Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,
We are going deeper into the Siberian region of the Soviet Union by entering Omsk. And I love to tell something more about this ancient city which was built as a wooden fort in 1716 by a Cossack unit led by Ivan Buchholz to protect the expanding Russian frontier along the Ishim and the Irtysh rivers against the Kyrgyz and Dzungar nomads of the Steppes.
In 1768 Om fortress was relocated. The original Tobolsk and the restored Tara gates, along with the original German Lutheran Church and several public buildings are left from that time. Omsk was granted with the town status in 1782.
Omsk became a major centre of the Siberian exile. During the 1850s Fyodor Dostoyevsky served his sentence in an Omsk Katorga prison.
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| Dormition Cathedral Omsk |
Development
of the city was catalysed with the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway
in the 1890s that affected significance of Omsk as a logistic hub. Many trade
companies established stores and offices in Omsk defining the character of the
city centre. British, Dutch, and German consulates were established roughly at
the same time in order to represent their commercial interests. The pinnacle of
development for pre-revolutionary Omsk was the Siberian Exposition of
Agriculture and Industry in 1910. Popularity of the World Fairs contributed to
the image of Omsk as "Chicago of Siberia".
On board of the TSR Hilal and Paulo lay together in one bed for the very first time and Paulo conducts a ritual which is known as The Ring of Fire. He visualizes a ring of fire around his body and the rings are goin up and down. While he his conducting that ritual he can see his former lives in which women played a big roll. He realises that he is coming closer to the woman Hilal was in her former life.
ring of fire
burning around his body -
past uncovered
past uncovered
two lives melting together
in the present
This episode will be open for your submissions until January 13th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our next episode, Ob River, later on today. !! Omsk is open for your submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !!
I think Coelho would be immensely honoured at the journey you are taking us on, and by your haiku.
ReplyDeleteI'm not entirely in synk. yet.. I was away celebrated my Mother's birthday... Now I will try to catch up on reading and commenting. And writing haibun every day is a challenge. But I will succeed :-)
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