The art installations on this tour are made of vines and wooden pieces with elements of landscape design in the form of wooden sculptures. The sculptures themselves are an allegory describing the interconnection between people and nature. Tsmok will be the first of the sculptures to meet tourists, while Puschevik, Bagnik, Arzhaveinik and Polevik are followed by spirits, mermaids and other mythical creatures that also have their places on the route. A natural labyrinth will be the final point of the one and half kilometre route.
“The official opening of the eco-route is planned for November of this year. The new tourist attraction will start with the museum of mythology. Its creation, as well as the construction of the farm, is carried out in parallel with the pathway, but will take a little longer to complete. These facilities will be opened in 2017,” staff at the reserve explained.
The art objects were created during a plein-air workshop of designers and sculptors, which was held in the reserve in August. The event was one part of the Ecotourism in Berezinsky: Innovative Approaches, Partnership Models initiative, the ‘green’ consciousness’ of the project was intended to promote the transition of the Republic of Belarus to a greener economy, which is financed by the EU and implemented by UNDP. It is about a centre of mythological tourism, created in the Berezinsky Reserve. The idea is to inform visitors about nature and ecology through the use of various mythical creatures which our ancestors associated with the world around them.
Members of the Belarusian Union of Artists, Belarusian Union of Designers, teachers of the Akhremchik gymnasium-college of arts and representatives of the Belarusian State Academy of Arts took part in the plein-air. Well-known Belarusian designer Dmitry Sursky was its supervisor.
By Alexander Pimenov
