A monument to 3 Cossacks in Vienna has started speaking: a joint initiative of Ukraine WOW and Aurora, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
A monument to 3 Cossacks, on Leopoldsberg Hill in Vienna, has become part of the international Talking Statues initiative. Now, by scanning a QR code on the monument, you can hear the story of Yurii Kulchytskyi. A Cossack from the Lviv region, he helped save the Austrian capital during the Ottoman siege of 1683, later opening one of the first coffeehouses in Vienna.
The story of Yurii Kulchytskyi can be heard in 2 narrated languages: in English, by British actor Mark Strong (Kingsman, Sherlock Holmes), and in Ukrainian, by actor Roman Lutskyi (Reflection, Antarctica). This is already the 6th monument voiced within the Talking Statues initiative, thanks to the NGO Ukraine WOW and the Aurora multimarket chain. In 2025, voices were given to monuments of Ivan Mazepa in Poltava, Pylyp Orlyk in Kyiv, Anton Holovaty in Odesa, Yurii Kulchytskyi in Lviv, and Dmytro Vyshnevetskyi in Zaporizhzhia. The voicing of the monument in Vienna was carried out with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the Embassy of Ukraine in Austria. Historian Oleksii Sokyrko acted as consultant for the project.
In the audio story, Kulchytskyi recalls the events of 1683. At that time, disguised in Turkish clothing, he managed to pass through the Ottoman siege of Vienna, deliver information about the city’s condition to the allies, and return for help. After victory over the Ottoman army, Kulchytskyi noticed sacks of coffee beans left in the camp and later opened one of the first coffeehouses in Vienna. The monument telling this story is located on the slope of Leopoldsberg Hill at Am Leopoldsberg, 1190 Vienna. To make it “speak,” simply point your smartphone camera at the QR code next to the monument. After that, an “incoming call” from Yurii Kulchytskyi will appear on the screen. The story is available in Ukrainian and English.
Julia Solovey
and Yaroslava Gres
“Talking Statues is an international project for promoting history and culture, created in London by director David Peter Fox. Thanks to it, monuments have ‘spoken’ in Paris, New York, Copenhagen, Berlin, Chicago, Rome and other cities around the world. All heroes are voiced by public figures: from Meryl Streep to Zoe Saldaña. When we wrote to David Fox’s team, we could not imagine that they would immediately agree to a collaboration. As well as Mark Strong, who gave Yurii Kulchytskyi his incredible voice. We are happy that now the story of the Ukrainian Cossack who saved Vienna and later stood at the origins of the famous Viennese coffee culture will be heard in the Austrian capital,” say Ukraine WOW founders Yaroslava Gres and Julia Solovey.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
English version: https://www.tswow.de/gfk/en.html*
Ukrainian version: https://www.tswow.de/gfk/ukr.html*
*Please open the link on your phone.
Ukraine Wow