Art objects in Nikola-Lenivets Park

Art objects in Nikola-Lenivets Park decorate picturesque landscapes of the Ugra National Park. The first art objects appeared here on the initiative of the artist and sculptor Nicolas Polissky in 2006. By 2022, their number in the Nikola-Lenivets Park exceeded 100 pieces. 

Nikola-Lenivets Art Park is a place where creative people gather every year for the Arkhstanding festival. Architects and artists exchange ideas and jointly implement various projects. Thanks to this, 5-6 new art objects appear in the Nikola-Lenivets Art Park every year, sometimes even more. The Arkhstanding Festival in Nikola-Lenivets is usually held at the end of July. 

Art critic Irina Kulik wrote about the first Arkhstanding festival in 2006: "The objects of "Arkhstanding" are conceived as temporary, but they do not have the random ephemerality of the remnants of the picnic, which must be removed immediately after the festival, nor the commodity self-sufficiency that allows them to be taken out of the landscape, as from a showcase, and transferred to any other place. The works of the festival participants do not flirt with their foreignness to the landscape and do not seek to subjugate it to themselves, but simply share its being." 

It was a declaration of intent, rather grandiloquent, but after many years it must be admitted that the plans of the organizers of the Arkhstanding festival were largely realized. The most iconic art objects of the Nikola Lenivets Art Park greatly adorn the landscapes of the Ugra National Park and make it one of the most interesting places in the Kaluga Region. 

The most famous art objects of the Nikola-Lenivets Park were made by Nikolai Polissky, the initiator of the creation of an art park on the banks of the Ugra River. In 2006, an art object Lighthouse was built at the foot of the hill where the village of Nikola-Lenivets is located. It really harmonizes perfectly with the surrounding landscape. The Ugra River makes a beautiful bend here, and the Lighthouse greatly decorates the surroundings. On the hillside above the Lighthouse there is an art object Nikolino Ear. Artists say that there you can "listen to silence" and feel harmony with nature.   

Two other well-known art objects are called Beaubourg and the Universal Mind. Beaubourg looks like ventilation pipes. The Universal Mind resembles the human brain. You need to go there on the field among wooden columns resembling rockets. 

Various architects from Russia and other countries have created dozens of other art objects in the Nikola-Lenivets Art Park: the Rotunda, the Pavilion of Cones, the Gilded Taurus, the Bernarsconi Arch, the White Gate, Ugruan, the Mausoleum of Dreams and many others.  

It is impossible to see all the art objects of Nikola-Lenivets Park in 1-2 days, and visitors do not set such a goal. People come here to relax, to communicate with colleagues, to exchange experiences. Many art objects are located in the fields, near the campsites of the Nikola-Lenivets Art Park.