XIIth Archeological conference

The XIIth Archeological Congress Kharkiv, 1902

In the 1867 a tradition of holding Archeological Conferences known as Congresses was established in the Russian Empire. The aim of these conferences was to discuss and to make public studies dealing with matters of antiquity and ethnography. The Conferences were hosted by a different city of the Russian Empire every three years.

The Third Archeological Congress was held in Kiev in 1873 and featured the renowned kobzar - Ostap Veresai.

In 1902 the XIIth Archeological Congress was held in Kharkiv. By that time Ostap Veresai had died and ethnographers had come to the mistaken conclusion that he was the last kobzar. Bandurist Hnat Khotkevych was invited to give a presentation at the Congress. He organized a concert to demonstrate the various studies which included the performance by a number of kobzars from a number of regions of Ukraine. The concert was extremely successful and changed the status of the kobzars who up till then were persecuted by the Russian tsarist authorities treated as common street beggars.

The XIIIth Archeological Congress took place in Katerynoslav in 1905. Interest in the performance of the kobzari was very high. Attempts to repeat the performance of the kobzars at the XIIth Congress were not successful. It was attended by Tereshko Parkhomenko and two other kobzars.

The XIIth all-Russian Archeological Congress that took place from August 14–27, 1902. It took on an epochal importance, which is worthy of more detailed investigation. Initially the scientific community in Ukraine became interested in the art of the kobzars in 1873, when the matter of the Poltava kobzar Ostap Veresai was raised at a special meeting of the South-Western chapter of the Russian Imperial Geographic Society. Apart from a number of papers presented regarding the kobzar, the participants also had the chance to listen to his renditions. The performance of the 70-year-old kobzar left a great impression on the participants.

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