Throughout the years following the reburial of Taras Shevchenko, the Ukrainian community has created a grand memorial to the poet-prophet. In the summer of 1884, with public funds, a visitor’s hut known as the “Taras Room” was built on Taras Hill. This became the first people’s museum dedicated to the poet. His grave was also landscaped, and a monumental cast-iron cross, designed by academician V. Sychugov, was erected. This cross crowned Shevchenko’s tomb until 1923. With the fall of the Russian Empire, Ukrainians had a real opportunity to bring the National Shrine under state protection. The first attempt was made in early 1918 by one of the leaders of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, Symon Petliura.

On June 10, 1918, the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian State declared Taras Shevchenko’s grave as national property. In the summer of 1939, the Shevchenko Memorial took its modern form with the installation of a grand bronze monument on the poet’s grave (sculptor M. Manizer, architect Ye. Levinson) and the construction of a literary-memorial museum (architects V. Krychevskyi and P. Kostyrko). Every year, the museums of the Shevchenko National Reserve are visited by over a hundred thousand tourists from Ukraine and dozens of foreign countries. On Taras Hill, they discover the enchanting world of Ukrainian culture, one of whose greatest creators was –and remains – the poetic and artistic genius of Taras Shevchenko.