The first marble festival in the Irkutsk region is planned to be held at a quarry in Buguldeyka

 

Link on video: 

https://vk.com/video-35929536_456259230

Много лет мраморный карьер стоял заброшенным. Разработка недр вблизи Байкала запрещена. Фото Бориса  Слепнева

At the quarry in Buguldeyka, work may soon begin on the extraction of marble, from which sculptures for the festival will be created. The exhibition itself will be held in the open air and, according to the master's idea, will attract many tourists.

This is what the bottom of the ancient ocean looks like. The marble quarry in the village of Buguldeyka attracts tourists. People come here for beautiful photographs against the background of whitish boulders. Historians say that more than 10 million cubic meters of marble are stored here. And its age is more than two billion years.

The extraction of marble has long been banned - the quarry is located within the boundaries of the Pribaikalsky National Park.

“In Soviet times, Baikal marble was valued. In the early 70s, it was sent to Moscow for finishing work at the Barrikadnaya station of the Moscow Metro, but in the late 70s, the quarry was mothballed,” says correspondent Anastasia Tsygankova.

Alexander Anisimov is a native of the village. He recalls that in those years life in Buguldeyka was in full swing. There was even an airfield. A quarry is part of a large enterprise.

“In the 70s here, in Buguldeyka, life was stormy, there was a city-forming enterprise - the forestry industry, the quarry was a side one. In 1998, this quarry was revived in a new way. After that, it was frozen, mothballed. .- Buguldeyka Alexander Anisimov.

Today, marble was allowed to be used by sculptors for their work. One of the first to come to the quarry was Zhigzhit Bayaskhalanov. He has been studying in Italy for several years at the Academy of Fine Arts at the Faculty of Marble.

"Marble is addictive. It gives you the opportunity to work with yourself. There is a dialogue with marble. Hardness and at the same time softness is a great combination," says sculptor Zhigzhit Bayaskhalanov.

Buguldei marble turned out to be the best material for a new collection of sculptures. Due to the explosive method of extraction, many blocks were damaged and have cracks. Such a material is not suitable for production purposes, but is ideal for sculptures, says Zhigzhit. Here, right on the quarry, the first Marble Festival will be held this year. A whole team of craftsmen will come to the lake shore.

"When I knock, I feel a vibration, a ringing. One feels the years that the marble has lain on the surface, it is felt that the marble has not deteriorated."

Perhaps it is this block that will soon be reborn into the Buryat totem hori, or the head of a bull. During the festival, two or three sculptures will be created here. In the meantime, they will be working on them, the guests will see the finished works of Zhigzhit at an open-air exhibition. And this is just the beginning of a large marble project in Buguldeyka.

“The already mined marble is enough to create a marble processing school. We want to create a workshop in Buguldeyk where we could share our experience,” says sculptor Zhigzhit Bayaskhalanov.

“This territory, Buguldeyka, is one of the main areas for the development of tourism on Baikal. There is a pier here. Ships and yachts can moor here. Naturally, catering is needed here. People need to create normal conditions,” says entrepreneur Alexander Sergeev.

This summer, the whole world can learn about Baikal marble. The author of the project intends to make the festival international. But first you have to fix the "art" of the tourists. Activists have repeatedly come to Buguldeyka to clear this place of inscriptions, but they reappear.