Ivan Mazepa is one of those iconic figures of Ukrainian history, whose life and actions today cause heated debate among both professional historians and amateurs, as well as people who are generally far from historical twists and turns. Politician, military man, diplomat, philanthropist... Few people had such an interesting and difficult fate during life and after death. So who, in the end, is Ivan Stepanovich Mazepa? A friend of Tsar Peter, one of the first holders of the highest Russian order of St. Andrew the First-Called - and a fighter for the interests of the Ukrainian Cossack state; the builder of majestic cathedrals, still an adornment of many Ukrainian cities - and "Judas," excommunicated, anathematized, which was often pronounced from the pulpits of the same cathedrals; usually an incredibly cautious master of difficult diplomatic games - and a man who managed to put everything on the line and, in the end, lost the riskiest and most important game of his life; a brilliant secular gentleman in the spirit of the luxurious, unique 17th century, a favorite of marriage and perhaps the only truly gifted poet and amateur musician among all Ukrainian hetmans...