The unique Jewelry Map of USSR

“The Industry of Socialism” – The unique Jewelry Map of USSR

The unique Jewelry Map of USSR
Made of precious and semiprecious stones, the map is a unique monument of Soviet Russian monumental stone carving arts of the 1930s. In fact, the panel (size 5910 x 4500 mm) is an exact physical map of the USSR, scale 1:1 500 000. It consists of 98 sections, the division of which was along the lines of latitude and longitude in increments of 10 degrees. With screws attached to the frame section, which consists of 27 aluminum alloy tubing. Noteworthy, the map, made in the technique of Florentine and Russian mosaic, weighs 3500 kg. The masters used various precious stones in creating map. In particular, emerald, ruby, alexandrite, jade, topaz, aquamarine, opal, rhodonite, lapis lazuli, rock crystal, amethyst, moonstone, etc. Meanwhile, the map was a prologue to the Union Art Exhibition “The Industry of Socialism”, to prepare for the 20th anniversary of the October Revolution.

The stones framed in gilt caste of platinized silver of the same metal that named all the places, railways, line parallels and meridians. The Leningrad plant of processing gems (mosaic set, cutting stones and the whole piece of work) worked on it. Also, the Sverdlovsk Lapidary Factory (cutting plates for a set of mosaics and cut stones). In addition, Peterhof factory of technical stones (cutting plates for Mosaic).

Work on the creation of the map began May 3, 1936. Artistic development of the project belonged to the head of department of the Academy of mosaic Arts – Y.A. Frolov. Also, artists Skvortsov and A.Z. Danilochkina, took part in the selection of stones for the mosaic.

The unique Jewelry Map of USSR

At the end of 1936, in the midst of working on the map, the authorities decided to present it to the World Exhibition in Paris in May 1937. So, a large groups of master stonecutters from Sverdlovsk and Peterhof immediately arrived in Leningrad. In mid-April 1937 they completed the work.

May 24, 1937 the World Expo opened under the theme “Art and Technology in Modern Life” in Paris. The unique panel “Industry of Socialism” decorated the first hall of the Soviet pavilion dedicated to the Constitution of the USSR. Of course, it has earned a lot of enthusiastic reviews. According to a correspondent of the Paris newspaper, “Map of the Soviet Union – the most amazing exhibit not only of the Soviet pavilion, but of the whole Paris exhibition. Thousands of visitors stand for hours in front of it.” As a result, the unique map got the highest award, “Grand Prix.”

Besides, the World Expo in New York held on April 30, 1939, showed the exhibited USSR map to the public on May 17. Newspapers from New York among the most attractive exhibits frequently mentioned this mosaic map.