Return from Germany to Ukraine of the "Sofian Charter" of Peter the Great on the Metropolitan Appointment of Ioasaph Krokovskyi in 1708: Ukrainian-German History of the Original Charter and Prospects for Restitution of Cultural Valuables

The goal of the article is to cover the ceremony and the German-Ukrainian scientific colloquium dedicated to the return from Germany to Ukraine of the Charter of tsar Peter the Great, on the appointment of Metropolitan Joasaph Krokovskyi in 1708. The Charter was taken from the fоnds of the V. I. Vernadskyi Library during World War II and ended up at the Institute of East European History and Local History of Tubingen University. The colloquium was attended by German and Ukrainian scientists. Natalia Sinkevich revealed the historical significance of the Charter, the history of the Charter and the personality of Metropolitan Joasaph Krokovskyi himself. Tetyana Cebta traced the history of the Charter to 1941 and proved her belonging to the collection of St. Sophia Cathedral, stored at the Institute of Manuscript of the V. I. Vernadskyi National Library of Ukraine. Korinna Kur-Korolev investigated the circumstances of the export of Charters from the library during the Second World War according to the documents of the German archives; Katarina Kucher revealed the history of the Charter at the Institute of East European History and Local History of Tubingen University and the work of experts on the return of the diploma. Wolfgang Eichwede shared the experience of transferring another Charter of the St. Sophia collection, issued by Peter the Great in 1700 to Metropolitan Varlaam Yasynskyi, together with the director of the Goethe Institute Kyiv branch, Countess Ute Baudissin, the return of the painting by Hans von Mare from Kyiv to Bremen. Halyna Kovalchuk, Olga Stepchenko (Kyiv) brought attention to the history of the formation of the collection in St. Sophia Cathedral, disclosed the contents of the unique book and manuscript collection stored in the V. I. Vernadskyi Library. Klaus Gestwa and Lyubov Dubrovina discussed the results of the research of the Charter. The Return of the Charter is an example of fruitful scientific cooperation between scientists from Germany and Ukraine, an effective solution to the issue of the return of expropriated cultural values. The location of many expropriated materials remains unknown today. Therefore, it is important to develop international cultural and scientific cooperation, and the creationof the State Registry of Lost Cultural Property.