Skovoroda Museum

In 1972, the Skovoroda National Literary and Memorial Museum was opened in the village of Skovorodynivka, in the Kharkiv oblast. Hryhoriy Skovoroda was an outstanding Ukrainian philosopher and writer. If you are imagining some gloomy gray-bearded man of wisdom sitting at a table, then you are wrong. Skovoroda lived a rather hectic life, during which he managed to be a professional musician, a wine buyer for the imperial court, and a teacher. At a certain point in his life, he decided that sitting in one place was too boring, so he set out to travel. He went walking. For 25 years. However, it certainly was not the desperate wandering of a hobo. Skovoroda was known and appreciated, had many acquaintances throughout Ukraine who gladly welcomed the philosopher, and folks called him a traveling academy.

It is no coincidence that the museum of this thinker is located in Skovorodynivka. His friends lived here, and Skovoroda stayed with them until the last moments of his life. These were as unusual as the philosopher's entire earthly journey. After a good feast, a friend found Skovoroda in the garden digging a long and narrow hole. The 71-year-old Hryhoriy explained: “It's time, my friend, to end the journey!” After that, he went home, changed into new clothes, lay down, and died. As requested by Skovoroda himself, the cross above his grave bears the following inscription: “The world tried to capture me, but didn't succeed...”