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Kateryna Yushchenko Visits Tauric Chersonesos National Preserve

July 24, 2008, Head of the Supervisory Board of the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Foundation Kateryna Yushchenko visited the Tauric Chersonesos National Preserve.

Mrs. Kateryna met with representatives of the Institute of Classical Archaeology at the University of Texas (Austin, the US): Assistant Director Adam Rabinowitz, Project Coordinator for cultural heritage management Taissa Bushnell, and restorer Chris Clear. The scholars are working at the preserve within the framework of a large-scale project to research Chersonesos ancient city, initiated by the Texas University. Among other participants of the event were Director General of the national preserve Leonid Marchenko, Head of the Sevastopol City State Administration Serhiy Kunitsyn, and staff members of the Tauric Chersonesos National Preserve, Sevastopol CSA, and Ukraine 3000 Foundation.

The American archeologists presented to Mrs. Yushchenko the project they are currently implementing: researching one of the ancient Chersonesos sections. Mrs. Kateryna also visited the Packard Laboratory, whose construction had been financed by the Texas University, carrying out research and restoration. She familiarized herself with technologies used in restoration work and talked to the students studying at training courses organized by the Texas U.
 
Chersonesos of Taurida, founded in 528-527 B.C., was a great political, economical, and cultural center of the region, playing an important role in the development of many ancient nations. In the late ninth – early tenth century, Chersonesos (called in the Middle Ages Kherson and referred to as Korsun in early Russian chronicles) was closely connected with the Kyiv Rus’. In the mid-fifteenth century, after numerous assaults by Mongol-Tatars, Genoese, and Crimean Tatars, Chersonesos was abandoned by its last dwellers. The first archeological dig in Chersonesos territory took place in 1827. In the nineteenth century, a museum was founded on the site of the ancient city, later becoming a big research center. In 1978, the State Historical and Archeological Preserve was founded, and in 1994 – the Tauric Chersonesos National Preserve. The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization included Chersonesos into its list of the 150 most valuable ancient artifacts along with such wonders of the world as the Pyramids, Parthenon, and Coliseum.

Since 1992, the Texas University researchers have been carrying out archeological and restoration works in the territory of the Tauric Chersonesos National Preserve. Over 10 years ago, the university had founded a Support for Chersonesos foundation, which had allotted over $2,000,000 for the restoration of the antique city. At present, scholars from over 15 countries are working at the preserve within the framework of the Texas University project: archeologists, historians, art historians, and restorers. In 2006, the Packard Laboratory opened, designed for preserving and demonstrating the ancient artifacts.