The name of the Russian Cup «Winter Vernissage» winner was announced in Perm

Photo by Vitaly Koksharov

Mayor of Perm Aleksey Demkin awarded  Yuri and Vladimir Mistryukov,  the team of sculptors, the main prize of the competition – the crystal cup, for creating  the ice sculpture “The 300 Ps” at the city Esplanade. 

This year the traditional Russian Cup on snow and ice sculpture «Winter Vernissage» had a special status as  the Tournament of Champions for the Mayor of Perm Prize. Thematically the competition supports the main event  of the year - the 300th anniversary of the  city, so all ice sculptures were dedicated to Perm, its main symbols, bright events, historical milestones and personalities. At the same time, the style and ideas  of the sculptors  to  disclose  the topic and  implement the ideas  in ice compositions are completely different. Mayor of Perm Aleksey Demkin noted that this year the traditional competition of sculptors became a large-scale congratulation of Perm on the upcoming anniversary.

— The  city gathered the best sculptors from all over Russia, winners of previous competitions who came to  congratulate Perm on the anniversary and to embody their original and unusual associations and impressions related to our city in the ice compositions. I am convinced that these   will be appreciated by residents and  guests of the city, who will come to see  them on the renewed city esplanade. I would like to express my gratitude to all those who have hosted/ organized   and took part in the  tournament, even in spite of the  frosts  at the start that failed to  prevent the creation of real works of art, - said Aleksey Demkin.

 The sculptors had been working on the city esplanade since January 8. On January 13, the award ceremony was held,  announcing  names of the winners. The Mayor’s Prize  went to the team of Yuri and Vladimir Mistryukov representing the city of  Ryazan,  who created  the «The 300 Ps» sculpture.  Yuri Mistryukov noted that ice is a very special material, and there are many interesting nuances in working with it.

- My brother and I studied ice art in the Urals and have worked a lot with local ice, so it’s a double pleasure for us  to demonstrate our work in Perm. Of course, the quality of the sculptor’s work depends largely on the quality of the ice, because   it can vary in different places.  We love ice very much for its transparency, as well as for its short life – this is , in fact, an advantage, as  the masterpiece created could melt  very quickly while you are watching it,  which makes the sculpture  more valuable for the viewer, - said Yuri Mistrykov.