Creation of the Little Russian Governorate-General (1801–1811)

The erasure of historical borders and the introduction of the imperial vertical: "The governor-general concentrated the entire fullness of administrative power: he was endowed with the right of legislative initiative, determined the degree to which all-Russian laws extended within the governorate-general, and controlled the activity of state institutions, including judicial ones"^[1].

In 1804-1811 the Russian Empire erected a cast-iron Monument of Glory in the center of Poltava in memory of its victory over the army of Charles XII on 27 June 1709 - with the city's own money and to a design sent from St. Petersburg. By the imperial decree to the Senate of 11 September 1804, "On leaving the villages formerly owned by the city of Poltava under state administration and on releasing the income collected from them to the local Governor-General for the erection in Poltava of a monument in memory of 27 June 1709," the city's revenues were assigned to the monument: "the community of Poltava citizens, through a petition submitted to Governor-General Prince Kurakin, has designated all these revenues for the construction in Poltava of a monument in memory of the day unforgettable for Russia, 27 June 1709, and so we command: the revenues now due for payment, as well as those henceforth collected in favor of this city, shall be released to the local Governor-General until the monument that has been begun is completely finished"^[2]. By a second act, the imperial rescript of 9 May 1805 to the Governor-General of Little Russia, "On the erection of a monument in commemoration of the victory won at Poltava by Emperor Peter the Great," the emperor sent a ready-made design and ordered construction to begin: "I forward to you herewith the plans for this monument, drawn up here, charging you... to proceed with its erection on site, except for the bronze ornaments belonging to it, which will be made separately here and delivered to their destination"^[2]. That is, Poltava pays, while Petersburg decides what the sign on its land will look like - down to the bronze, which is cast there and shipped ready-made. The monument was founded on 27 June 1804, the cast-iron column was raised in May 1809 under the direction of Moskvin, an engineer of the Luhansk works, and the whole ensemble was opened on 27 June 1811, for the next anniversary of the battle^[3][4]. On the medallion of the upper square of the pedestal, inside a serpent ring between two quivers, stood "June the 27th, 1709," and on the opposite side - "Finished in 1809"^[3]: the date of someone else's victory was made into the date of the place itself. Both inscriptions, together with the bronze bas-reliefs, disappeared in 1901 - the pre-revolutionary survey records it tersely: "This inscription and the preceding one were destroyed in 1901, and at the same time the bronze bas-reliefs that surrounded them were taken by persons unknown"^[3]; they were restored only during the capital repairs of 1953^[4]. The monument still stands in Poltava: as of August 2026 it is listed as a monument of national significance under heritage protection number 160010-Н^[5], the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance recommended dismantling it in a letter of 29 July 2024^[6], but decisions on monuments of national significance are made by the government, and the list of such decisions as of 20 May 2026 does not include the monument^[7].