Tamás Ortutay:
The Original Egg, 1971
Salpausseläntie, Pihlajisto

The Original Egg

The young Hungarian artist Tamás Ortutay’s sculpture was unveiled in Pihlajisto in 1971. The idea for this sculpture was born during the visit of the President of Hungary to Helsinki. The party consisted of the artist's father, a well-known Fenno-Ugric expert, Guyla Ortutay. The Original Egg is is made out of large-scale ceramics, shamotti processed in high tempratures. It is also resistant to frost.

This sculpture is also known as the ”Birth of the World”. It describes the first verses of the world origin according to Kalevala. "Changing the bread crumbs to good, songs beautiful: The lower side of egg into Mother Creation and the upper half into Heavenly World" According to the old myths in many ancient cultures the world became into being from an egg.