New thematic exhibition "Oriental Calendar. Symbols of the Year” was opened in the museum Collection at the end of December. A photo report about the exhibition opening is posted in the museum Photo Gallery.

This thematic project is dedicated to the phenomenon that unites all cultures of the world -- the New Year and its symbolic embodiment in art.

The exhibition features works from the "Lapidary Art and Bone Carving Art" section of the museum Сollection exposition and the best works of the participants of the print graphic completion that the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts has held annually for nearly 40 years.

For thousands of years, the "Oriental" or "Chinese" calendar has dominated in the Far East and South-eastern Asia. The 12 mythological animals are the spear carriers of the ancient sacred ideas about the world order hidden in it. They are the embodiment of the 12 powers of the Universe, which determine the fate of each person and the planet as a whole. For this reason, the images of these animals occupy an important place in the art of Asian countries to this day.
Contemporary lapidary art artisans from all over the world turn to the interpretation of such images as well. In the German town of Idar-Oberstein, located at the foot of the rich Hunsrück Mountains, one of the most important centres of the stone-carving art, several generations of artisans and craftsmen have been making superb, skilful, graceful and refined animal figurines of multifarious precious stones.