KYIV HISTORY IN EGO-DOCUMENTS: HRYHORII GALAGAN’S LETTER TO OLEKSANDR KOCHUBEY, 1857

Abstract

The use of the epistolary heritage is one of the main requirements of the researchers who study Ukrainian cities. An important task is to reconstruct the history of Kyiv through the impressions of its inhabitants. Such a task is realized in the article, which is the publication of one of the letters of Hryhorii Pavlovych Galagan, the great landlord, influential public and cultural figure of the middle and second half of the 19th century, to his wife’s uncle, Oleksandr Vasyliovych Kochubey, the representative of the higher echelons of the imperial elite, a member of the State Council of Russian Empire. The document is a significant source. Apart the main theme of the letter — the visit of Emperor Alexander II to Kyiv in autumn of 1857, here is highlighted a number of socio-political and private-family issues. The publication of the document is important for  the study of the Ukrainian elite of the 19th century in multidimensional manifestations  of social and everyday life.