The monumental sculpture will be created by Dasha Namdakov on Olkhon

The new monumental work of the recognized sculptor Dasha Namdakov will be installed in the summer of 2017 on the island of Olkhon. The sculptural composition “Baikal-Bay” or “Keeper of Baikal” is a joint author’s project of the Dasha Namdakov Art Fund (Moscow) and the Irkutsk “V. Bronstein Gallery”.

Dashi Namdakov

Sketch of the sculpture Guardian of Baikal

A well-known Buryat master, a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Arts, was already the author of monumental compositions in national traditions established in Kazakhstan, Transbaikalia, the Kemerovo region, in the Republic of Tatarstan and Tuva. For the unique landscape of Olkhon, the master created a sculpture "The Guardian of Baikal", which should be installed on the highest point of the island - Cape Khoboy. Over time, around the sculptural composition, at its foot, events related to folk art can take place, temporary exhibitions and concert venues can be located, making the cultural project, thus, the center of ecotourism.

Nadezhda Komarova, art critic of the Dashi Namdakova Art Fund: “Many ancient legends are connected with Lake Baikal, our ancestors once worshiped him, and modern inhabitants of the region also venerate him. By deifying nature, people animate and decorate special trees growing along its banks, pile stones into pyramids, creating “obo” - cult “places of power” where they perform rituals, paying tribute to traditions and emphasizing a person’s special attitude to eternal beauty… Dasha chose a place on an elevated bank with a steep slope, where old larch trees were miraculously preserved. Near these sacred trees, a bronze sculpture will be installed in the form of an ancient tree, the crown of which has turned into a petrified "crown" and pellets of Baikal pebbles are stuck in it. From the highest point of the hill opens a panorama of the lake, a picture of the majestic nature of this region. "

According to the sculptor, in the composition, the viewer will be able to see the life story of this tree: from a sprout that has broken out of coastal pebbles, despite terrible winds, to a gray-haired hundred-year-old trunk, with a clumsy bark, in the deep furrows of which the features of the old man - the mythical “Baikal Guardian” are guessed. or a Buryat shaman in vestments and a crown from the horns of a sacred animal.

Victor Bronstein, philanthropist, collector, financial partner of the project: “The sculpture of Dasha Namdakova can be a miraculous impulse to save Baikal. Because of the barbaric deforestation, a huge number of streams supplying Lake Baikal and small rivers suffer, and Mongolia also threatens to build a cascade of power plants on the main nurse of Lake Baikal - the Selenga River and bleed the Great Elder. It is very important that this project interested very high leaders of the Russian state and they expressed a desire to participate in the opening of a unique sculpture, which through its brothers in central London, China and other countries will necessarily signal to the whole world about Baikal’s troubles and cry for help ”.