"The Tree of Life" in a Restaurant

In Soviet times, the panel "The Tree of Life" was part of the decor of a Mariupol restaurant called "Ukraine" (now - "Aristocrat"). The sketches were made by the mosaic makers themselves. Alla Gorska is known (by her contemporaries such as V. Konstantinova and N. Svitlychna) as the most eager participant in the project: she was the first artist of the team to wake up and the last to finish the work in the evening, worked seven days a week, and paid attention to every mosaic detail for it to create the effect of movement in the interplay of raised-up and hollow surfaces.

After the tragic death of Horska in 1970, the panel was walled up. It was uncovered in October 2008; now, it is located on the fifth floor of the Mariupol restaurant but not exhibited to the public as the room is out of use. 

The Russian Invasion and occupation of Mariupol destroyed the mosaic in 2022. 

1967

Size and material: 35 square meters, smalt, tiles, slag glass ceramic

Authors: Alla Horska, Galina Zubchenko, Grygoriy Pryshedko, Boris Plaksiy

Photo: Lyubava Illyenko, 2014

Author:  Horska Alla, Zubchenko Galina, Prishedko Grigoriy, Plaksiy Boris