The river Tagus (rio Tejo in Portuguese), with its length of a thousand kilometers the longest of the Iberian peninsula, flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Lisbon, the capital of Portugal.
A walk along the quays of the city guarantees many beautiful views, for example the view of the Vasco da Gama bridge, the longest in Europe, but also - of a completely different nature- the sight of a modest art environment along the river as shown in the photos.
The site is located along a quay along the river named AvenidaRibeira das Naus, near the Cais das Colunas, a place along the river marked by two pillars. where high guests who travel by ship can be welcomed.
The project
The sculpture project started mid 2016. Two pensioners, both in their early sixties and living in Lisbon, had met each other, and it appeared that both were interested in art as made by Picasso, Dalí or Miro.
They are known only by their first names, Míro and Pédro. Although both self-taught, they decided to try out to make sculptures themselves, especially by stacking and decorating stones.
The place along the river, with an abundance of stones within reach, became both their studio and exhibition space.
Míro is the one who takes care of a balanced stack of stones, Pédro does the decorative part, using nail polish to bring forth the images.
They create sculptures with different dimensions, shapes and colors, and it always about a "balanced image with a touch of our magic and the magic of stone", as Pédro said in an interview.
In 2018, when this article was edited, Míro and Pédro had been actively involved in their project for over a year and a half and every day they came together at the waterfront to build new sculptures and to repair those that collapsed at night.
With their work they attracted a lot of interest from the people coming along. The spectators were generally enthusiastic and sometimes make applause.
One of the charms of this collection of stone sculptures is the constant changeability: some sculptures collapse and disappear, new ones are added, others are repainted and given a different appearance.....
Of course, the vulnerability of such an art environment is so great, that it undoubtedly will disappear as soon as the makers no longer will or can take care of it. In case this should happen, the entry in this documentation is a modest contribution to keep the memory of the site alive. Documentation * Article (January 2017) As pedras pintadas junto ao Cais das Colunas on Flores, Cores e Amores weblog
* Some articles published in local newspapers in 2018 are currently no longer available
first published February 2018, last revised October 2024
Míro and Pédro Stone sculptures along the river Tago Avenida Ribeira das Naus Lisbon, Portugal could be seen from the street
this picture and the next one by unknown photographer from website udivitelno.com
The picture above shows the temple of all religions, a singular architecture located in the small community of Staroye Arakchino, a suburb of the city of Kazan in the republic of Tatarstan, Russia. The story of this complex of church buildings is closely related to Ildar Khanov, but his younger brother Ilgiz Khanov, born in 1948, is also involved in this site, especially after Ildar's death.
Life and works
Ildar Khanov (1940-2013), born in Staroye Arakchino, as a child had a near-death experience in which he saw Jesus, who sent him back to earth saying that the boy was needed there. Although in relation with this experience Khanov developed skills as a healer and also acted as such, he opted for a career as a visual artist. He graduated in 1960 from the Kazan Art College, then studied until 1968 at the Moscow State Institute Surikov. In the same year he was admitted to the Union of Artists of the USSR.
Until 1994, the year his life took a different turn, Khanov was a productive artist, creating hundreds of paintings and a variety of monumental sculptures. In those years he also visited India and Tibet, immersed himself in Eastern medicine and Buddhism.
With the famous Russian artist Swetoslav Roerich (1904-1933), who spent a large part of his life in India, he discussed the idea of building an ecumenical temple, an impracticable plan in the then USSR.
That changed when in the early 1990s the Soviet Union collapsed and in 1994 the time was there that Khanov would start to realize his plan. The story goes that Khanov had a dream in which Jesus appeared who ordered him to build the eucumenic temple, whereupon Khanov began to level the terrain outside the parental home and in a short time a friend came by who promised to send 15 masons to assist him in doing the job. Ildar Khanov's brother Ilgiz has related that the earliest beginning of the temple complex was in the late 1970s. Then Ilgiz built a fence around the parental house with a part from stone that later became the wall of one of the temples and when Ildar in 1994 began his construction, two domes of the future building were already present.
view (2015) from the air
(screenprint from the video listed in the documentation)
The realization of the complex
Anyway, it was Ildar who in 1994 took the lead in the construction process. He had an education in visual art, but in the field of architecture he must have been self-taught.
As can be seen on above aerial picture the complex located between a main road and a railway line, in 2015 included a variety of buildings, covering a rather large area of some 6 hectares (14.8 acres).
this picture and the next five are screen prints
from the video (2016) in the documentation by Lyudmila Koledova
Khanov undoubtedly got assistance in realizing the various structures. In publications about the temple complex there is talk of a foreman who was involved in the construction, as well as of the help of people from Khanov's practice as a healer.
the Egyptian hall
Although the realization of the complex was not undisputed, it may be that in the purchase of building material Khanov got help from interested parties through donations in the form of materials or in monetary amounts.
Buddhist scenes
However, decorating the exteriors and interiors of the altogether sixteen buildings, representing just as many religions, in all probability was done by Khanov himself. The domes, pinnacles and upright walls, usually provided with geometrically arranged patterns, are decorated in a multi-colored fashion or provided with mosaic.
The indoor spaces have been embellished with frescoes and sculptures, in general with a religious connotation in line with the religion to which the building in question is dedicated. One encounters Islamic, Jewish and Christian symbols, a variety of flowers and rings and the Masonic eye is also present.
In furnishing the rooms use was made of materials or utensils that had become superfluous elsewhere. For example, the hall of the Catholic Church is furnished with chairs from a theater that renewed its original interior. Such venues were used, for example, for charity concerts.
ceiling of the Catholic Church
Khanov passed away in 2013
When Khanov passed away in February 2013, the complex was not yet completed, but it had largely reached the size as indicated on the aerial photograph. This means that Khanov has done a great job in the almost twenty years he (with the help of others) has been active in creating the temple complex.
Khanov had legated the complex to his family, but the foreman who was involved in its construction thought that the complex belonged to him and confiscated it. The family started a lawsuit, which lasted for several years, until early 2017 judgment was made in favor of the family. During these years of legal battle some further architectural development of the Temple took place.
Then in the early morning of April 10 2017, the day before the foreman had to evacuate the site by court order, a large fire arose in the Temple, that damaged an interior area of some 200 m². It turned out that this fire was lit by the foreman, who was found dead in the temple complex.
Plans for the future
scale model of the complex as in a plan for the future
Ilgiz Khanov now took on the task of defining the future of the complex. First of all he arranged the repairing of the damage caused by the fire. Meanwhile some essential repairs have been carried out, but -as visitors reported- end 2017 the effects of the fire were still visible.
Khanov's plans for the future include a name change: the complex would henceforth be referred to as the Center of Tolerance. And then he aims to establish an art academy especially for children and also a renewed Taiwan Pagoda, which in his view might attract a lot of Russian visitors interested in East Asian architecture.
Behind the Pagoda a multi functional hall with a glass roof could be built in which all kind of cultural events could be organized. A specific feature of the future complex would be a building with three turrets, each with a symbol on top, an orthodox cross, an Islamic half moon and a symbol of the sun.
However, such plans would require substantial investments and although Khanov was convinced that the complex could attract many entrance-paying visitors, the approached authorities appeared reluctant to participate in investments, so it remains to be seen if these plans can be realized.
Currently the site can be visited, but just some six interior rooms are open to the public.
The Republic of Tatarstan in terms of tourist visits scored in 2017 the fourth place of regions in Russia (apart from Moscow and St Petersburg): 278,000 of whom 185,000 came to see with their own eyes the Kremlin in Kazan and the Temple of all religions
Documentation
* Article (May 2015) by Eduard Zinatullin in regional website Kazancat.ru about the earliest history of the complex
* Article (July 2017) by Yulia Shamsutdinova in the same website about plans for the future
Videos
The internet has a variety of videos of the site. The following two give a good general impression:
* Video by Lyudmila Koledova (YouTube, 5'44 , September 2016)
* Video by CGASL showing the complex from the air (YouTube, 6'38". August 2015)
first published February 2018, last revised January 2025
Ildar Khanov
Temple of all religions
Staroye Arakchino, Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia
can be visited, but just a limited number of interior rooms is open for visitors
This miniature village is located outside of St Michel-Mont-Mercure, a community of some 1700 inhabitants in the Vendée area in France. Its name refers to a 288 m high hill on the spot, the highest of the region.
Life and work
The mini village, a project begun 2006 and still under construction, is a creation of Gilles Rantière, born in 1948 and a mason probably during all of his life.
a school
The mini village, still modest in size, currently includes a town hall, a school. a church, a mill, a wash-house (a lavoir in French), a barn and a little bridge. To construct these small structures Rantière would mainly use granite stones from nearby Haute Bocage, a hilly area with deep valleys interspersed with rocky ground and granite hills.
the church with the priest in front
The small constructions are finished in detail. For example, the inside of the church pictured above is equipped with benches and a priest at the altar. The school (second picture from above) has tables and a teachers desk.
And in the town hall (first picture from above) the mayor is present, as well as a bride and a groom, both dressed festively for their wedding day.
Rantière would place these characters before installing the roofs of the buildings.
the stable
Those who are familiar with the field of French art environments might think that the characters in the above photos in some way feel familiar.
And right they are. These small scale sculptures have been created by Vivi Fortin, who already has an entry in this weblog.
a miller in front of a flour mill
Above picture shows this clearly. The miller carrying a bag of flour (= former French president Nicolas Sarkozy) is typically in Fortin's style.
Rantiére and Fortin live close together in neighboring villages. Their continuous collaboration not only adds an extra charm to this art environment, but is also quite unique in the field of art environments, which in general mostly knows isolated working self-taught artists.
Rantière in front of the flour mill (February 2018)
Incidentally, the flour mill is also a recent creation, completed early 2018.
this picture shows the side of the the house along the road
The two frescoes on the street side of the house (by car you would pass them in a flash) just form a small part of the total number of frescoes included in this art environment that's located in the neighbourhood Launoy in the community of Blennes, France.
view of the front an side wall of the annex
left of the entrance gate
Life and works
These frescoeswere created by Gérard Claeys (1927-2015), who had a career with the French army. He was involved in the war of France in French Indochina (1946-1954) and he later served in French Guiana, currently still an outermost region of France.
Retired from the army in 1972 he settled in Blennes, where he first remodeled the house he had acquired, after which in the 1980s he started decorating it.
the inner side wall of the annex
The short sides of the house and the annex face the street, the inner long sides surround an elongated courtyard, while the long outside of the annex flanks a side street.
All together a large area of walls, which Claeys gradually completely covered with mosaic frescoes.
this picture and the next two show scenes on the outer side
wall of the annex, along the side street impasse du Puy
As can be seen on the pictures, the wall decorations are constructed from rectangular plates.
Claeys designed his decorations on paper, after which in his workshop he transferred the sketch to the plates. Then he applied the scene with mosaic on the plates, after which he fixed the plates to the appropriate wall.
In his mosaic creations he applied a variety of materials, such as fragments of glass, tiling, earthenware, marble, sandstone, flint, mirror glass and seashells.
The scenes Claeys portrayed in general are rather realistic, such as people in all kinds of situations, possibly farmers and peasant women, but also helmeted figures who could represent warriors or knights.
the outer side wall of the annex, detail
The next images give an impression of the decorations that are applied to the walls along the inner court between the house and the annex.
To date, the work of Claeys knows no mention in the usual French publications about art environments and there are no interpretative discussions of his creations available on the internet.
To my knowledge Sophie Lepetit is the one who recently on her weblog for the first time brought this art environment to the attention of the general public.
Apart from decorating the walls of the property, Claeys has also bee active in making stand alone artworks. He made a variety of drawings, paintings, mosaics, low reliefs and wooden sculptures. After Claeys died in 2015, his artistic legacy is cared for by his widow Claudine Claeys Documentation
