23.05.2020

We are marking the World Turtle Day by a new album in the museum Photo Gallery

The 23rd of May is marked in many countries as the World Turtle Day. This creeper symbolizes wisdom, wealth and longevity.

The peculiar holiday was established in 2000 at the initiative of the American Tortoise Rescue Society. The organization itself was established by the people that were preoccupied by the issue of turtles’ population extinction near Malibu (California, USA).

The aim of the holiday was to draw the attention of the neighbouring community to the turtles’ endangered population caused by people close proximity.

Turtles have always adopted a high profile in the mythology and cultural life of many countries. Since ancient time, the signs on the tortoiseshell had been interpreted as certain graphic symbols that carried a sacred meaning. In the Chinese symbolics, a turtle personifies the image of the Universe. Its square shell symbolizes the Earth; and being rounded from above it means the Sky. A turtle is a worshiped symbol of longevity; it is associated with the idea of immortality and equation of vital force. It had been considered a sacred animal since ancient time. It belongs to oldest group of reptiles, which survived to our days, almost without undergoing significant changes due to a kind of defensor – a tortoiseshell that hid its body.

The turtle is one of the most mysterious ancient reptiles living almost everywhere on earth. It was endowed with the ability to contact another world. The image of a turtle inspired both ancient and contemporary masters – it was figured in painting and graphics, sculpture, lapidary works of art and in jewelry.

For World Turtle Day, we prepared a photo album with the images of turtle from the museum Collection exposition.

Source: https://www.livemaster.ru/topic/913223-cherepaha-v-iskusstve