Balballa

myminifactory

From the late 19th century, four ancient stone statues stood tall in the University Grove - revered relics brought from Altai and Kazakhstan. However, during a renovation project in the 1980s, the largest of these statues met its demise, broken by a tractor's careless force. The skilled employees of the laboratory of interdisciplinary archaeological research "Artifact" took on the challenge of reconstructing the damaged stone sculpture. They plan to restore it to its former glory before summer's arrival. These remarkable statues were brought back to Tomsk by professors Vasily Florinsky and Vasily Sapozhnikov in the late 19th century. Each one is a stunning relic, over a thousand years old. The tradition of erecting these stone figures began in the 6th century on the territory of the First Turkic Kaganate - a mighty empire that stretched from Korea in the east to Crimea in the west. These statues personified people who once lived: military nobility, rulers, and wealthy individuals revered by their descendants. In University Grove, there were four statues until the 1980s, with three brought from Kazakhstan and one from Altai. The largest statue, depicting a man sitting in a lotus position with a bird in his hands, was brought from Almaty. Unfortunately, this magnificent piece was broken into two pieces by a tractor during renovation work in 1986. Employees of the Artefact laboratory of interdisciplinary archaeological research emerged victorious in the University's Third Grant Competition for initiative projects and are now working to repair the damaged statue and return it to its former spot in the grove. Nearby, archaeologists will install an informative sign that describes the idols. "This is a unique case where such statues are situated on a university campus," says Evgeny Vodyasov, an employee of the Artifact laboratory. "In Russia, there's nowhere else like this." The team plans to install a stone tablet next to it, which will help explain what these idols represent, when they appeared here, and who they depict. Many people are unaware that these statues are over a thousand years old, and therefore deserve more respect. The reconstructed "stone woman" is approximately 160 centimeters tall and weighs over 500 kilograms. Historians estimate that the reconstruction process will take about a month to complete. By late May or early June, a fourth idol will be unveiled in University Grove, standing proudly in the northern part of the grove alongside two other statues. This remarkable object was carefully scanned by The Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Research in Archaeology "Artefact" of the National Research Tomsk State University.