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The work is based on sketches and impressions from a plein air trip to Lake Baikal. It depicts a shamanic ritual at a sacred site on Olkhon Island, with Shamanka Rock in the background.
Shamanka Rock, one of the nine sacred sites of Asia (formerly known as "stone temple"), has become one of the most famous images of sacred Baikal. Cape Burkhan juts into the waters of Lake Baikal with two high stone ridges. Together with another rocky cape on the island, Bogatyr, this area is a place of shamanic power.
According to legend, the waters of Lake Baikal stabilized for a million years, but strong winds caused the lake to boil like a cauldron. Reaching the very bottom, the waves lifted stones and sand from there and drove them toward the shore. But the land was far away, and the stones clung to the underwater rock. This continued for a long time. And so, the Baikal waters washed up a wide, long mountain of stones and sand. This is how Olkhon Island, Lake Baikals largest island, came into being.
The name Burkhan Cape appeared in the late 17th century, after Tibetan Buddhism had spread to the Baikal region. Numerous archaeological finds have been made at Shamanka and nearby, attesting to the ancient and rich history of this area. Ancient inscriptions in Tibetan and Mongolian have been preserved near the Shaman Cave. Images of Buddhist deities were discovered near the cave entrance.