Rotorua, 2020
acrylic on canvas, 130×100 cm

Rotorua (maor. Rotorua-nui-a-Kahu) – city (about 68,000 inhabitants, including 35% Maori) in New Zealand in the central part of the North Island, located on Lake Rotorua. An important center of Maori culture, it is home to the only Maori theater, as well as the Maori Thermal Village. Considered New Zealand’s capital of geothermal phenomena.

It is a tourist gem of the North Island, made famous by its numerous geysers, hot springs, and bubbling muds. To give a minimal idea of the climate of the place, it is worth quoting Gerorg Bernard Shaw, who visited the place in 1934. – “I was happy to find myself so close to Hades and managed to return.” Rotorua is a volcanic ground and the ever-present smell of hydrogen sulfide.