Great Manas (The Statue of Manas)
This sculpture is based on a Kyrgyz national icon, Manas the Great, which portrays the main protagonist of an important epic poem, ¡°Epic of Manas.¡± The story is believed to be at least 300 years old, with the oldest written versions dating to the 18th century, but the Kyrgyz people believe the oral traditions of the story to be much older. The plot describes a series of events involving Turkic-speaking mountain people and Mongols in the East. The story was passed through the centuries by a word of mouth, inherited by each next generation and sharpened by talented poets, who have developed an aesthetic shape for every line. The text describes heroism on the backdrop of peaceful everyday life in a nation, with traditions, customs, funerals and colorful descriptions of feasts.
The sculpture shows a soldier on horseback, galloping bravely through a heavy wind, determined to meet the future. The bronze is molded to show the folds of the winds fluttering in the hair of the horse and the cape of the soldier.
This famous Kyrgyz sculptor is well recognized and some of his pieces are on display in the Sadykov National Academy of Arts Museum in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
This gift was presented by the President of Kyrgyzstan, H.E. Askar Akayev, to the 51³Ô¹Ï and was accepted by Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
Presented on the 25th of October 1995 during the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the creation 51³Ô¹Ï, it historically coincided with the Kyrgyzstan millennium event of their national epic tale.