It is officially considered that there are three monuments to the Kameniar in Frankivsk. The largest of them stands on the square in front of the “Nadiya” hotel, a smaller bust is located in a cozy little square on Franka Street, and another bust was recently unveiled in Opryshivtsi.
Meanwhile, there is a fourth memorial sign to Ivan Yakovych that few people know about, even though it is located right in the centre. Why? Because it hangs very high, and passers-by rarely look up. We are talking about the stone building at 1 Rynok Square, which houses the “Galeria-N” shopping centre, also popularly known as “Boyko’s House”. At the level of the fifth floor the corner façade is decorated with a bas-relief in the form of a sculptural group. A moustached man and a woman in an old-fashioned dress reach out their hands to each other. They symbolise Ivan Franko and Józefa Dzwonkowska, as well as their unfulfilled love. While much has been written about the relationship between the Kameniar and his “second love”, the history of the origin of this original monument is known to few.
In 2007 the construction of “Galeria-N” was being completed. The owner of the complex, Myroslav Boyko, wanted the building to resemble the Secession-style houses of Stanyslaviv, richly decorated with stucco. He turned to the sculptor Volodymyr Dovbeniuk and ordered stucco work, but necessarily with Ukrainian themes.
The sculptor approached the next commission creatively. He developed three versions of sketches. In addition to the mentioned Franko and Dzwonkowska, there were also the legendary leader of the Carpathian opryshky Oleksa Dovbush with the fatal Dzvinka, as well as the symbols of Galicia — a lion and a jackdaw. The client settled on Ivan Yakovych.
From French, bas-relief translates as “low relief”. It is a type of sculpture in which the three-dimensional image projects above the background plane by no more than half of its own volume.
If you look carefully, you can notice that Józefa is depicted against a background of viburnum branches, while Franko is surrounded by acorns and oak leaves. This is an allegory of the masculine and feminine principles, expressed through Ukrainian plant symbols. A little lower, on the brackets of the balcony, there are four jackdaws. They are also not accidental, for they gave the name to our region and are present on the city’s coat of arms.
In the end it turned out rather well. One can safely state that the bas-relief is the highest memorial plaque in Ivano-Frankivsk, as well as the only monument to the Kameniar in Ukraine where he is depicted in the company of a woman.
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