Taras Shevchenko

Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko was a Ukrainian poet, writer, artist, public and political figure, folklorist, and ethnographer. He was a fellow of the Imperial Academy of Arts and a member of the Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius. He wrote poetry in Ukrainian and prose in Russian, making him one of many iconic figures which belong to several Slavic language cultures.

The town of Aktau in Kazakhstan was named after Shevchenko in the period of Soviet authority. His literary heritage, in particular the poetry collection Kobzar, is regarded to be the foundation of modern Ukrainian literature and to some degree also of the modern Ukrainian language.