In this section I present several Sakha symbols in Yakutsk. I include not only symbols that are visible on the surface of the city’s architecture, but also buildings with the purpose of preserving Sakha culture, for example, the Museum of History and Culture of the People of the North. (Якутский государственный музей истории и культуры народов Севера им. Ем. Ярославского)
In March 1887, the Yakutsk regional committee decided to build a local museum, and the first exhibition opened on June 7, 1891. Since then it has performed as a regional natural history museum. Currently, not only the nature of Yakutia, such as the flora of the taiga, tundra and arctic zone, but also its history from the Paleolithic age up to nowadays are exhibited in the museum. In recent years, the museum has provided its extensive archeological history of Yakutia from culture to animals. It is one of the largest museums of northeastern Russia.
In addition to the museum, there is the Oyunskiy Sakha Academic Theater. (Саха академический театр им. П. А. Ойунского)
On the 17th of October, 1925, the Sakha national troupe first presented its premiere of “Evil spirit” in this theater. In 1934, the theater was named after P. A. Oyunskiy, an outstanding Yakut poet and dramatist. All the plays in the theater are performed in the Sakha language, and there is simultaneous translation in Russian. They play traditional Sakha shows, such as “Kyys Djebeliye (Keys Debbie),” which was awarded the National prize “Golden mask” within the nomination of “the Prize of theatre critics.” The current director is Anatoly Nikolaev and the chief stage manager is Ruslan Tarakhovskaya.
A scene from a Sakha play
In Yakutsk there are several statues that represent Sakha culture as well. One is a flying horseman, the statue of Nurgun Bootur in Victory Square.
Nurgun Bootur is a hero of the Sakha national epic tale, “Olonkho,” which was declared in 2005 by UNESCO to be a “masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity.” The Olonkho has numerous legends about ancient warriors, deities, spirits, and animals. The best known and the most famous one is about Nurgun Bootur, which consists of more than 36,000 verses. The statue of Nurgun Bootur clearly represents Sakha values.
The statue of Kulakovskiy Alexey Eliseevich is another important Sakha symbol. Kulakovskiy is one of the founders of Sakha literature, and his poem, Байанай алгыһа” (‘Заклинание Байаная” “Spell Bayan” (Bayani – deity of the hunt), which was written in 1900, was the first poem in the Sakha language. On March 1st 2002, the statue of Kulakovskiy was unveiled in the Square of Friendship. The sculptor of the monument, Romanov (Романов Афанасий Афанасьевич), explained that the tree on the left symbolizes the Sakha people who settled along the Lena River and adapted to the cold and permafrost.
Another statue of with Sakha symbols is the monument of Platon Oyunski, one of the founders of modern Sakha literature and a Soviet Sakha statesman. He collected and published a number of Olonkho epic tales as well. The statue was built in 2013 in the area of Ordzhonikidze. In addition, a memorial arch, where excerpts of his books are written in the Sakha language, stands behind the statue of Oyunski.
Works Cited
Information of the Museum of History and Culture of The People of The North is from http://www.russianmuseums.info/M1275
Pictures of the Museum of History and Culture of The People of The North is from by myself
Information of the Oyunskovo Sakha Academic Theater is from http://ysia.ru/spravka/?p=312 and http://ysia.ru/spravka/?p=312 (Photo by O. Nikolaev)
The first picture of the statue of Nurgun Bootur is from the book,
Республика Саха (Якутия) : навстречу III тысячелетию (Москва: Пента, 2000)
The republic of Sakha towards the third millennium (Moscow: Penta, 2000)
The second picture of Nurgun Bootur is from http://s-vfu.ru/en/Institutes/SRIO/epic/
The information of the statue of Kulakovskiy is from http://www.yakutskhistory.net/%D0%BA%D1%83%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%82%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B0/%D1%8F%D0%BA%D1%83%D1%82%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F-%D1%81%D0%BA%D1%83%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BF%D1%82%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B0/
https://www.moya-planeta.ru/reports/view/pamyatniki_rodnye_kazhdomu_yakutyaninu_6900/
The picture of the statue of Kulakovskiy is from http://xn--80aaa0cnog0a4d2a.xn--p1ai/pamyatniki/skulptury-lyudi-zhivotnye/pamyatnik-osnovopolozhniku-yakutskoj-literatury-a-e-kulakovskomu/
The information and pictures of the statue of Platon Oyunski are from http://xn--80aaa0cnog0a4d2a.xn--p1ai/pamyatniki/skulptury-lyudi-zhivotnye/pamyatnik-osnovopolozhniku-yakutskoj-sovetskoj-literatury-vidnomu-gosudarstvennomu-i-obshhestvennomu-deyatelyu-p-a-ojunskomu/
