From Lenin to Mazepa: The Transformation of Monuments and Collective Identity in Post-Maidan Ukraine

During the Euromaidan revolution of 2013–2014, in the central-Ukrainian city of Poltava a group of people toppled the monument to the Russian Revolution leader Vladimir Lenin. Following the de-communization laws adopted by the Ukrainian parliament in April 2015, the Ukrainian government started a broad de-communization campaign that involved the removal of monuments dedicated to Communist leaders. In 2016, together with a number of non-governmental organizations and the Poltava regional administration, the Ukrainian president unveiled a monument in Poltava dedicated to the Ukrainian Cossack hetman Ivan Mazepa. Drawing upon the scholarly literature that investigates the relationship between the destruction or construction of monuments as memory sites and national identity conception, this paper traces how in the wake of the social turmoil, Ukrainians manifested their vision of new Ukrainian communal values. By exploring the changes that occurred in the urban landscape in Ukraine, the paper investigates the nature of the relations between the center and the periphery, the state and the society, and Ukraine and Russia. The study draws on several data sources including field observations, policy documents, and newspapers.