Someone is looking for a favorite thing all his life, or for many decades, it finds someone by itself, without asking once entering fate and staying in it forever, as it happened with the amazing master Alexey Kiselyov from Ashgabat.

He creates miniature copies of famous architectural monuments and landmarks, using simple matches as a "building material".

And it all started almost with the usual childishness.

― I was 20 years old: I came from the army, I had to think about how to build a future life, but my youth did not let me go – I wanted some free time when you choose what to do at one time or another. While I was looking for what I wanted to do, I made some kind of figure out of wood. Turn out. People liked it, offered to buy it from me, for a decent amount. And give me another one. Then again, and then I got really carried away and started running," Alexey Kiselyov shared in an interview with ORIENT.

Now he has an impressive collection of "match" masterpieces of world architecture, and after all, each such artful work is long months in which many, many hours of painstaking work are added ...

Alexey points out the main symbol of Paris – the Eiffel Tower - as the first and at the same time the most complex creation in this collection.

― In its structure, the finest calculation is required, in addition to the "golden hands", it is also necessary to have knowledge in geometry, algebra, - the master continues. - One slightest slip in the engineering scheme of the structure - and you have a crooked Eiffel Tower, a lot of wasted time and spoiled matches.

Speaking of matches. The countless number of spent matches forced Alexey to produce his own and more suitable in length and fineness for such "wooden art".

In his collection there are also copies of such famous architectural structures as Notre Dame de Paris and Reims Cathedral (France), Cologne Cathedral (Germany), St. Basil's Cathedral (Russia), Sagrada Familia (Spain), Colosseum and Milan Cathedral (Italy), Tower Bridge (Great Britain).

Besides them, Alexey recreated many sights of Turkmenistan, including the Monument of Independence, the Arch of Neutrality, the mausoleum of Sultan Sanjar, etc.

The first stage of working with drawings and design will be the way the matches will begin to take shape in a certain order. But after the "mathematics" of the project is verified, the creative is sharpened, it is the turn of a long diligence on the realization of the idea.

― It usually takes me from eight months to a year for one job. Therefore, nerves of steel and endurance are just as necessary tools as physical ones.

Alexey is 46 years old, and he has big creative plans. In addition to the "match" art, he is engaged in the creation of layouts for various purposes. And with his dozen copies of the Eiffel Towers, the master aims to enter the Guinness Book of Records.

Artur PETROSYANTS