Rostov creates balancing sculptures from stones

A resident of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky Vladimir Maksimentsev discovered a rare hobby - the art of balancing stones. A man builds stones from structures that hold as if by a miracle. There are only a few dozen people like him in the world.

Vladimir had a hobby when he was already over 40 years old: he was relaxing with his family at sea and, in order to do something, began to assemble stone structures. Usually people make pyramids with a wide base and small pebbles at the top, but Vladimir complicated the task for himself and started with a small naked man, and placed a large cobblestone on top. The construction stood for a couple of minutes. The beach neighbors, looking at it, also tried to lay down stone structures, but they did not succeed.

Returning home to Kamensk, Maksimintsev went to a stone quarry near the house, and it turned out that formless boulders were as easy for him to build as small smooth pebbles. Some designs lasted one to two minutes, others for several days.

“For me, a stone is like an interlocutor. I mentally say to him: “We have to stand!” - and he obeys. Sometimes I pick up a cobblestone and immediately see: it is not good. I raise another - it suits, but for my purposes it is too simple. I'm not interested in making an ordinary, standard pyramid. I define a super task for myself, as a climber who climbs to the summit along the most difficult slope. I feel satisfaction only if I put the stone on a sharp edge or put it on a large cobblestone. Or another aerobatics - the pyramid, it seems, is about to collapse, and you - bam! - on the other hand, the stone for balance is right at the right point, and everything holds on.”