Sand Sculpture Presents Tour of Russian History

The fact that Russians carve ice into sculptures makes some kind of sense for obvious reasons. But sand?

Currently there is a thousand tons of sand — next to the Christ the Savior Cathedral — that has been transformed into a phantasmagorical yellow sculpture that takes viewers on a tour of Russian history.

The sculpture is the work of Vladimir Kurayev and several others, including top sand sculptors from Ukraine, Portugal, Spain, Canada and the United States. It is time for Russia Day on Saturday.

The 23-meter-long, 7-meter-tall composition is housed in a huge tent in the gardens of the cathedral.

Before starting, the foreign artists had to be taught about Russian history.

“For a whole month, we took a trip through the history of Russia,” Kurayev said.

American sculptor Ray Villafane was the first to accept, simply telling Kurayev, “I want to do the Alexander Nevsky.”

Canadian David Billings chose to depict the Mongol invasion of Rus.

Among the sites in the sand is the Battle of the Ice, between Alexander Nevsky and the Teutonic Knights and the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl river, which has an impressive icon at its entrance. In front of the cathedral is the famous icon painter Andrei Rublyov, sculpted by Kurayev.

The composition was built as part of a competition to select a participant for the World Championship of Sand Sculpting — to be held in Washington in September. The winner was Vadim Gryadov, from Siberia, who sculpted the Church of the Intercession.

“The organizers also organize festivals of ice sculptures, and I managed to be invited to come back in winter,” said sculptor Pedro Mira, from Portugal.

The sculptures will be on show until Sept. 3. Visitors can see the sculptors in action on Saturday when they sculpt by the tent. A dozen Irishmen living in Moscow will play Russian folk music on their bagpipes.

“There is a philosophy in all this as well. The sand sculpture shows how time is short,” Kurayev said. “Sand is also a clock, an hourglass. But you can turn it over. Here you can also turn it over and make another, new project.”