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A kind doctor attested to Shevchenko's illness, and the poet spent the entire winter in Nizhniy Novgorod. The winter of 1857-58 was very productive for Shevchenko. During that time he painted many portraits and other paintings. He also edited and transcribed into the Bilsha knyzhka (The Larger Book) his poems from the period of exile, and wrote new poetic works. After receiving permission to live in the capital, he went to St. Petersburg. After his exile, Shevchenko devoted his greatest attention as an artist to engraving, and in this field he became a true innovator.
In May, 1859, Shevchenko got permission to go to Ukraine. He intended to buy a plot of land not far from the village of Pekariv, to build a house there, and to settle in Ukraine. In July he was arrested on a charge of blasphemy, but was released and ordered to go to St. Petersburg without fail. The poet arrived there on September 7, 1859. Nevertheless, to the end of his life, the poet hoped to settle in Ukraine.
In spite of physical weakness as a result of his exile, Shevchenko's poetical strength was inexhaustible, and the last period of his work is the highest stage of his development. In a series of works, the poet embodied the dream of the people for a free and happy life. Shevchenko understood that the peasants would gain their freedom neither through the kindness of the tsar nor through reforms, but through struggle. He created a gallery of images - Champions of Sacred Freedom - of fighters against oppression and tyrarny. On September 2, 1860, the Council of the Academy of Arts granted Shevchenko the title, Academician of Engraving.
The poet began to feel increasingly ill, and complained in letters about the state of his health. Taras Shevchenko died in St. Petersburg at 5:30 a.m. on March 10, 1861. At the Academy of Arts, over the coffin of Shevchenko, speeches were delivered in Ukrainian, Russian and Polish. The poet was first buried at the Smolensk Cemetery in St. Petersburg. Shevchenko's friends immediately undertook to fulfil the poet's Zapovit (Testament), and bury him in Ukraine. The coffin with the body of Shevchenko was taken by train to Moscow, and then by horse-drawn wagon to Ukraine. Shevchenko's remains entered Kiev on the evening of May 6, and the next day they were transferred to the steamship Kremenchuh. On May 8 the steamship reached Kaniv, and Taras was buried on Chernecha Hill (now Taras Hill) by the Dnipro River. A tall mound was erected over his grave, and it has become a sacred site for the Ukrainian people.
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