CITY CHESS AND THE DEPORTATION MONUMENT

The former very mediatic kalmouk president in office from 1993 to 2010, Kirsan Ilioumjinov, is a chess enthusiast. Great player himself (he was president of the FIDE), he decided to make his republic the world capital of this sport. A kind of small town has been built on the outskirts of Elista, in order to accommodate the participants of the different competitions that took place in Elista on his initiative. Chess players or not, City Chess will surprise everyone. In this isolated district, no megalomaniacal architecture in the style of post-Soviet dictators. It's a very curious place, dotted with lovely fifties-style seaside cottages facing a sea of sand. Some of them are now inhabited, but the whole place is rather deserted and gives an absolutely striking impression: Ilyumzhinov's utopia has become dystopian.

To get to the deportation monument "Exodus and Return", walk from City Chess on Ul. Khrushcheva from City Chess. It is on the edge of the city, in the steppe. A small asphalt ramp leads to it. Once you arrive in front of the monument, you will not forget, as is the Buddhist custom, to go around it on the left. It represents the suffering of the Kalmouk people in exile. It was made by a Kalmuk sculptor who emigrated to the United States in the 1970s. The monument is very impressive, both by what it represents and by its location in the steppe, the traditional place of life of the Kalmuks.