The paper proposes a new look at the phenomenon of ethnosphere on materials of post soviet Buryatia. Though depoliticized for almost two decades, Buryat ethnicity remains one of the principal social identities that now manifests not in the political but in the cultural space. The author argues that having lost their political pathos, nowadays the ideas of ethnonational revival and ethnic consolidation that were topical at the period of ethnic mobilization (from late 1980-es to 2000) found their expression and embodiment in the artistic culture. Various fields of creative work – painting, prose and poetry, theatre, music, cinema – are looking for the ways, which consistently connect the ethnic cultural traditions with modern artistic forms. The plots vary but correspond to the topics of Buryat ideology – Great Past and national heroes both historical and folklore, ethnic spirituality and religiosity, necessity to keep and develop the ethnic language and economy, and maintaining ties with Mongolian community.