A resident of a village in the Amur region has been drawing huge postcards on ice for many years. After his death, sculptors continued the tradition

Sculptor from Blagoveshchensk Alexey Sidorov and his colleagues painted a huge New Year’s card on the ice of the Khomutina River near the village of Markovo, Amur Region. They dedicated it to local resident Valery Melnikov, who had been drawing such New Year cards for many years. The man died on October 30, TASS reports.

Sidorov said that he and his colleagues did not develop the sketch of the postcard in advance; the drawing “somehow came together by itself.”

“The only thing we knew was that there would be an inscription “Dedicated to Grandfather Valery,” since Valery Konstantinovich is the author of this great idea,” noted Alexey Sidorov.

Sidorov intends to implement the idea of ​​an ice postcard together with his Chinese colleagues - to draw it on the ice of the border Amur River under the bridge that connects the two banks.

The editor of the Amurskaya Pravda newspaper, Elena Pavlova, approached the sculptors with a request to help create the postcard. She knew Melnikov well; for several years the editorial office helped organize the New Year's party on ice. This year the event is scheduled for the end of December.

“Many friends of our newspaper wrote and offered help in creating the postcard - fortunately, professionals did it. But we must not forget that Valery Konstantinovich not only drew on the ice, but also kept the postcard in order and cleaned the ice from snow. We agreed with the head of the village, Yuri Shmilev, that fellow villagers would monitor the contents of the postcard. But if our readers and friends have a desire not only to admire the ice miracle, but also to help, we will be very happy; we will buy and provide brooms and shovels,” said Elena Pavlova.

Amurskaya Pravda wrote that Melnikov had coronavirus and was in intensive care under a ventilator for several days.