Magdeburg Law

The sculpture is devoted to the uprisings of 1589–1596 in Bila Tserkva. This period covered as many as 3 major uprisings. In 1589 Bila Tserkva finally received Magdeburg Law. For those who don’t know, Magdeburg Law in those times was something like modern decentralisation and the formation of self-governing communities. The townspeople of Bila Tserkva were very glad of this right, because they declared that from now on they would be masters on their own land. Prince Ostrozky, to whom the Bila Tserkva lands belonged, extremely disliked this, so the people of Bila Tserkva began an uprising, which was suppressed by Ostrozky’s troops, and its leaders were executed. But the wave of Cossack and peasant uprisings did not subside. In 1591 the uprising of Kryshtof Kosynsky began; he took Bila Tserkva by storm and made it his residence, and the uprising lasted until 1593, during which the otaman died. But a new wave surged in 1594 under the leadership of Severyn Nalyvaiko, and again Bila Tserkva was the centre of the uprising. In 1596 the uprising was suppressed, and Nalyvaiko was quartered. This is how the people of Bila Tserkva fought for the right to own their land, so the sculpture is dedicated to the insurgents who defended Magdeburg Law and their freedom. So the small sculpture stands at the very centre of Bila Tserkva’s decentralisation.