orthodox Priests.

Teaching in Kyiv

Today I had my first class sessions at the law schools at Taras Shevchenko University and the National Aviation University.

It was my first time at Taras Shevchenko, which is one of the premier institutions of higher learning in the country. The campus is very close to the historic center of Kyiv, across the street from Taras Shevchenko Park and near the Universityet Metro station. The law school is located in the main "Red Building" facing the park. It is one of the finest schools I have ever scene, with beautiful classrooms, galleries and lecture halls facing the street or an inner cloister. My teaching assistant, Tetiana Rogozianska has told me much about the University, as it is where her parents met when they were both law students. We lectured in a grand lecture hall located on an arched hallway containing the portraits of University rectors and deans dating back to the 1830's. One of our students told us that this hall was reserved for "the big guys"--special guest lecturers who come to campus--I guess I have now made it as one of "the big guys."

After lecturing, Tetiana and I ate in the students' cantina, located in a grand oval chamber with a richly painted vaulted ceiling. The frescoes depict the muses of learning. The food was excellent and Tetiana and I had a nice chat over the meal.

Later, on our way to catch the Marshrutka to the National Aviation University, Tetiana took me into the amazing Volodymyrska Cathedral for a few minutes (that is the one with the striking gold stars on the blue domes).

I'll write about the Marshrutka journey in a later post--but it was (as two years ago) quite an experience.

The class at National Aviation University was small but attentive and sharp. One of the students, Irina, was with me two years ago in the same class (held, incidentally in the same lecture room).

Kharkiv's Plóshchad' Svobódy

I slept like Lenin in Lenin's tomb last night (there is a monumental statue of Lenin in Площадь Свободы--Ploshchad Svobody--hence the historical reference) and I am up early and ready to go! I was exhausted last night, but am slowly adapting to the jet lag.

I forgot to mention my new best friend--Mamadu--a six foot three African from Senegal who works as a doorman at my hotel, the Hotel Kharkiv. Mamadu is a student at Kharkiv University and has been a delight to visit with. He tells me that early in the morning there are many runners who circle the vast Ploshchad Svobody or Freedom Square. I'll give it a try in a couple of hours (with my orange running vest on, of course--the drivers are crazy--Tetiana told me yesterday that the previous Judge was almost run down by a car last week as they were trying to cross the cobblestoned square). Tetiana also told me that this is reportedly the largest square in Europe.

Not only is the hotel on this square, but also Kharkiv University. Some pictures taken on the square are attached (including this awesome aerial shot, which I obviously didn't take because it is a-from an airplane and b-during the summer). Also shown is my sweet writing desk in my room in the Hotel Kharkiv, a picture of me on the square and one of Tetiana, and finally me on the steps of one of the monumental Soviet-era University campus buildings facing the square, and my friend, the stray dog getting into the pic.

Teaching in Kharkiv

I taught two sessions today in Kharkiv with the able assistance of Tetiana Rogozianska. We were first at Kharkiv University, which has a grand old campus on the main Freedom Square, then later in the evening with students from the National Law Academy of Ukraine (named for Yaroslav the Wise). The students were extraordinarily bright and courageous, and both groups freely volunteered to try their hands at a little direct examination as part of a lecture on witness preparation.

Tetiana is a very fine teacher and has a winning rapport with the students and faculty. She is a great asset to the Leavitt Institute.

It is now early evening on Monday, and I have had only about three hours sleep in the past 36 hours, at the same time traveling probably 10,000 miles by plane and train. I am ready for a long sleep.

The Birches Seemed Dream-like

After about three hours of sleep I met Tetiana Rogozianska at 6:00 a.m. for a wild taxi ride to the main Cathedral-like Kyiv train station, and then a six hour train ride to the eastern city of Kharkiv. We found seats in one of the cars, which soon filled up with a variety of travelers--old and young. We spent the first hour or so of the journey talking about the teaching assignment. I then had much opportunity to watch the fascinating countryside slipping by outside the window. Only an hour out of Kyiv the landscape was amazingly open and sweeping, with snow covered fields surrounded by thick stands of trees. There were many small villages, most with very old brick railway stations, a few fence lined streets and old houses with freshly painted yellow, green or blue doors and woodwork. I saw an old couple pulling a small sled on a rope through the trees lining the railroad tracks, a couple of old horse carts and many uniformed militia guards at sleepy railroad crossings.

I gazed for hours at the endlessly fascinating landscape passing through the window, every coop, shed and dacha has fine paintwork and trim. Most beautiful were the trees, thick stands of maple and beech, their branches filled with migrating birds. It was a misty, cold and icy day, and truly "the birches seemed dream-like on account of that frosting."

Kharkiv--Initial Thoughts

Two days a week I will be lecturing at the Kharkiv National University in Kharkiv (Харківський національний університет) located in northeast Ukraine. Kharhiv is the second largest city in Ukraine with a population of about 1.5 million people. It has a metro system, has been a major center of industry and manufacturing dating back to the early Soviet era and was actually the first Soviet capitol of Ukraine. Below is an aerial picture of the Maidan Svobody, or Freedom Square, where I will be staying one night a week in the Kharkiv Hotel, directly across the street from the University.

Historically, Kharkiv was founded in the 17th century by a cossack named Kharko, and it was the site of four major battles during World War II. Occupied by the German army for much of the war, Kharkiv was the site of a mass genocide of some 30,000 Jewish residents, who were murdered and buried in a mass grave in a ravine outside of the city called the Dobytsky Yar.

In addition to Freedom Square, I hope to see the Dormition Cathedral, the Intercession Cathedral and the Annunciation Cathedral.

I will be traveling to and from Kharkiv by train from Kyiv each week during my visit, accompanied by my teaching assistant, Tetiana Rogozianska. More about her later.