When Ukranian president Viktor Yuschenko visited Washington last week, there couldn’t have been much doubt as to whether he would mention the statue at 22nd and P streets NW. Of course he would. And so he did at before a joint session of Congress: “In your city, there is a monument to the father of the Ukrainian nation, the great poet Taras Shevchenko, whose prophecy of the emergence of Ukraine of its own Washington, with a new and righteous law as enshrined on this pedestal. These verses have a profound and special meaning for all Ukrainians. Shevchenko was inspired by the invincible power of the words, ‘that God has bestowed each man on Earth with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’ This shared conviction determines the unity of Americans and Ukrainians and no distances can obstruct that.”

And it was obvious not only because Shevchenko is such a towering figure in Ukraine, but because it was announced a week before Yuschenko arrived that he would also pay the monument a visit. In fact, the statue has always been one of the higher-profile lesser-known monuments. This surely owes to its striking location, at the center of a large handkerchief park two blocks west of Dupont Circle, next to the Church of the Pilgrims above Rock Creek. The statue also reaches quite high, made all the taller by the granite base he stands upon.

And because his physical prominence in this city outshines his celebrity in this country, many have got to be wondering: Who the heck was this guy?