The French, Greeks and Koreans taught the citizens of Novgorod the art of beautiful handwriting

The 3rd International Exhibition of Calligraphy took place in Novgorod. The citizens both saw masterpieces of the world of calligraphy and tried to write fancy under the guidance of professional calligraphers.

Dmitry Petrovsky described the history of the calligraphic Cyrillic and Roman alphabets; and Georgia Angelopoulos gave a talk on the legacy of the Greek alphabet. Great attention was paid to a master class with Hassan Makaremi from France, dedicated to calligraphy on porcelain. All those present had an opportunity to paint their own plate with ink and a piece of cardboard to understand how difficult it was to draw on dishes because of their slippery surface.

Kim Jong Chil from Korea and his workshops also drew much attention. He wrote “Mr. Russia. Veliky Novgorod” in Russian on a long canvas spread out on the floor arresting the visitors“ attention. According to Kim Jong Chil, a master must stamp his masterpiece with his own seal. A giant masterpiece requires a giant seal. Having no such seal on his person, Mr.Chil left the imprint of his hand.

Nadzhin Nakkash of Tatarstan, told the people of Novgorod about Tugra (personal character) in Arabic calligraphy. “Our Tatars had been writing with this script for thousand years until 1928, when Stalin abolished it. We switched to the Roman, then to the Cyrillic alphabet. Nevertheless, our people never forgot their hereditary letters,”– said the master. Arabic calligraphy in Tatarstan was developed in the late 19th century.

As it turned out, master classes with Russian and foreign calligraphers triggered intense interest.

Source: National News Agency (Annews.ru)