AGC Magazine V2 Jewel of Poltava

These 23 sculpted trees constitute the most iconic of Pergamenshik’s contributions to Kashtanova Alleya, one closely related to the establishment’s name. Pergamenshik conceived the trees as a memorial to one thousand real chestnut trees that were planted in the 19th century along the nearby street from which Kashtanova Alleya takes its name. Because these chestnut trees were all planted at the same time, all were succumbing at once to old age and disease. At the time the bar and restaurant conversion was under way,
the city had reached a decision that the trees would have to be cut down.

"I literally ran to gather the last fallen chestnuts and leaves of the doomed trees, I made sure to get many different sizes before they perished in the windy weather,” Pergamenshik says. He and a crew of five assistants executed the tree sculptures in a mere three weeks. They made silicone casts of six leaves from the doomed trees, then executed over 90 plaster copies of each. The plaster leaves were then covered and mounted on a welded armature. All the surfaces were covered with bronze powder, then tinted with oil paint
for an antique effect.

Poltava

The city of Poltava, where Kashtanova Alleya is located, is the capital of Poltava Region. Poltava lies in
the center of Ukraine, 200 miles southeast of Kyiv (Kiev) on the way to Odessa, on the east bank of the river Vorskla, a tributary of the Dnieper. In 1709, Poltava was the site of a victory of the Russians over the Swedes:
to this day, in both Russian and Ukrainian, to be “like a Swede at Poltava” means to be totally beyond help. Among the town’s famous sons is Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852), author of the darkly comic novel Dead Souls (1842) and the satirical play The Inspector-General (1836).

Poltava today is a lovely city of about 320,000 people, known for its boulevards, monuments, sweeping vistas, public squares, gardens, and churches, colleges and universities (including schools for craftsmen
and designers), as well as its theaters, museums, cinemas, and – yes – hotels, cafés, restaurants, night clubs, and discos. It is also home to FC Vorskla Poltava in the Ukrainian Premier Football League, which
has the misfortune to be in the same league with FC Dynamo Kyiv.

Kashtanova Alleya
“Chestnut Tree Alley”
Zhovtneva Street, 58A, Poltava, Ukraine
+38 (0532) 50-04-57
+ 38 (0532) 56-21-12

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