Museum of Shamanism

Project idea

The principle of my diploma project is a special metaphysical presence of a person in the space of an ethnic group. This language of architecture comes from the projection of the Buryat-Mongolian perception of the Universe. The museum acquires an architectural image repeating the order of the world order of ancient nomads in the form of a ternary composition: the upper circle, where gods and spirits live. The middle circle represents the earthly world, where people and animals live. The lower circle symbolizes the underworld, where evil spirits live. This scheme is completed by a circle encircling the composition - this is a symbol of infinity, cyclicality and interdependence of all things in the Universe. All this forms a Mandala - a map.

Project description

To design the new city structure, I chose Yunost Island, located next to the old center of Ulan-Ude — the center of the national spirit of Buryatia. This area is an untouched natural area, creating a sharp contrast with the surrounding urban environment. My project continues the spiritual axis of the city, running from the Odigitrievsky Cathedral along Lenin Street, uniting three key spheres of life — political (Sovetov Square), commercial (Revolution Square) and spiritual (Odigitrievsky Cathedral and the Museum of Shamanism). Completing this axis, the project forms an independent urban megastructure, in which all elements are interconnected and transform the urban context into a City of Cultures.

Technical information

The Shamanism Museum is a six-stage journey of spiritual transformation, beginning with the rejection of the urban environment and crossing the bridge to the Umai Temple, a symbol of the present, where the metaphysical journey begins. The first floor is the middle world in the form of a cube, reflecting human existence, where emotional purification and the development of intuition take place through exhibitions, educational halls and theatrical performances. On the 5th and 6th floors, a spiritual manifestation unfolds – a meeting with the ancestral tree “serge”, symbolizing the connection with ancestors and preparation for the transition to higher worlds. The final stages include the transition to the otherworldly space and initiation through a meeting with the deities Tengri, Erlik Khan and Ulgen, where a person gains an understanding of his mission and achieves spiritual perfection.