乌克兰前总统私人豪宅探秘

    在近代史上，一国领导人蔚为壮观的财富王国突然大白于天下，这种事并不稀罕；非常可悲的是，这一幕其实屡见不鲜。萨达姆•侯赛因政权于2003年垮台后，呈现在世人面前的同样是金玉满堂，珠宝成堆，建有私人动物园的宫殿和豪宅。2011年，利比亚、突尼斯和埃及的独裁政权相继崩溃后，人们看到了同样的景象。

    但乌克兰人说，他们希望把这一切保留下来，而不是摧毁掉。卡扎菲在的黎波里的豪宅被烧为平地，萨达姆的宫殿几乎被洗劫一空，但乌克兰的年轻人却不辞辛苦地把每一件物品编入目录，似乎是在盘点一家超市的商品。与阿拉伯革命后暴怒之下的焚烧和抢掠不同，乌克兰的激进分子似乎决心把过去保存下来，作为一个给予未来领导人的警示。

    在亚努科维奇豪宅的宏伟大堂旁边，矗立着几尊身着银色铠甲的全尺寸骑士。米基坚科和她的朋友已经拉起了一道警戒线，围住了所有贵重物品，其中包括一件巨大的象牙雕刻和一个纯金打造，镶嵌着珐琅的圣经盒。米基坚科说：“前段时间守护这个地方的那几个人整天醉醺醺的，所以我们不得不把他们赶了出去。”她还对我说，第一次进入这栋房屋时，她感受到了一股强烈的“文化冲击”。“我参观过俄罗斯圣彼得堡的冬宫博物馆(Hermitage Museum)，在那里我什么都不能碰。在这里，我可以触摸一切东西。”

    然而，尽管这些年轻人下定了保全这些财产的决心，但它的命运依然不确定。亚努科维奇及其政府的重要人物正面临腐败指控，屋内的许多文件和物品都需要作为呈堂证据。上周五，几位军事检察官和政府官员赶来这里参观，同时商讨了加强安保、是否关闭这片区域，不再向公众开放等问题。一位检察官走进屋内，用他的iPhone手机拍摄了几张照片。“难以置信，”他说。“老百姓连孩子的手术费都掏不起，而我们的总统竟然过着这样的生活。太过分了。”

    不过，几位守卫豪宅的激进人士说，他们依然拿不准乌克兰新领导人到底应该怎样处置这些财产。“目前有两种意见，”24岁的亚瑟•佩雷韦尔佐夫说。他是一家国营电视台的口译员，同时在一家汽车租赁公司兼职。守卫房屋时，他晚上就睡在屋内。“有些人认为应该卖掉这些东西，用出售所得补偿独立广场的受害者。”在上个月的流血暴动中，有大约80位示威者死于狙击手枪下。脸色苍白，身材清瘦的佩雷韦尔佐夫全副武装，俨然一副军人模样，但他说自己并没有接受过军事训练；像许多年轻的激进分子一样，他的这套装备是上个月在基辅独立广场示威期间从一队自称自卫的军人手中获得的。

    如果检察官选择关闭这块区域，许多乌克兰人很可能会非常失望。

    亚努科维奇倒台两个星期后，这片区域已经呈现出一派几乎类似于节日的喜庆气氛。在通往豪宅大门的道路上，一些颇具生意头脑的乌克兰人搭起了贩卖饮料和烤香肠的摊位。游客甚至可以租一辆山地自行车，环绕这片土地转上一圈。这个地方的确值得一游。大家会在沿途看到一座不知道亚努科维奇从哪里搞来的古希腊神庙。还有一个小教堂，教堂内的旧染色玻璃窗和雕花的木制长椅显得别有情致。（财富中文网）

    译者：叶寒

    Such discoveries of leaders' spectacular opulence are hardly unique in recent history; in fact, they've become sadly familiar. When Saddam Hussein's regime collapsed in Iraq in 2003, palaces and mansions revealed similar splashes of gold and marble, with similarly vast jewelry collection and (weirdly) private zoos. Ditto after the collapse of the dictatorships in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt in 2011.

    But Ukrainians say they want to preserve, rather than destroy. While Moammar Gaddafi's compound in Tripoli was burnt to the ground, and Saddam's palaces were heavily looted, Ukraine's young activists have painstakingly catalogued every item, as though they were taking inventory in a supermarket. Unlike the enraged burning and looting after the Arab revolutions, Ukrainian activists seem determined to preserve the past as a cautionary tale for future leaders.

    In the grand lobby of Yanukovych's mansion, next to full-sized knights in silver armor, Mykytenko and her friends have placed valuable items behind a cordon of Scotch tape. They include a huge carved elephant tusk, and a gold Bible case inlaid with enamel. "There were other people guarding this place who drank a lot of the wine, so we had to get them out," Mykytenko says, adding that she had "culture shock" when she first entered the house. "I'd been in the Hermitage Museum [in St. Petersburg, Russia] where I couldn't touch anything. Here, I could touch everything."

    Yet despite the determination of the young activists to preserve Yanukovych's property, its fate is uncertain. Much of the documents and items are needed for evidence in corruption trials being brought against Yanukovych and major figures in his government. On Friday, military prosecutors and government officials arrived to tour the grounds, and to discuss how to beef up the security and whether to close the area to the public. One prosecutor entered the house to snap photos on his iPhone. "Unbelievable," he said. "People don't have money for operations for their kids, and our president lived this way. It is too much."

    Still, the activists guarding the mansion say they remain uncertain over what Ukraine's new leaders should do with the property. "There are two opinions," says Arthur Pereverziev, 24, who works an interpreter at the state-run TV channel, and at a rental-car agency, when he is not guarding the house and sleeping inside it. "Some of us think the items should be sold, and the money should go to compensating the victims of Maidan," or Independence Square, where snipers killed about 80 protesters in last month's bloody climax of the uprising. Pale and lean, Pereverziev was dressed in full combat fatigues, but says he has no military training; like many young activists, he acquired his uniform from the self-proclaimed self-defense units in Kiev's Independence Square during the demonstrations.

    If prosecutors opt to close the area to the public, there are likely to be many disappointed Ukrainians.

    Two weeks after Yanukovych's downfall, the area has assumed an almost festive air. On the road leading up to the gates, enterprising Ukrainians have set up food stalls selling drinks and barbecue sausages. You can even rent mountain bikes, in order to cycle around the acres of land. It is worth the ride. On one part of the grounds, Yanukovych had placed an ancient Greek temple, whose provenance is unknown. And in another, there is a small chapel, with old, stained glass windows and carved wooden pews.