Altn Boskh Golden Gate

The arch, about fifteen metres high, spans the Alley of Heroes not far from Lenin Square. It was put up in 1998 for the Chess Olympiad and named Altn Boskh, the golden threshold. The structure is made in the spirit of eastern gates: red columns, multi-tiered roofs with upturned edges, gilded details and painted panels. The arch carries twenty-eight paintings showing the history of the Kalmyks from their nomadic past to the Soviet and modern periods, in effect an illustrated chronicle of the people brought out onto the street. By local custom you should pass under the gate unhurriedly, and then it brings luck and cleanses the traveller; that is why almost nobody hurries past the arch. Lamps and low sculptures of guardian lions stand along the sides of the alley. In the evening the gate is floodlit and the paintings can be read from a distance, while by day the colours look especially dense against the steppe sky.

Address

улица им. Номто Очирова, Элиста

On the map