Philip Orlik

While in Kiev, I took pictures of things I did not understand, but liked and thought was cool.  I lived in 2-room Soviet Style apartment.  I rented a 64 square meter in the Lipki, Kostya Hordijenka Ln, 1А, Kiev, Kiev City 02000, Ukraine from Valentine of Airbnb.  On my walk toward the Pinchuk Art center.  I passed by a curious monument.  I later did the research and submitted for your approval, offerings from my collection. 

On June 16, 2010, the people of Ukraine erected a monument to Philip Orlik, an 18th century Ukrainian freedom fighter. Following the defeat at the Battle of Poltava, Orlik organized Mazepa's forces and gave the people of  a democratic Constitution - one of the the first Constitutions in Europe.

Philip Orlik was born on the 11th of October 1672 to Stephen and Irina Orlik. His father, a Catholic noble of Czech extraction serving at the Grand duchy of Lithuania married an Orthodox woman, Iryni Malachowski from Belorussian and Ukrainian nobility. Stephen Orlik died one year after Philip was born under the banner of the Polish king fighting the muslim Turk at the battle of Khotin.

The sculpture is the work of Anatoliy Kush (born 1945).  Well respected and famous, Mr. Kush's works, such as the Monument of Independence, the sculpture of the legendary founders of Kiev and the bust of Lenin in the Kiev Metro)  dot many of the national monuments across Ukraine.  Mr. Kush is a member of the National Union of  Ukrainian Artists and a 1972 alumni of the Kiev State Art Institute.  His awards include Honored Artist of Ukraine (1979) and People's Artist of Ukraine (1996).

Jesuit educated in Vilnius and at the Kiev Mohyla Academy.  In 1698, he served as secretary of the kiev Metropolia.  Sweden, Poland and the Turks went war with Peter the Great of Russia.  In 1699, he joined Ivan Mazepa;s General Military chancellory and organized anti-Russian resistance.


The 38 year old Philip Orlik offered the first free Ukrainian Constitution to Europe following the Battle of Poltava. The Constitution often called the Cossack Social Contract, set up three branches and limited the powers of the executive in terms of taxation, foreign policy and the execution of justice.  Historians sometimes refer to the Constitution as the Bender's Constitution as Philip Orlik composed the Constitution in exile in Bender, Moldalvia.  Orlik spent the rest of his life in the courts of France, England and all over Europe championing the cause of a free Ukraine, but the Constitution met to entice free Ukrainian patriots would have to wait three centuries to carry the weight of the law. 

The Monument to Philip Orlik stands at the intersection of Orlik and Lipsky* Street. Considered one of the most prestigious places to stay in Kiev. Plans for settlement began in the 18th century when the military governor of kiev subdivided the land around Klovsky Place - the current site of the Ukrainian Supreme Court. Construction did not begin until the 1830s. Many mansions dot the boulevard.

Built in 1911, architect I. Belyaev designed House number 3 in the neoclassical style. Across the street sits house number 4, a sumptuous mansion built in 1908 in the Renaissance style.

This area of town was badly damaged in the Russian Civil War. Reconstruction begin in 1930. From 1930 to 1950, new buildings mark the Soviet period where NKVD employees lived.

*Lipsky means lime.