Park of forged figures in Donetsk: photo, description, address

The park of forged figures in Donetsk is one of the main sights of the city, closely connected with its history. It is visited by all who come to the city and, judging by the reviews, get a great pleasure from the excursion.

The first experiments of the Donetsk masters

At the Yuzovka metallurgical plant (present-day Donetsk) in 1896, Alexei Mertsalov, along with his comrades from the rail, forged a palm tree, which later received the name of its creator. "Palm Mertsalov" was sent to the All-Russia Art Exhibition, which was held in Nizhny Novgorod, where she received the main award.

Then the creation of the Donetsk masters was sent to France. In 1900, the work of Mertsalova received the highest mark at the World Exhibition in Paris - grand prix. Today it is an exhibit of the St. Petersburg Museum at the Mining University, and at home in Donetsk there are its numerous copies.

Park of forged figures in Donetsk: history

Since those days, noble blacksmiths have not been extinct in Donetsk. Confirmation of these words was the creation of the Park of Forged Figures, which appeared in the city a century after the legendary triumph of Palm of Mertsalov. The leader and the author of this project became the honored worker of culture of Ukraine Victor Burduk.

In the summer of 2001 the park was opened. At that time, it was installed ten forged figures. At the same time, an annual festival dedicated to blacksmithing in Donetsk was held. Since then, according to tradition, the works prepared for the festival remain in Donetsk as a gift to the city's authors.

Today in the park there are more than 162 interesting compositions from art metal. The park of forged figures in Donetsk (photo you can see in this article) has gained popularity among locals and visitors of the city. Already in 2002 its exposition was replenished with 19 new works and two original pavilions, named "Ukrainian" and "Four Dragons".

"Arbor of the Lovers"

In the park of forged figures in Donetsk (address - Artema street, 98), in 2004 appeared an amazing "Arbor of the Lovers". This is a unique work on which many blacksmith's workshops of the city worked. It is decorated with numerous bouquets of forged flowers, which were made by masters from different cities of Ukraine. All of them presented their products to Donetsk.

At the same time, the already becoming traditional Festival of Forge Art received the status of all-Ukrainian. The Union of Masters of the Blacksmith's Art of the country was also founded.

"Zodiac signs"

This alley is the result of the work of the masters of Alexandria and Donetsk, Ivano-Frankivsk and Kiev. It was opened in the Park of Forged Figures in Donetsk in 2005. In the same year in the city was held the first national championship in blacksmith all-around. Magnificent masters competed in professionalism.

"Alley of fairy tales"

Particularly productive was 2006, when the Alley of Fairy Tales opened in the Park of Forged Figures in Donetsk. It consists of twelve figures that depict children's favorite fairy-tale characters: Pinocchio and Lesovichka, the Head of Svyatogor and Kolobok, Mukhu Tsokotukh and Thumbelina, Samodelkin and Shchuk, Pan Kotsky and Molodilnaya apple-tree. For children, and for many adult visitors, this alley became a favorite.

International Festival

A popular festival of forge craftsmen became international in 2007. This time, one hundred and fifty masters from ten countries of the world submitted their works to the audience. This year, for the Park of Forged Figures in Donetsk, the description of which increasingly began to appear in foreign publications, became a landmark.

On the "Alley of Arches" appeared five-meter structures, separated by sixteen forged benches of author's work. Particularly noteworthy is the 11th arch, which was called the "Arch of Friendship": decorations for it in the creative community forged participants of the festival.

Recognition in Europe

This event occurred in 2008, when in Europe the park was recognized as unique, and the city of Donetsk became a full member of the Society of European Blacksmith Towns. This success was marked by the opening of the Alley of Rings park.

Gift to the city

During the celebration of the 140th anniversary of Donetsk (2009) in the Park of Forged Figures, the Alley to the Beloved City was opened. In addition, the collection was replenished with interesting exhibits: for example, a copy of the UEFA Cup. Noteworthy and appeared at the same time alley "Connecting hearts." Its highlight was the castle, the size of which in closed form - seventy centimeters.

For connoisseurs of blacksmithing, three five-meter roses made of silver metal pleased us.

XII International Festival

It was held in the city from 18 to 19 September 2010. The official part of the program included joint work on the sculpture composition "Bridge of Friendship", contests "Blacksmith's Kitchen" and "Blacksmith's Costume", horse shoeing, master classes. But the main event of the festival was playing a forged guitar and demonstrating incredible forged clothes.

"Christmas tree"

This is the result of the collective work of blacksmiths from different countries. This exhibit was donated to Donetsk in 2012. She was installed on the Alley of the Beloved City. And at the festival that took place this year, the "Bird Banker" was presented, which was given to the city by "VBR-Bank". The inscription on the pedestal suggests guests to throw a coin and make a secret wish, after first wiping the bird's beak.

"Blacksmith"

This song was presented in 2013 to the City Day. It was installed on the Alley of Masters. In the course of the next International Festival in the Park of Forged Figures in Donetsk, this magnificent collective work - "Blacksmith" - was opened. Besides her, a lot of miniatures were brought to the festival, both Ukrainian and foreign artists worked. In the "Alley of architectural copies" were installed new exhibits: "Pagoda", "Leaning Tower of Pisa" and "Mill".

The author and the project manager announced at the festival that all the works exhibited in the village of Shilovka in the Donetsk region are a branch of the Park and are called "Alley School". There are exhibited works of collective creativity: "Forged Book", "Unit", "Globe" and others.

Festival of 2014

The fate of this festival for a long time remained in question. In Donetsk and the region fighting began, the city was constantly fired from artillery guns. The issue of the conduct was long and very difficult to resolve, but, no matter what, it took place, although its program was reduced to a minimum: it lasted only one day.

The theme of the festival of this difficult year was "Pigeon of the World". The masters of Germany and Austria, Israel and Norway, Holland and many Russian cities: Kaliningrad and Belgorod, Perm and Moscow, Ulyanovsk and St. Petersburg sent their works to the semi-block city. This year the festival was the first event in the city since the beginning of hostilities, which directly affected the capital of Donbass.

Given the complexity of the situation, the Guild of Blacksmiths established a special award, designed by Evgeny Lavrinenko and Viktor Burduk. Thirteen participants of the festival were awarded the medal "Forged Pigeon of the World".

"Park of forged figures in Donetsk-2016"

This festival began its work in the center of Donetsk with the presentation of a new work. It was an installation called "Poke swords into plowshares", which is a three-meter complex composition, forged their fragments of shells and shells.

The basis of the composition is the sword. The figure is composed of different elements, symbolizing life and death, peace and war. The material for this forged sculpture was the fragments of shells, which brought the local residents. This work was created by ten blacksmiths, who worked on it for two weeks. Elements of the composition were pigeons, which were made by foreign masters from Finland and Germany.