Republic of Kalmykia

Life

Today, December 7, 2010, the head of the Republic of Kalmykia Aleksey Orlov took part in the opening of the road along the street Arshanskaya in Elista.

The opening ceremony was attended by the Mayor of Elista Vyacheslav Namruev, head Elista Mayor Nikolai Andreyev, the residents of the city of Elista, representatives of public organizations.
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Kalmyk New Year!

Zul!
The official program of the Kalmyk New Year celebration in Elista, capital of Kalmykia

On the 1st of December at 9 a.m. a solemn prayer “Thousand offerings to Lama Zonkava” is served in the central buddhist temple “Golden Abode of Buddha Shakyamuni”.

The first part of the prayer is to end at 11 a.m. The laymen are treated with Kalmykian tea, boortsog flat cakes and sweets by the monks of the central khurul.

At 12.00 Concert on the territory of central temple Read the rest of this entry »

Tomas Van Houtryve about Kalmykia. Russian version

Earlier this year, I visited one of the most improbable places on Earth, the little-known Republic of Kalmykia.

Located on the arid steppe south of Volgograd, Kalmykia is Europe’s only Buddhist republic.

It also bills itself as a Mecca for chess players. It is the headquarters of the World Chess Federation (FIDE), and a suburb has been built near the capital, Elista, expressly for holding tournaments and offering vacation homes to former champions. The game is mandatory for all Kalmyk school children. Read the rest of this entry »

Moscow, September 8 (Itar-Tass) – Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, when he steps down as head of the republic of Kalmykia, will remain in the republic to focus on three social and charity projects.

“I was born in Kalmykia, I have worked here, and I am not going to leave, I’m staying in the republic to focus on three projects,” he told a news conference on Wednesday. Read the rest of this entry »

From September 27 to October 2, will be held German Week in Kalmykia.

German Week in Kalmykia is dedicated to the 140th anniversary of the first settlement of Germans in our steppe republic.

Program of the German Week

September 27
14.00 Olympics of German.
Country Studies Seminar (Germany) through the German idioms (on the Internet).
15:00 Opening of the exhibition “Discover Germany” and new educational materials Eisfeld, Nordost-Institut, BRD Read the rest of this entry »

Kalmyk Children Classes in South Jersey (USA). Alta Buruschkin and his wife, Udbala, would like to open their house in South Jersey for children’s classes on Kalmyk history, culture, customs and basic Buddhist classes.

They would like to hold these classes every other Saturday beginning October 3rd at 11am. The target group is 8-18 years old but can be flexible.

The format is very informal – more of an oral format like our ancestors used to do. Some of the topics Read the rest of this entry »

Earth planet: English language school in Elista open and work with the support of the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Russia, reports International department of KalmykiaNews. Read the rest of this entry »

Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull travels to the Republic of Kalmykia to meet Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the president of the only Buddhist state in Europe.

King of Kalmykia

Tom Parfitt
The Guardian, Thursday 21 September 2006

Life is not all plain sailing for Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the flamboyant leader of the Russian republic of Kalmykia. For a start, his Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit II needs constant repairs thanks to the rutted roads of his impoverished fiefdom. And then there is the danger of alien abduction. He has already been pressganged into one trip on a UFO – in Read the rest of this entry »

TV channel Hamdan was started in Kalmykia.

President of Kalmykia Kirsan Ilyumzhinov called his autobiography, published in 1998, “The President’s Crown of Thorns”.
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Madame Michel Julien: We decided to be useful to our historic homeland. [Fr]

Madame Michel Julien already visited to the district center Malye Derbety last year.

This time with her arrived a husband Claude Julien, sister Namcha Dodini-Bambinova with her husband Michel, brother Marcel and his daughter Natalie. They arrived to admire the beauty of Kalmykia, meet people and render a small sponsorship, reports Stepnaya Nov’. Read the rest of this entry »

During that visit I finally found myself with an hour or two of free time. The meeting had been scheduled for the evening. Spring. I took a walk around the capital of France. Fine smells mingled with the thawing snow and the acrid car exhaust. I walked along a bridge, past two your people kissing, past a smiling street trader peddling badges, old coins and chains, and past British tourists. Suddenly I saw the world-famous Isle de la Cite and then the enormous grey wonder of the slowly approaching Notre Dame.

I bought a ticket, entered the building, sat down in the third row and felt my chest slowly fill with a sweet pain. How many times had I dreamed of coming here! I felt intimations of a miracle. Read the rest of this entry »

Some scholars and scientists maintain that mankind has chosen the wrong path of development and that our road to civilization is a dead-end. There is now a great imbalance between technological achievements and spiritual development. The era of space-flights and nuclear energy started, not with atomic-power stations, but with the obliteration of human beings by the atom bomb. The planet Earth has encountered a fatal barrier.

When I am told about the durability of peace, the dependability of the army and unquestionable honesty of our diplomats, I can hardly believe my ears. I have seen soldiers standing Read the rest of this entry »

President of Kalmykia billionaire Kirsan Ilyumzhinov about Communist ideology in Soviet Union for children: Like all of my generation, I went through several stages of ideological indoctrination aided by extensive state censorship. First I was an Oktyabryonok (a pre-pioneer), then I became a pioneer, progressing to the Young Communist League, and finally becoming a member of the Communist Party.

I also served on the pioneer squad council, the Young Communist League Committee, and I was chief of the “Vega” Young Communist League city squad. For many years I lived as though I were drugged; it was only gradually, layer by layer, that I began to peel away at the truth. Read the rest of this entry »