Mosaic - "Tree of Life" - Tiraspol

The mosaic Tree of Life in Tiraspol occupies the wall of the former furniture factory number 5 on Shevchenko Street, rising more than ten meters in height. The composition shows two monumental figures: a woman facing the viewed crowned with foliage and blossoms, her hand raised beside her face, and a man turning toward her on the right. The “Tree of Life” is a common motif in Moldova: it’s the export promotion agency’s symbol. Executed from large, uneven fragments of multicolored glass (smalt) produced locally in Tiraspol, the surface has a rougher texture than typical smalt mosaics. Similarly, ceramics form the local ceramics factory in Almaty adorn dozens of bus stops and monumental artworks across the former capital of Kazakhstan. As of 2024, the factory is being demolished to make way for a new office building - the single story building in front of the panel is now gone. The new owner has pledged to support the mosaic’s relocation, though a report on First Pridnestrove estimated the cost in the tens of thousands of dollars. A public poll favored Suvorova Square as the most suitable new site, with another poll favoring the district near the House of Soviets. Sculptor Grigorii Sultan of the Transnistrian Union of Artists emphasized that the work must be mounted in an open square for visibility and ideally reoriented southwards so the glass fragments can fully catch the sun, rather than remaining on its current north-facing wall.