St. Petersburg is hosting the International Exhibition of Calligraphy

Rare texts, calligrapher's utensils and even the first ever handwritten copy of the Constitution of the Russian Federation are presented at the exhibition. Oleg Chechenkov took a lesson in calligraphy.

Calligraphy, the filigree technique of writing, is compared to the art of mind and soul of a human. Even experts in the field cannot give an exact definition to what calligraphy is. They call it a game. It is just like in music: there is a man and an instrument.

The handwriting of a person is as unique as his fingerprints. Letters arranged in a line, talk about the properties of nature. There is even a separate science: graphology, which defines character according to handwriting. An artist Georgy Kozubov dedicated almost 40 years to calligraphy. Each letter is a journey for him.

“The round shaped letter 'o' with the plastic point of view is executed accurately. It may have ripped contours sometimes. But it adds special artistic quality,” the calligraphy artist shows.

Around 500 artworks from 25 countries. Japanese hieroglyphs, Slavic script. Documents and declarations of love. Some samples of letters presented at the exhibition are real paintings. Next to each artwork there is a magnifying glass on a string to discern the painting technique.

“When you look at an artwork, painting, architecture, sculpture you can see the expression in abstract. Here it is simple: what you think of is what you write down,” Alexey Shaburov, the project author says.

The handwritten copy of the Constitution of the Russian Federation was executed by a great team of professionals. It is not a book to read on the way. It is strictly made for a museum; therefore it is kept under glass. But everyone at the exhibition can get lessons in calligraphy, which reminds the individual of school, as you will have to write in a copybook. The difference is in the attitude to the writing utensils: they are to be treated similar toa violin.

Source: Mir, Interstate TV and Radio Company