Cape Burkhan National Park

Cape Burkhan, since the prehistoric times has been worshipped by natives as a religious and natural value, conserving the traces of presence of people from cavemen to Buddhist monks and Buryat shamans. And even today it attracts thousands of tourists and pilgrims from all over the world. Along with unorganized pagan and buddhist worship every year a lot of nature and beach holidays lovers come there attracted by Saraisky bay washing the cape from north. However, the absence of regulatory policies for the visitors flows, a number of flagrant interferences in the delicate ecosystem of the island and forced urbanization, starting from the 30-s of XX c led to the current alarming situation in which the unique nature of Burkhan is endangered, and changes in soil, vegetation and, as a consequence, fauna, can become irreversible.

The project of conservation and development of the natural park of the sacred Cape Burkhan on Baikal is based on the principles of participation, respect and conservation, integration and consciousness. The idea of the project, first of all, is to tell everyone who comes to know the park, the story of this place, to show from different points of view the past and the future of Burkhan. This is why the physical elements of the concept are defined by the real protagonists – the spirit of Burkhan itself and three storytellers: exporer, native and shaman who would accompany the visitors, in accordance with their interests, proposing to them a specific itinerary. The objective of the project was to conserve as much as possible the existing infrastructure, enhancing it with new functions and integrating it into the network of itineraries, navigation and the general code of rules for the park. This determined the delicacy of the design solutions inspired by the natural and cultural context of the area, its colors and ornaments. The main task was the conservation and reclamation of  local vegetation, so the project provides a number of measures for containment of ravine formation and improvement of soil fertility, as well as the construction of decking, protecting the grass cover from trampling.