A thousand years of history through its people: warriors and poets, scientists and artists. Pick an era or a field - or just browse.
c. 1201–c. 1264
First king of Rus’
A prince who, after thirty years of struggle, reunited the Galician-Volhynian state. He defeated a coalition of rivals at Yaroslav (1245), sought Western allies against the Horde, and in 1253 accepted a royal crown from the pope.
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c. 1516–1563
One of the first Cossack leaders
A prince of the Volhynian Vyshnevetskyi family and starosta of Cherkasy and Kaniv, who rallied the Cossacks against the Tatars and built a castle on the island of Mala Khortytsia. He died in Turkish captivity; a folk song about the Cossack Baida made him immortal.
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1769–1838
Father of modern Ukrainian literature
A native of Poltava and author of the Eneida, the first major work printed in living vernacular Ukrainian (1798). Modern Ukrainian literature is traditionally dated from it, and his plays Natalka Poltavka and Moskal-Charivnyk launched the new Ukrainian theater.
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1854–1934
Actress, star of Ukrainian theater
The most celebrated actress of Ukrainian theater of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who for 40 years played in the troupes of Marko Kropyvnytskyi, Mykhailo Starytskyi and Mykola Sadovskyi. She created more than 30 roles, including Natalka in Natalka Poltavka and Kharytyna in The Hired Girl.
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1833–1907
Writer, a classic of Ukrainian prose
The writer Mariia Vilinska, who wrote under the pen name Marko Vovchok. Her Folk Stories (1857) about the lives of serfs were a landmark in Ukrainian literature, and Taras Shevchenko called her his “daughter.” She translated 15 Jules Verne novels into Russian.
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1906–1942
Poet and OUN activist
A poet and essayist who grew up in a Russian-speaking environment and, in emigration, became one of the voices of Ukrainian nationalism. In 1941, in occupied Kyiv, she headed the Union of Ukrainian Writers. In 1942 she was executed by the Nazis and most likely buried at Babyn Yar.
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c. 1691–1803
Last otaman of the Zaporozhian Sich
The last otaman of the Zaporozhian Sich (1762, 1765–1775): an administrator and diplomat who defended Zaporozhian lands before St. Petersburg. After the Sich was destroyed in 1775, Catherine II exiled him to the Solovetsky Islands, where he spent 25 years in captivity.
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c. 910–969
First woman ruler of Kyivan Rus’
The wife of Prince Ihor, who after his death in 944 ruled Rus’ in place of her young son Sviatoslav. She subdued the Derevlianians, reorganized tribute collection and became the first ruler of Rus’ to accept Christianity.
NewReadc. 910–969
First woman ruler of Kyivan Rus’
The wife of Prince Ihor, who after his death in 944 ruled Rus’ in place of her young son Sviatoslav. She subdued the Derevlianians, reorganized tribute collection and became the first ruler of Rus’ to accept Christianity.
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c. 958–1015
Baptizer of Rus’
Grand Prince of Kyiv who united the lands of Rus’ and made Christianity the state religion (traditionally dated 988). Under his rule Kyivan Rus’ became one of the largest states in Europe.
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c. 978–1054
“Father-in-law of Europe”
Grand Prince of Kyiv under whom Kyivan Rus’ reached its peak. He gave the state its first written law code, the Rus’ Justice, built Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv and married his children into Europe’s royal houses.
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c. 1025–c. 1075
Kyivan princess, Queen of France
A daughter of Prince Yaroslav the Wise of Kyiv who became Queen of France in 1051. The mother of King Philip I of France; today she is a symbol of the old ties between Rus’ and Europe.
Readc. 1201–c. 1264
First king of Rus’
A prince who, after thirty years of struggle, reunited the Galician-Volhynian state. He defeated a coalition of rivals at Yaroslav (1245), sought Western allies against the Horde, and in 1253 accepted a royal crown from the pope.
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c. 1505–1558
Wife of Sultan Suleiman I
A woman of Ukrainian origin who rose from slavery to become the lawful wife of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I and the mother of Sultan Selim II. Less is known about her life than the legends tell.
Readc. 1516–1563
One of the first Cossack leaders
A prince of the Volhynian Vyshnevetskyi family and starosta of Cherkasy and Kaniv, who rallied the Cossacks against the Tatars and built a castle on the island of Mala Khortytsia. He died in Turkish captivity; a folk song about the Cossack Baida made him immortal.
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c. 1582–1622
Hetman, victor at Khotyn
Hetman of the Zaporozhian Host who turned the Cossacks into a disciplined army that stopped the Ottoman Empire at Khotyn. He also defended the Orthodox Church and supported education.
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c. 1595–1657
Hetman, founder of the Cossack state
Hetman of the Zaporozhian Host who led the uprising of 1648 and created a Cossack state, the Hetmanate. A gifted commander and diplomat who negotiated with many states of Central and Eastern Europe and with the Ottoman Empire.
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c. 1639–1709
Hetman and patron of Cossack Baroque
Hetman who ruled the Hetmanate for over 20 years and tried to free Ukraine from Moscow’s control. A generous patron who funded the building and restoration of many churches in the Cossack Baroque style.
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1672–1742
Hetman in exile, constitution author
Mazepa’s general chancellor, elected hetman near Bender in 1710. Chief author of the Pacts and Constitutions, an agreement that limited the hetman’s power. He spent over 30 years in exile, seeking allies in Europe to free Ukraine.
NewReadc. 1691–1803
Last otaman of the Zaporozhian Sich
The last otaman of the Zaporozhian Sich (1762, 1765–1775): an administrator and diplomat who defended Zaporozhian lands before St. Petersburg. After the Sich was destroyed in 1775, Catherine II exiled him to the Solovetsky Islands, where he spent 25 years in captivity.
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1866–1934
Historian, head of the Central Rada
One of Ukraine’s greatest historians, author of the ten-volume History of Ukraine-Rus’, and head of the Ukrainian Central Rada (council), under which Ukraine declared independence in 1918.
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1891–1938
First leader of the OUN
Colonel of the army of the Ukrainian People’s Republic and commander of the Sich Riflemen. After the defeat of the independence struggle he led the underground Ukrainian Military Organization, and in 1929 became the first leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN).
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1907–1950
Commander-in-chief of the UPA
General and commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) from 1943. For almost six years he led the armed underground against Soviet rule, and he was killed in combat. He remains a contested figure.
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1909–1959
Leader of the OUN-B
Leader of the OUN-B, whose followers proclaimed the Act of Restoration of the Ukrainian State in 1941. For many Ukrainians a symbol of the fight against the Nazi and Soviet regimes; at the same time one of the most contested figures in history.
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1722–1794
The wandering philosopher
One of the most important Ukrainian philosophers of the 18th century, a poet and teacher. He taught that happiness lies in knowing yourself and in “kindred work” - the work you are naturally called to do.
Read1769–1838
Father of modern Ukrainian literature
A native of Poltava and author of the Eneida, the first major work printed in living vernacular Ukrainian (1798). Modern Ukrainian literature is traditionally dated from it, and his plays Natalka Poltavka and Moskal-Charivnyk launched the new Ukrainian theater.
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1809–1852
Classic of world prose
A writer of Ukrainian origin who wrote in Russian, one of the most influential prose writers of the 19th century. His Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka and Taras Bulba introduced readers worldwide to Ukrainian culture.
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1814–1861
National poet of Ukraine
The national poet of Ukraine, an artist and thinker. His work laid the foundations of modern Ukrainian literature and the literary language, and shaped Ukrainians’ national consciousness.
Read1833–1907
Writer, a classic of Ukrainian prose
The writer Mariia Vilinska, who wrote under the pen name Marko Vovchok. Her Folk Stories (1857) about the lives of serfs were a landmark in Ukrainian literature, and Taras Shevchenko called her his “daughter.” She translated 15 Jules Verne novels into Russian.
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1856–1916
Writer, scholar and thinker
Writer, poet, scholar and journalist, the author of thousands of works. He was one of the first to argue for Ukraine’s political independence.
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1871–1913
Poet and playwright
Poet, playwright and public figure, author of The Forest Song. Despite a serious illness she wrote dramas of world standing and became, for many, a symbol of strength of spirit.
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1893–1933
Voice of the Executed Renaissance
Writer and pamphleteer, one of the leaders of the Ukrainian cultural revival of the 1920s. His slogan “Away from Moscow!” called for turning towards Europe, and his fate became a symbol of a generation of artists destroyed by the Soviet regime.
Read1906–1942
Poet and OUN activist
A poet and essayist who grew up in a Russian-speaking environment and, in emigration, became one of the voices of Ukrainian nationalism. In 1941, in occupied Kyiv, she headed the Union of Ukrainian Writers. In 1942 she was executed by the Nazis and most likely buried at Babyn Yar.
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1938–1985
Poet and human rights defender
Poet of the Sixtiers generation and human rights defender, a member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group. He died in a Soviet labor camp, leaving Palimpsests, one of the landmark collections of modern Ukrainian poetry.
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1879–1935
Painter, founder of Suprematism
A painter and art theorist born in Kyiv to a family of Polish origin. One of the founders of abstract art, the author of Black Square (1915) and the founder of Suprematism.
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1887–1964
Innovator of modern sculpture
Kyiv-born sculptor and one of the founders of Cubist sculpture. He made the void and the hole part of the form, and this device influenced modern sculpture of the 20th century.
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1900–1961
Master of folk painting
A self-taught painter from a Ukrainian village and a master of decorative flower painting. With no art training she created her own style, and her work was shown at an international exhibition in Paris.
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b. 1936
Painter, creator of “plontanism”
A painter, graphic artist and sculptor whose work the Soviet authorities refused to recognize because it did not conform to socialist realism. He created his own technique of painting with fine interwoven lines, “plontanism”. A Shevchenko Prize laureate and People’s Artist of Ukraine.
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1842–1912
Father of Ukrainian classical music
Composer, ethnographer and conductor, founder of Ukrainian classical music. Author of the operas Natalka Poltavka and Taras Bulba and of “Prayer for Ukraine”, which became the country’s spiritual anthem.
Read1854–1934
Actress, star of Ukrainian theater
The most celebrated actress of Ukrainian theater of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who for 40 years played in the troupes of Marko Kropyvnytskyi, Mykhailo Starytskyi and Mykola Sadovskyi. She created more than 30 roles, including Natalka in Natalka Poltavka and Kharytyna in The Hired Girl.
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1872–1952
Opera singer (soprano)
A Ukrainian opera singer (soprano) who performed on leading stages in Europe and South America, including La Scala in Milan. In 1904, at Giacomo Puccini’s invitation, she brilliantly sang the role of Butterfly after his opera’s failed premiere.
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1877–1921
Composer of “Shchedryk”
Composer and choir conductor who arranged “Shchedryk”. The world knows the melody as “Carol of the Bells”, and millions of people hear it every year.
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1893–1919
Film actress, “queen of the screen”
Born in Poltava, she was one of the first great stars of silent cinema in the Russian Empire and was called the “queen of the screen.” In under five years she appeared in dozens of films, including works by the directors Yevgeny Bauer and Pyotr Chardynin. She died in Odesa in 1919, aged 25.
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1905–1986
Paris Opera dancer and choreographer
A Kyiv-born ballet dancer and choreographer who led the Paris Opera Ballet for more than a quarter of a century. He created more than 200 ballets and became one of the founders of the neoclassical trend in choreography.
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1924–1990
Visionary film director
Film director whose Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors revealed the poetry of the Ukrainian Carpathians to the world. After he defended persecuted artists, the authorities imprisoned him on fabricated charges, but his films became classics of world cinema.
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1953–1998
American singer of Ukrainian descent
An American singer of Ukrainian descent, born in New York to a family of emigrants from Lviv. Known as a voice of American advertising and film soundtracks, and in Ukraine for her two albums of Ukrainian songs.
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1863–1945
Author of the noosphere theory
Encyclopaedic scientist, one of the founders of geochemistry and biogeochemistry, and first president of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. His ideas of the biosphere and noosphere influenced modern ecological thinking.
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1889–1972
Pioneer of aviation and helicopters
Kyiv-born aircraft designer who built the world’s first multi-engine heavy aircraft and the first mass-produced helicopter. Having lost everything after the revolution, he started over in the United States and changed world aviation.
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1907–1966
Chief Designer of the space age
Zhytomyr-born rocket and spacecraft designer. Under his leadership the first Earth satellite and the first human were launched into space - even though the Soviet regime had sent him to a labor camp in Kolyma.
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1913–2002
Pioneering heart surgeon
Heart surgeon, scientist and writer, one of the pioneers of cardiac surgery. He founded an institute in Kyiv where thousands of lives were saved, and developed his own system for staying healthy.
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1918–2020
Electric welding scientist
A scientist in electric welding and metallurgy who headed the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine for 58 years, from 1962 to 2020. Under his leadership electroslag welding was created, and in 1969 the world’s first welding experiments were carried out in space.
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1926–2016
Economist, Club of Rome member
An economist and public figure who was born in the Ternopil region and lived and worked in Canada and Switzerland. For 18 years he headed the International Management Institute in Geneva, and after 1991 he helped build independent Ukraine.
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1937–1999
Dissident and leader of Rukh
Journalist, dissident and politician who spent more than 13 years in Soviet camps and exile. After his release he became a leader of the independence movement and headed the People’s Movement of Ukraine (Rukh).
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1865–1944
Metropolitan of the UGCC
Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church for 43 years, patron of culture and protector of the persecuted. During the Nazi occupation he sheltered Jews and condemned the killings in his pastoral letter “Thou Shalt Not Kill”.
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1871–1949
Wrestler, “Champion of Champions”
A wrestler and strongman from the Cherkasy region who won many international classical wrestling tournaments in the early 20th century. Posters called him the “Champion of Champions,” and he earned a reputation as unbeatable.
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1939–2002
Visionary coach of Dynamo Kyiv
Legendary football coach who made Dynamo Kyiv one of the strongest clubs in Europe. He was one of the first to put football on a scientific footing, with data analysis and systematic training.
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