Between 2 and 3 September, the Voronezh international festival of gardens and flowers “Garden City” was held in the Central Park. As usual, the festival included a competition of floral arrangements and a varied entertainment programme. During the festival, VSU scientists gave a series of lectures. There were also several performances by VSU students. A project by the university’s Botanical Garden took second place in the competition of floral arrangements.
On the first day of the festival, three representatives of VSU made speeches in front of the guests. The educational events were dedicated to the 105th anniversary of the university. Dmitry Zhukalin, Head of the Department of Innovation of Voronezh State University, stressed the link between science, history, and the image of Voronezh.
“I believe it’s important that universities participated in the festival “Garden City”, because universities have the technologies that help people to go further and further. Human society is a system. Everything around us is the result of our work, each and all of us. Over its 105-year-old history, Voronezh State University has made a lot of advances in geography, geology, tourism, and biology. VSU also developed the technologies used to create rocket engines for the first human spaceflight and development of the atomic industry”, said Dmitry Zhukalin.
Representatives of the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences and the Faculty of Geology of VSU demonstrated the contribution of the university to the development of the city and the country. Professor Irina Kosinova, Head of the Department of Ecological Geology at VSU, and Daniil Skopin, a student at the faculty, talked about the city’s ecology and the role of the times prior to Peter the Great.
Evgeny Aksyonenko and Gavriil Melkumov, associate professors at the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, broke some myths about the insects and fungi of the Voronezh Region. Lectures by the representatives of the Department of Zoology and Parasitology and the Department of Botany and Mycology attracted a lot of attention. The audience asked a lot of questions.
The educational programme was complemented by creative performances by VSU students. Anastasia Melekhina and Evgeny Svistovtsev, first-degree laureates of the regional festival “University Spring – Youth Creativity”, sang a song by a well-known Russian singer, Leonid Agutin. There were some other musical performances by VSU students. Students from the Faculty of Physics who presented their dance performance received a very warm welcome from the audience.
A project by the VSU Botanical Garden was the centre of attention of the guests of the festival. Last year, the Botanical Garden won the competition by presenting an unusual exhibit, a spaceship called “Peter’s Cannon Ball”. This year’s exhibit was of an educational nature. The exhibit was named the “Green Library”. The slogan of the exhibit is similar to the motto of Voronezh State University: Bibliotheca Viridis Semper in Motu!, which means “Green library is always in motion”.
The exhibit was created by the employees and volunteers of the Botanical Garden and took part in the competition in landscape design. Lilia Lepeshkina, a leading research fellow at the Botanical Garden, said that the objective of the exhibit is to tell about the environment.
“Every plant is a new chapter, every bud is a new mystery, every root carries valuable knowledge! Books and libraries are always in motion. When we learn about the world of science and plants, we embark on a new adventurous journey. Take an atlas, for instance. It can take us to the coast of the Pacific Ocean or to the jungles. It can tell us where to find valuable pants as well as about the incredible discovery of Rafflesia flowers. You can do all this without leaving our library”, said Lilia Lepeshkina.
Thanks to the designer Alexander Solnechny and the artist Daria Umnikova, the guests of the festival are immersed into the green world of the botanical garden. The exhibit consisted of various plants – Bougainvillea, Monstera, banana trees, fig trees, succulent plants, gramineous plants, and peppers. Other elements were ladders, soft toys, and everlasting flowers.
The guests of the festival could take photos in a special photo area - a frame decorated with Latin letters. There was also a leisure area with a large collection of books provided by Ekaterina Khomich, the founder of the Green House ecocentre. There was also special lighting in the night, which made the exhibit especially nice and cosy.
A unique view of the link between knowledge and nature and an artistic approach helped the authors of the exhibit win second place at the festival. It is yet another award won by the VSU Botanical Garden, which shows how much its employees are dedicated to their work.
“We were glad to represent VSU at an international festival in the year of its 105th anniversary. The second prize is the result of the hard work of all the staff of the botanical garden. The exhibit took a lot of time, effort, and resources. It was based on the idea of a book as a storage of knowledge put in the beautiful world of plants, nature, and life,” said Andrey Voronin, Director of the Botanical Garden of VSU.
Text: Angelina Tatarintseva, Elena Lyubich
