Amazing and beautiful Elista
Last year, a close friend of mine came to visit me and gave me a small Buddha figurine. I was surprised by such an exotic oriental gift and of course I was curious where, they say, such a figurine came from? A friend assured me that she did not go to India or Japan at all, but simply went on an excursion to Elista over the weekend.
To be honest, I am not particularly interested in history and geography, I only know that the Republic of Kalmykia is somewhere near Volgograd, but I did not think that there could be something exciting and interesting there.
Over a cup of tea, a friend began to share her impressions of the trip. And her story was so vivid that I myself was infected by her mood and I wanted to visit. According to her, it turned out that everything there was amazing: both nature and people and mysterious Buddhist temples. Okay, so be it, my daughter and I decided to go there as soon as spring comes.
And on April 5.2014, the sun had just dawned, we came to Lenin Square and saw a small bus with travelers like us.
It was pouring rain and the spring wind was piercing as always. When we drove up to the border of the Kalmyk Republic, we saw a stele with figures of saigas and the inscription "Republic of Kalmykia". We decided to take a photo. The wind was so strong that it seemed to jump up and take you far into the steppe.
Immediately, as soon as we crossed the border, the sun came out, and the asphalt became neater.
In just 4 hours we drove into Elista. The city is located in a lowland and immediately among the gray roofs, we saw the golden dome of the main Buddhist temple. A few minutes, winding through the streets of spring Elista, our bus drove up to khurul. This amazing Buddhist shrine suddenly appeared among the trees and houses. We all gasped! It was impossible to contain his surprise. Imagine - a tall white temple with a golden dome rushes into the blue-blue sky. I saw a lot of different temples and simply beautiful buildings, but here I felt something eternal. As if the soul rushed into the infinite space.
You can enter the altar hall only when you take off your shoes and put on long skirts or tie scarves around your hips - this is the tradition. When we went inside, a huge golden Buddha appeared before our eyes. And all around the walls were painted with various Buddhist deities, saints and Tibetan mantras. There were many flowers around the altar, lamps and incense burned. I had a complete feeling that I was not in Russia, but somewhere in the mysterious east.
The temple called "Golden Abode of Buddha Shakyamuni" was built in 2006, it is very young, but the great power of this ancient, mysterious culture is already felt in it. It feels the universal peace and all this universal silence looks, smiling mysteriously, a huge Buddha. My daughter and I sat on a bench and sat in complete silence for about 20 minutes. Kalmyks walked around, silently recited their mantras, the guide told something, but my thoughts were somewhere far away, in some beautiful other world, full of peace and love . I did not want to leave the temple at all, but time was running out - I had to see other sights of the city.
We left the twilight of the temple and immediately closed our eyes from the bright steppe sun. The guide Olga said that we could still walk around the temple and spin the prayer wheels and make a wish, which we did.
The next attraction we visited was the monument to Ostap Bender, which is, imagine, on the avenue in honor of his name. Yes, yes, I think this is the only avenue in the world named after Ostap Bender, the protagonist of the book "12 Chairs", "the great chess player and schemer. " The avenue leads to the Chess City or "City Chess", which is why it is named after the most famous literary chess hero.
City-Chess is a cozy town on the outskirts of Elista, built for the 1998 World Chess Olympiad. It even has a museum and portraits of all world chess champions.
And after visiting the Chess Town, we also visited the museum of repressions. This is a sad and tragic story for all Kalmyks, and the museum told us about how the Kalmyks were repressed during the war and taken to Siberia. The museum complex is a hill and along a spiral path, you need to climb to the top of the hill, where there is a monument dedicated to this tragic event. The author of the monument is the famous sculptor Ernst Neizvestny.
Then we went to look around the center, again spun a large prayer wheel in the central square, took pictures with the Buddha statue, passed under the Golden Gate, where you can also make wishes. The city center surprised us with many unusual sculptures.
Elista, 7 Wonders Pagoda
After all the sights, we went to have lunch. On the advice of the guide Olga, we visited a cafe in the very center, next to the market. Here you can eat cheap European food, as well as taste the national Kalmyk cuisine.
In general, Elista seemed to us a charming place. The city is very clean and tidy. Even the air is not gassed. For anyone who hasn't been there yet, I highly recommend it. Elista is located 300 km from Volgograd. You can also get there from Stavropol and Astrakhan. Come, you won't regret it!
