According to the Chinese zodiac, 2021 is a year of the Ox. VDNH publishes a selection of sculpted and painted images of the New Year's sign that can be found on VDNH premises. Also included are denizens of the Urban Farm, the bull Baron with family and the Moskvarium's bull sharks.
Fighter with Bull
The sculpture Fighter with Bull by Naum Kongisser features VDNH's most eloquent bull image. Mounted on the roof of Pavilion No. 51 Meat Industry, the sculpture and its pedestal exceed eight metres in height. The mighty bull is held on a chain by a man wearing ordinary work clothes and high boots. The bull's intent gaze is directed downward. The animal's leg is lifted as if it were about to take a jump over the ledge. The sculpture brings to mind the mythical labour of Heracles in capturing the Cretan Bull. There are four other bull heads on the front of the building, serving as continuations of the column capitals. The view of the pavilion with multiple images of the year's sign is part of VDNH's New Year themed virtual postcard series available for sending on the VDNH Mediatheque website.
National Bulls
There are more bull and cow images on the fronts of the nation pavilions. For instance, there are a few such images left of the entrance to Pavilion No. 11 of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Several 1954 bas-reliefs on the theme of cattle farming and farm machinery were discovered here during restoration work. The images were sculpted by Hasbulat Askar-Sarydja. For decades, the images remained concealed under the curtain wall that was built when the Kazakh SSR exposition was superseded by Metallurgy. The pavilion's original architectural look was restored in a recent reconstruction project. One more bull is to be found on the fresco above the entrance to Pavilion No. 18 Republic of Belarus. The fresco features scenes from the life of the Republic of Belarus in Soviet time. The fresco is the work of the artists Oksana Pavlenko and Bela Wits.
Paintings by Boris Shcherbakov
A herd of bulls and cows grazing by a river is the subject of two paintings by well-known Soviet artist Boris Shcherbakov, painted for the Soviet Union's No. 1 exhibition complex. One was painted in 1954 for the lobby of Pavilion No. 51 Meat Industry. The other painting, dated 1958, was discovered during preparations for the renovation of Pavilion No. 42 Animal Husbandry. Located on the metal structure of the high dome ceiling, the painting Meat and Dairy Industry in the USSR went largely unnoticed for decades. The artist's autograph in the bottom right-hand corner of the canvas helped identify the painting's creator.
Baron the Bull and his family
A zebu family comprising a bull named Baron and a small herd of cows inhabit the VDNH Urban Farm. Baron is one of the biggest animals on the Farm and also the most exotic, being of the humped ox breed. Despite his imposing size, stern look and intimidating horns, Baron is really a gentle and kind animal. Baron and his wife Tigra were among the first animals to inhabit the Farm. They have given birth to five calves in five years, and are expecting another in spring.
Bulls of the Sea
VDNH's Moskvarium Centre of Oceanography and Marine Biology acquired a few Japanese bull sharks in preparation for the imminent year of the ox. These specimens of marine fauna do resemble bulls with the little horn-like protuberances above their eyes, and the skin flab around the nose, looking like the nostrils of a horned farm animal. The marine predators have been placed in pool No. 58 Stingrays and Sharks, which exceeds 58 square metres in size. The pool replicates the ecosystem of the waters off the Pacific coast. Some other ox-related inhabitants of the Moskvarium are cow-nosed and cowtail stingrays, cowfish and the small fish called sculpin, which are known as bullfish in Russia, including the rare rock bullfish, which are on the Russian endangered species list. A pre-2021 video sampler of all marine species somehow related to the coming year's zodiac sign will be posted on the Moskvarium's YouTube channel and its social media profiles on Instagram, Facebook and VKontakte at noon on 25 December.