UKRAINIAN PARNASSUS: The Galagan Palace That Became a Center of Culture and Education
The Galagan Estate, western part of the village of Sokyryntsi, 19th century / wikipedia.org
What does a typical secondary vocational education institution look like? There is one in Ukraine whose students are incredibly fortunate — their classrooms are housed in a real palace. The Galagan family, to whom the estate once belonged, contributed significantly to the development of education and culture. Now, their former residence serves as an educational institution. While this is not its original purpose, at least the building has been preserved — losing such beauty would have been a crime.
WHOSE LAND?
Sokyryntsi is an ordinary village in the Pryluky district of the Chernihiv region. But not so ordinary after all! It is located at the headwaters of the Utka River, a left tributary of the Udai. The village has preserved its name since the times of Kyivan Rus, originating from its first settler, Ivan Sokyra (or Sokyrka), who founded a homestead by the Utka River in 1092. This is where the palace and park associated with the Galagan family — one of the most prominent families in Ukrainian history — are located.
This estate is an example of palace-manor architecture from Left-Bank Ukraine in the late 18th — early 19th century. In the distant year 1717, Hetman Ivan Skoropadsky granted the village to Hnat Galagan, a colonel of Pryluky, who came from an ancient Cossack noble family. The palace itself was built by his descendant, Pavlo Galagan, based on a design by architect Pavlo Dubrovsky.
It is a truly grand, two-story brick building with 60 rooms, designed in the Empire style. The palace features a wide green dome and a central façade adorned with an eight-column portico. At the rear, there is a large six-column portico, and from the second-floor level, a broad ramp decorated with yellow and orange bricks descends to the ground. This ramp is flanked by statues of ancient goddesses. The construction took place between 1824 and 1831 on the outskirts of the village of Sokyryntsi.
THE GREATEST OWNER OF THE ESTATE
The most renowned owner of the palace was Hryhorii Pavlovych Galagan (1819–1888) — a public figure, philanthropist, and Ukrainophile. Despite being a landowner with serfs, he actively advocated for the abolition of serfdom. Moreover, he made great efforts to improve the living conditions of peasants by establishing schools and hospitals for the underprivileged. Hryhorii Galagan even donated his palace in the town of Dihtyari to be used as a vocational school.
In 1871, he founded a private men’s gymnasium in Kyiv — the Pavlo Galagan Collegium, named after his late 16-year-old son Pavlo. This institution became one of the finest private educational establishments in Kyiv at the time. Known for his generosity, Hryhorii Pavlovych ensured that some students at the collegium could study and live there free of charge.
The collegium was located at the corner of Fundukleivska Street (now Bohdan Khmelnytsky Street) and Tereshchenkivska Street in a building that is now a 19th-century architectural monument. The architectural ensemble of the collegium consisted of five buildings. Additionally, Galagan donated a sizable library to the institution, part of which was later transferred after the revolution to the State Public Library of the Ukrainian SSR — now the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine.
In 1872, Hryhorii Galagan founded the Sokyryntsi Savings and Loan Society, named after Pavlo Galagan — the first of its kind in Ukraine. It functioned as a type of people’s cooperative bank, allowing ordinary peasants to access financial services.
After the untimely death of 16-year-old Pavlo, the Galagan male lineage came to an end. As a result, all the family’s estates passed to descendants through the female line, namely to the Lamsdorffs (from 1894, the Lamsdorff-Galagans), when Kateryna Komarovska (the daughter of Hryhorii Pavlovych Galagan’s sister) married General-Lieutenant Kostiantyn Lamsdorff.
A PARK OF UNPARALLELED BEAUTY
Around the palace, an immense 40-hectare park was laid out, featuring a church, a chapel, a gazebo, two bridges, and sculptures. The park was designed in the English landscape style. Its landscaping project was overseen by Bisterfeld, a gardener invited from Austria, whom Pavlo Galagan (Hryhorii’s father) lured away from his relative, Count Myloradovych of the Lokhvytsia district.
At the Miloradovych estate in the village of Voronky, Bisterfeld cultivated a garden of such breathtaking beauty that Pavlo Galagan was captivated and insisted on creating something similar in Sokyryntsi. After Bisterfeld’s death in 1826, the work of developing the park was continued by gardeners Redel (1826–1831) and K. Christiani (from 1834 onward).
In general, as long as the estate had dedicated owners, the park’s construction never ceased. The final gardeners included the Czech Janicek, the German Pfeiffer, and a talented local gardener, Yukhym Hapon. The landscaping work never paused for a moment.
The preserved park vegetation in Sokyryntsi includes more than 40 species of trees and shrubs. The landscape composition is complemented by a pond. There is also a meadow with steep slopes known as the «Holy Valley» and the Shevchenko Maple — the oldest tree in the park complex.
The park once featured gazebos, bridges, a church, and a chapel. Today, only a gazebo and the «Gothic» bridge remain. The gazebo is perched on a high hill overlooking the pond, with a direct path leading to it from the palace ramp. The bridge, however, is carefully hidden within the park. Designed in a pseudo-Gothic style by the same Pavlo Dubrovsky who created the palace, the bridge spans one of the park’s ravines. It consists of three arches supported by massive pillars.
A CENTER OF CULTURE
The highlight of the palace was its unique art collection, initiated by Colonel Hnat Galagan. It included antique furniture custom-made abroad, exquisite silver and porcelain tableware, valuable weaponry, and outstanding works of painting by both Western European and Ukrainian artists.
The Galagan Palace is sometimes called the Ukrainian Parnassus, as it hosted distinguished guests such as Taras Shevchenko, artist Lev Zhemchuzhnikov, composer Mykola Lysenko, the renowned Ukrainian kobzar Ostap Veresai, as well as Panteleimon Kulish, Mykola Kostomarov, and Pavlo Chubynskyi. The palace housed a grand art gallery, and today, around a hundred of its artworks are preserved in the Hryhorii Galagan Chernihiv Regional Art Museum.
A prominent place in the gallery was given to portraits of the Galagan family, most of which were created by the serf artist Fedir Zemliukov. However, during the 1917 Revolution and the Civil War, a significant part of the collection was looted or destroyed. The estate also featured a serf choir and theater, further cementing its role as a cultural hub.
To this day, the Sokyryntsi Palace has remained in good condition, with several outbuildings, sculptures, the entrance gate, fence, and guard towers still preserved. Among the main tourist attractions are the rotunda gazebo and the partially ruined «Gothic» bridge.
Currently, the Galagan Palace houses the Sokyryntsi Agricultural Lyceum. As is often the case, there is neither space, time, nor funding for a museum.
When copying materials, please place an active link to www.huxley.media
Select the text and press Ctrl + Enter
