LISTEN TO THE PLACE
A story worth knowing
We are by the Dancing Cranes Fountain in Dubki Square, near the City Palace of Culture on Oktyabr Avenue. Its sculptural group dates from the 1970s and was created by Alexander Belashov. The cranes are made from forged copper. Their slender legs and spread wings suggest movement, even though the figures themselves remain still.
The fountain closed for reconstruction in 2008. On June 30, 2020, the composition reopened in Dubki Square. That long interval gives the renewed fountain another meaning: a familiar image returned to the everyday life of the neighbourhood. The older sculpture became part of a new arrangement of water, light and music.
Composer Eduard Islamov prepared a special soundtrack for the renewed fountain. The jets change height with the rhythm of the music, allowing a fixed sculpture to participate in a changing scene. Watch from the paths around it. Water and lighting depend on the season and operating schedule, so the view may differ from photographs taken during a performance.
You can still enjoy the composition when the fountain is switched off. Begin with the overall silhouette, then choose a single bird and follow the line of its body towards the wings. Finally, notice the spaces between the figures. Air contributes to the impression as much as metal: those openings help the group feel light rather than solid and closed.
If water is running, repeat the same small exercise. Does a rising jet draw your eye away from a wing or appear to continue its direction? There is no single answer you need to find. The point is to notice how a moving element changes your view of something stationary.
This is one of the pleasures of a fountain as a city landmark. You can recognise the sculpture on every visit while seeing a different arrangement around it. After this stop, look back towards the square and the avenue. You now have another distinctive point of orientation along one of Ufa’s long main streets: a group of birds whose movement has been held in copper.
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Two periods meet at this fountain. Alexander Belashov’s sculpture dates from the 1970s. The renewed light-and-music composition opened in 2020 after a long interruption in the fountain’s operation.
That difference helps separate an artwork from the way it is presented. The copper birds keep their shape, while water, lighting and music change the conditions in which we see them. Renewing a city space does not always require replacing everything that came before.
Focus briefly on the cranes’ silhouette alone, then bring the surroundings back into view. Which has more influence on your impression: the shapes of the birds or the movement around them? You can leave the question open. On another visit, at a different time of day or in another season, the answer may change.
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