The 7th Exhibition: 2014.4.19 - 2015.1.4
Mammoth in the frozen soil
Before becomingextinctabout 10,000years ago, there used to be many kinds of mammoths that lived in different places all over the world. With its big teeth and long fur, the Woolly Mammoth is especially well-known. In the permafrost soils of Siberia, many frozen mammoths have been discovered. The sculpture depicts what our ancestors hunting a mammoth might have looked like.
Rurik who build Russia
According to Russia's Primary Chronicle ("Tale of Bygone Years"), in the 9th century Rurik and two of his brothers crossed the Baltic Sea to Northern Russia, where Rurik became ruler of the city of Novgorod. After Rurik's death, his successors Oleg and Igor extended the famil 's control south to the middle reaches of de Dnieper River. Several East Slavic tribes had already established a community there, but Oleg and Igor took over rule and founded the federation of Kievan Rus'. This legend is one of the founding legends of Russia that have been passed on to modern times. The sculpture depicts the moment when Rurik landed on the shores of a river after sailing upstream and is welcomed by the local people.
Reception of Orthodox Church
In 988, Vladimir the Great of the Rurik dynasty of Kievan Rus' was baptized into the Greek Orthodox Church. Before his baptism, he studied the teachings of Islam, Judaism, Catholicism and the Orthodox Church, but it is said that he chose Orthodox Christiany because it best fit the customs and habits of the people of Kievan Rus'. After the fall of Constantinople, the capital of Orthodox Christianity, in 1453, Greek Orthodox Christianity in Russia further developed into an independent Russian Orthodox Church. The sculpture shows Vladimir the Great encouraging his people to be baptized in the Dnieper River.
Ethnic minorities and folk craft
With its large territory, Russia is also home to various different ethnicities. The Russian population of 140 million people consists of Slavic Russians and Ukrainians as well as non-slavic ethnicities such as Tatars. Russia can therefore be called a multiethnic country. Matryoshkas such as depicted at the front of this sculpture became widely known as a result of the Paris World's Fair of 1900. They beautifully represent the rich variety of ethnicities in Russia.
List of Mongol and Tatar raid against Russia
The 400 years of Tatar rule over Rus' starting in mid-13th century are also called "the Tatar yoke". At the time, Rus' was sandwiched between the Kingdom of Sweden and the German Empire in the West and Mongolia in the East. Rus' fought back against the states in the West, but submitted to the rule of the Mongolians from the East renowned for their great military strength. This was because while the states from the West strove to convert conquered territories to their faith, the Mongolians were tolerant with regards to religion and culture and mainly interested in collecting taxes. The sculpture depicts Russian people offering up tribute to a Tatar tax collector at the market.
Power of Cossacks
Cossacks were military groups which first emerged during the 15th - 16th century, consisting of impoverished nobles and peasants who had fled serfdom. Theories about their origins vary reatly. The cossacks sometimes ent their military strenght to protectorates, and in the second half of the 16th century, they also executed Ivan the Terrible's conquest of Siberia. Their leader Yermak conquered the Khanate of Sibir and thus became a driving force of the Russian invasion and conquest of Siberia. The sculpture shows a symbolic battle scene of the cossacks who were especially proficient in fighting on horseback.
Peter the Great
Peter the Great was the 5th tsar of the Romanov dynasty. By taking control over the Baltic Sea, he turned Russia into one of the strongest states in Europe. At the time, he even joined delegations he sent to the Nethelands and England himself. He actively pursued the adoption of European knowledge concerning fields such as shipbuildng and navigation to westernize Russia. After the Russian victory in the Great Northern War at the beginning of the 18th century, he changed the country's name to Russian Empire and made himself its first emperor. He had the Empire's capital Saint Petersburg built with strongWestern European cultural influences.
Catherine the Great
The Romanov dynasty was founded in the 17th century and reigned for over 300 years. Under enlightened absolutist monarch Catherine the Great, the Empire had its Golden Age, during which it expanded its territory by military strength and increased its presence in Europe. But Catherine the Great strove not only to expand the Empire's territory, but also introduced internal policies to govern the large Empire more efficiently. She not only reformed local governments, but also furthered the establishment of Boards of Public Welfare and elementary education institutions. However, she also put down Pugachev's Rebellion which had demanded the abolition of the harsh serfdom system. The sand sculpture depicts Pugachev, who had lead peasants and cossacks in the rebellion, being captured by Catherine the Great. With regards to culture, Catherine the Great also founded the Small Hermitage to house her collection of paintings, sculptures and other artworks. The Small Hermitage was the first part of what is now the Hermitage Museum.
Catherine Palace
Catherine Palace is a Late Baroque palace from the times of the Russian empire on the outskirts of St. Petersburg. It was built in the early 18th century and has since been remodeled numerous times. It derives its name from Catherine l, empress and wife of Peter the Great. It is also sometimes called "summer palace" because Catherine the Great used it as a summer residence. At a total length of over 300m, it contains more than 50 rooms, the most famous of which is the Amber Room. Great amounts of gold were used for the palace's magnificent interior.
Saint Basil Cathedral& the Moscow kremlin
The Moscow Kremlin, a fortress and palace along the Moscow river, has been the center of Russian politics since the time of the Russian Empire. Together with the Red Square, it was designated a World Heritage Site in 1990. Russian Orthodox Saint Basil's Cathedral, located in Red Square, was built in the middle of the 16th century to commemorate the victory of tsar Ivan the Terrible over the Khanate of Kazan. It is one of Moscow's most famous buildings.
Russian Icon
Icons are paintings of Jesus Christ, saints, angels, stories from the bible etc. which are usually painted on flat panels. They are an important part of Russian Orthodoxy. The icons themselves are not objects of worship, but the scenes depicted on them are. One of the most famous icons is Our Lady of Vladimir, recreated at the center of the sand sculpture.
Russian musical culture -Tchaikovsky and Ballet dancer-
Tchaikovsky is a composer from the second half of the 19th century. Ballets such as "Swan Lake", "The Nutcracker" and "The Sleeping Beauty" were brought to perfection by Tchaikovsky's score and French choreography. Tchaikovsky is said to have established ballet music, which until then had been a mere accompaniment, as a proper form of art. He also left the world many other famous compositions, such as Violin Concerto in E major. His music is beloved all over the world and continues to enchant many people.
Russian l iterature -T Olstoy and his work " War and Peace"
To ether with Dostoevsky and Turgenev, To stoy (1828 - 1910) is one of Russia's most famous writers. In his epic historical novel "War and Peace", he describes the lives of Russian noblemen and common people during the time of Napoleon's invasion and eventual withdrawal. The sculpture depicts the people leaving a Moscow thrown into chaos by the 1812 Fire of Moscow, one of the scenes from "War and Peace".
Napoleons retreat from Moscow
At the beginning of the 19th century,Napoleon's Russian campaign took place. His army had chased the retreatingRussian troops and temporarily occupied Moscow, but the city had been burned down and the residents already left. Napoleon demanded the Russians surrender, but was unable to meet with Russian officials, and soon, harsh "General Frost" came to Moscow. Finally, Napoleon had no choice but to withdraw. The Russian army, which had been waiting for them to retreat, attacked the French troops, and Napoleon returned to Paris with several of his associates. With this withdrawal, Napoleon's power began to weaken, while for Russia, the battles had proven a successful war of self-defense.
Moscow Metro station sculptures
Construction of the Moscow Metro started in 1931. Its stations are richly decorated with beautiful ornaments, sculptures and statues and make visitors feel like they are not just in a subway station, but also in a museum. The left sand sculpture shows a peasant girl while the right one depicts a young man going hunting.
Russian Great Nature
In Siberia, which makes up a lar e part of Russia's territory, temperature ifferences between summer and winter can be very great. In the village of Oymyakon, temperatures often drop below -50 degrees in winter while sometimes exceeding 30 degrees in summer. Northern Siberia mostly consists of permafrost tundra where trees hardly grow. It is home to animals such as Siberian wolves, reindeers, and Steller's sea eagles. Reindeers have been kept as domestic animals for a long time and are also valued for pulling sleds.
Siberian Railway and Vladivostok as Capital of Far East
Although it technically only runs through Siberia between Chelyabinsk Station and Vladivostok Station, the name Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR) is commonly used for all lines and side lines running between Moscow and Vladivostok. Planning for the TSR first started in the 1850s, and about 50 years later, the tracks were finally opened. Even today, the TSR remains an important overland route between the Russian Far East and Europe. Vladivostok, located in the Russian Far East, is the administrative center of Primorsky Krai region and a friendship city of Tottori City. Vladivostok station was built in the Russian Revival style and exudes an atmosphere of former times.
Soviet Union
Following the October Revolution in 1917 and the subsequent civil war, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was founded in 1922. After World War Il, the Cold War between the Eastern Bloc lead by the USSR and the Western Bloc lead by the USA began and lasted for over 40 years. In 1991, the Soviet Union dissolved. On the flag of the USSR, hammer and sickle represent workers and peasants, while the five-pointed star stands for the unity of the workers of the five continents.
Space exploration
During the Soviet era, the Soviet space program was highly renowned and accomplished many impressive results such as the first human in space (Yuri Gagarin) in 1961 and the first successful moon landing of an unmanned spacecraft (Luna 9) in 1966. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia and the Ukraine continued its space program. Apart from the space program, experiments such as Ivan Pavlov's work on conditioned reflexes (known as Pavlov's dogs) became famous worldwide, and the legacy of experiments and results from former scientific and technological world leader Soviet Union is still living on.
Russian avant-garde
The Russian avant-garde is an art movement that started at the beginning of the 20th century and spread further after the October Revolution in 1917. Its main streams were Cubo-Futurism and Constructivism. Abstract and geometrical Constructivism also influenced Kandinsky's and Chagall's works.
Russian fairy tale
"The Giant Turnip" is a popular Russian fairy tale in which a grandfather first tries to pull out a giant turnip by himself, but he can't manage to. So he calls his wife to help him, but they still can't pull out the turnip. So the grandmother calls their granddaughter and together they pull again, but the turnip won't move. So the granddaughter calls the dog to help, but the giant turnip still won't budge. The dog then asks the cat to help, but the five of them still cannot get the turnip out of the ground. Lastly, the cat calls the mouse, and together, they finally manage to pull out the giant turnip. Each time the protagonists try to pull out the turnip, rhythmical shouts are repeated, making the fairy tale very humorous.
Ilya Muromets