June, 26 “Erzia Day” took place at Ural region in Mramorskoye village. This very special day was one of the main events of the international festival “Marble Mile”. This festival is held for the third time near Yekaterinburg. Adviser of the Head of the Government of Polevskoye town Elmira Samokhina and the Independent Initiatives Foundation were the initiators and leaders of the festival. We are proud that the festival is named after Stepan Erzia, who lived and worked in the Mramorskoye village and Polevskoye town in 1918-1920. “Erzia Day” was held with the participation of Erzia International Art Foundation, Polevskoye Government, State and public organizations of Polevskoye and Mramorskoye, Yekaterinburg , Moscow and Embassy of Japan in the Russian Federation.
The Round table was held as a part of Erzia Day. The issue of the memory of the great sculptor at Ural region was discussed and the film “Return of the Genius” was shown (2016, dir. A. Novoselov). Then the participants planted the Erzia Oak at the center of the village and walked along the Erzia Trail near the Mramorskoye where the sculptor mined marble and visited the marble mines. It was interesting to watch how Japanese sculptor Kurakawa Toru was creating a sculpture from gray Ural marble. Stepan Erzia was very fond of this marble too. The sculptural composition “Equilibrium” decorated the garden near the Museum of stone-cutting art in Yekaterinburg.
Gennady Chekhomov, a sculptor from Yekaterinburg, spoke about the idea. He proposed to create the image of Stepan Erzia on one of the stones of the old mine, where Stepan Erzia took marble for his sculptures in 1920.
The festival program will last during June and August. This is a very varied and rich program. Soon sculptors from Israel and Romania will join too. A concert of a symphony orchestra from Yekaterinburg will take place. The concert is called “Music of the Ancient Sea” and will be held at the bottom of the marble mine. There are also many other interesting events for the guests of the festival. Representatives of Erzia International Art Foundation invite everyone to join the festival. Such events are very important for the revival and strengthening of the memory of the rich heritage of Russian art.
