The Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee together with the National Darwin Museum and the Central Museum of Physical Culture and Sport launched a project to mark the year of the Sochi 2014 Cultural Olympiad Museum, called “Mascots of the Games Olympics”. The main characters will be the animal mascots of the winter and summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. The exciting project will last until the end of the Olympic Games in Sochi in March 2014.
Visitors to the Darwin Museum will be able to view 11 thematic exhibitions dedicated to the animals that have been chosen as Games mascots over the years. In each exhibition, visible for a month, visitors will be able to discover the representatives of the animal kingdom who symbolize the Games of the past.
The first exhibition will be dedicated to Dachshund Waldi, the symbol of the Games of the XX Olympic Games in Munich in 1972. The twelfth and final part of the project will open at the same time as the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi in 2014, and will feature animal mascots, including the Sochi 2014 Olympic mascots: the polar bear, the hare and the leopard.
Each exhibition will show visitors to the Darwin Museum the history of the mascots and the characteristics of the animals from which they are inspired, but also the main events associated with the Games that they symbolized.
The “Olympic mascots” project is dedicated to the museum year of the Sochi 2014 Cultural Olympiad and is designed to introduce the Olympic Movement to visitors, to exhibit the mascots of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and thus contribute to the promotion healthy lifestyles.
Notes for the editor
Sochi 2014 Cultural Olympiad
2013 – The year of the museum
The fourth year of the Sochi 2014 Cultural Olympiad is dedicated to museums. As always, the organizers of the first Winter Games in Russian history will present hundreds of quality cultural events to the public. These include dozens of exhibitions, shows, competitions, festivals and special exhibitions, as well as forums, workshops and educational programs that will be held across the country.
The museum year will include a large number of exhibitions of Russian and foreign art, in public and private museums. During the exhibitions, visitors will be able to discover some of the masterpieces of classical and contemporary art, in all varieties of the genre. Also in 2013, as part of the Cultural Olympiad, theatrical presentations, concerts and other creative activities will be organized.
The Sochi 2014 Cultural Olympiad is a unique project undertaken by the organizers of the Games, showcasing the best cultural events in the country. In 2014, visitors to the host city of the Olympic Games will not only be able to evaluate the results of the competitions but also experience the cultural diversity of Russia through a number of stages located in Sochi and Krasnaya Polyana. For this reason, since 2010, the Sochi 2014 organizing committee, along with dozens of regions across the country, has carefully selected the best of Russian culture.
From 2010 to 2014, thousands of diverse cultural events took place across the country. Each year, the Cultural Olympiad is dedicated to a different type of art: 2010 was the year of cinema, 2011 that of theater, 2012 that of music and 2013 is the year of museums.
The national scope of the project will allow every citizen of the country to be involved in these great musical festivities, which preserve and promote the cultural riches of our country. All the events of the Cultural Olympiad can be followed onwww.culture.sochi2014.com
Le national Darwin museum was founded on October 7, 1907 by Alexandre F. Coates as the world's first museum entirely dedicated to the theory of evolution.
The primary mission of the museum is the collection, preservation, study and exhibition of artifacts illustrating the process of organic evolution on Earth.
Today, the Darwin Museum has approximately 400.000 items in its collection, and many of the artifacts are real rarities. The museum also contains a unique collection of books on nature, and has around 8.000 editions. The museum occupies three buildings, for a total area of 22.000 m². Each year, the museum organizes more than 2.500 excursions.
The museum's exhibition occupies three floors with a total area of 5.000 m², and presents the origin, development and diversity of life on Earth, the evolution of animal behavior and its settlement of the planet, the origin of man and the evolution of man's interaction with nature.
The museum exhibition is suitable for people with various types of disabilities. Ramps, specially equipped toilets, elevators and freight elevators make the museum accessible to disabled people in wheelchairs. Braille labels, specially selected collections and plaster models allow blind or visually impaired visitors to visit the museum. All films shown in the exhibition are subtitled.
