In the Maloderbetovsky district, at the entrance to Kalmykia, after two months of restoration work, a famous monument to saigas was unveiled.
The symbol of the republic was erected in the late 1970s by the People’s Artist of the RSFSR, Honored Art Worker of the Kalmyk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, laureate of the State Prize of the KASSR named after OI Gorodovikov, the founder of modern professional Kalmyk plastic art Nikita Sandzhiev. This is the first major reconstruction since then.
Arltan Naurzov, an indifferent native of the village of Khanata, now living in Moscow, was worried for a long time about the deplorable state of the entrance structure, and since the beginning of the summer he has independently engaged in its reconstruction.
The young man’s idea was supported by the head of the regional administration Sarang Lidzhiev, the sports club “Dzhangar” (Moscow), the clergyman Gen Sanan, relatives and friends.
The authorities of the republic, regional and rural municipalities, local power grids, designers, volunteers Baatr Baltykov, Vladimir Ubushiev, and Arltan’s uncle Badma Alekseevich Lidzhiev took part in the large-scale work.
At the opening ceremony of the monument to the Akhlachi (head) of the district, he thanked the initiative group, Gen Sanan read a prayer, consecrated the stele.
Now the entrance to the republic through the northern gate goes, as before, from the updated saiga figures running in the rays of the rising sun. The homeland begins with them …
