September 22 is an unusual holiday. Today is World Elephant Day. This holiday was created by the environmentalists concerned about the decline in the number of these animals. It was first celebrated rather recently - in 2009, however, this date quickly took pride of place in the calendar. 

The purpose of the creation of World Elephant Day is to preserve the population, to introduce measures aimed at increasing the herd population, dissemination of information about the urgent need for their protection, drawing attention to the problem of poaching, illegal capture and extermination. ...

Ever since the Stone Age, when elephants were represented by ancient petroglyphs and cave art, they have been depicted in various forms of creativity, including paintings, sculptures, etc.Now it seems funny that in the Middle Ages, European artists knew about the existence of elephants, but they never saw them live,therefore, the animals had to be drawn according to the descriptions of travellers.

A giant creature with a long pipe instead of a nose, with huge tusks and no knee joints ...These images of elephants have been found at various times throughout Europe.

The elephant is one of the most often depicted in ancient Russian miniature animals and, constant character of stories about distant countries. However, since the elephant is an exotic animal and it was not possible to meet it on the territory of Russia, descriptions of its properties are often full of mythical details, and the images sometimes they have nothing in common with their prototype at all. An elephant could have been painted without large ears, claws appeared on its legs, and sometimes even its main external feature - the trunk – disappeared.

In the habitat of elephants, they personify wisdom, strength and prudence.

The elephant serves as an emblem of royal power in India, China and Africa and symbolizes the qualities necessary for a good king -dignity, discernment, intelligence, patience, as well as loyalty, peacefulness, longevity, prosperity, happiness.Hindu legend says that once upon a time elephants flew, but they were cursed and lost this gift.Another legend (retold by Joseph Rudyard Kipling) says that earlier the elephant had a short trunk.Once the crocodile grabbed the elephant by the trunk, the elephant managed to escape, but the trunk stretched out and remained so forever.

The elephant in Hinduism is a symbol of the influence of sacred wisdom, prudence, royal dignity, invincible power, longevity, reason.The expression "To have white elephant" implies that someone owns an unusual, expensive thing and will never give it away.Only the king could own the white elephants.They lived in luxury, never worked, they had their own servants, and people in white robes served them food in silver troughs.

Elephant in Buddhism is a symbol of spiritual knowledge and stability.

Queen Maya learned about the imminent birth of her son, the future Buddha, in a prophetic dream, in which a charming little white elephant from the Golden Mountain entered her.The elephant, as an art object, makes us think about history, nature, the world in which we live,maybe even smile and turn our thoughts towards childhood.

According to feng shui, an elephant figurine is a powerful talisman that attracts positive Qi into the house. The elephant is a symbol of peace, kindness, wisdom, trust and harmony. The main purpose of this talisman is to protect the house from negative energy, to create an atmosphere of peace and stability in space.

The album is posted in our Photo Gallery that presents items from the museum Collection exposition. These are the images of elephants made from a variety of materials.