Shevchenko Monument (Ottawa)

On The Shevchenko Monument is a bronze and granite monument of Taras Shevchenko, created by Leo Mol, that was unveiled on 26 June 2011 in Ottawa, Ontario.

The composition of the monument includes four items: Taras Shevchenko, and three bas-relief figures complementing the composition. The central monument, sitting on a granite base approximately 8.5 m high, holds a young version of a standing Taras Shevchenko. Dressed in a long coat, the fashion at that time, he holds a palette and three paintbrushes and looks out into the distance. The figure is 3 m high and weighs 630 kg.

Three shorter bases hold artistic creations from his poetry. One of the bas-relief figures, standing 1.2 m and weighing 156 kg, represents Haydamaky (referring to Haidamakas) an epic poem of Shevchenko's about the Cossack paramilitary bands that rose up against the szlachta (Polish nobility) in right-bank Ukraine in the 18th-century.

The next, Kateryna with child (1.2 m, 163 kg), recalls his early ballad about a Ukrainian girl seduced then abandoned by a Russian - symbolic of the tsarist imposition of serfdom in Ukraine and refers to Shevchenko's painting Kateryna.

The last, Banduryst (1.2 m, 156 kg), referring to the Kobzar and Bandura, a traditional Ukrainian stringed musical instrument shaped like a lute.

Nearly 90000 kg of Stanstead grey granite from Quebec, was used to create the bases for the monument.

The event included a tree planting ceremony using soil brought from Kaniv, Ukraine. The monument unveiling in Ottawa was planned to coincide with the 120 year anniversary of Ukrainian immigration to Canada, 20 years of Ukrainian independence, and 150 years of Shevchenko's death.

The monument is located the grounds of the Saint John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Shrine, 952 Green Valley Crescent, Ottawa, Ontario.