Barricade #413 Khreshchatyk
Barricade #4 (Cossack Redoubt)
The barricade was erected on the evening of December 1, 2013, and, as the name suggests, it was the 4th one in the Maidan Tent City. The Fourth Hundred of the Maidan Self-Defense was assigned to protect the barricade. Later, the Hundred became known as The Cossaks Hundred because the members also participated in several Ukrainian Cossacks organizations. Following the change, the Fourth Barricade was also informally renamed Cossack Redoubt (fort system).
The barricade was protecting the protesters from possible attack from the Bessarabska Square. However, no advances came from that direction. It’s important to understand that the barricades also served as checkpoints. The guards from the Maidan Self-Defense closely monitored people coming to the protest. They wouldn’t let in anybody intoxicated or looking to start a provocation. It helped to keep peace at the Tent City, considering that it hosted anywhere from a few hundred to a few hundred thousand protesters.
The Cossack Redoubt consisted of parts of a soon-to-be Christmas tree, metal fencing, wooden boards, beams, etc. The side facing the Bessarabska Square was decorated with painted shields slogans, and flags.
After the police forces stormed the Maidan on the night of December 11, 2013, protesters reinforced the Fourth Barricade, along with others. Activists added bags with pressed snow to the side facing the Independence Square. They also added tires on top, and put up a poster saying ”Cossack Redoubt”. Later, the protesters added a watchtower with a dummy guard wearing a gas mask.
The Fourth Barricade stood until early August 2014. Members of the Self-Defense moved the remains of the fortifications, flags, banners, and posters from the barricade to Trukhaniv island (there was Trukhaniv Sich). Later, some of these items were given to the Museum of the Revolution of Dignity.
How was it...
A memory from a participant of the events:
“…first thing I remember, it was engraved into my mind… is the spirit, Ukrainian spirit on the Maidan. That love, the need and willingness to help each other… And, of course, the unity we felt. If Ukrainian people at some point of its independence, and better right in 1991, felt that spirit instead of the USSR spirit, Ukraine would be a different country, I think”.
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Сontacts
National Memorial Complex of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes - Museum of the Revolution of Dignity 9 Lavrska Street, building 20, Kyiv, 01015
+38 044 229 40 13 maidanmuseum@gmail.comOur socials:
«Terra Dignitas AR»
It is the first attempt to "revive" the Kyiv Maidan of 2013-2014 and recreate the image and spirit of the historical events of the Revolution of Dignity by means of augmented reality.
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