ORSK JASPER (JASHMA) AS AN OBJECT OF ECOLOGY OF CULTURE OF ORENBURG

Abstract

The article deals with the Orsk jasper within the two components of the “ecology of culture” concept – ecology of the natural environment and cultural heritage. It analyzes the artistic development of the Orsk jasper, as use of a natural material and as one of the folk art crafts of the Orenburg region and the centers of stone-cutting art of the Southern Urals. The author considers the actual place of Orsk jasper in different spheres of cultural and practical activity and substantiates the necessity of an integrated ecological and cultural approach in the study, preservation and development of the natural and cultural heritage of the Orenburg region: the natural environment and stone-cutting art, as objects of cultural ecology.