The best <i>rushnyk</i> is made of flowers
Kyiv is hosting River of Vyshyvankas, a jubilee exhibit of floral compositions
Independence Day in Kyiv was once again embellished by the annual flower exhibit on the Field of Songs. The 55th jubilee exhibit was devoted to rushnyks (decorative towels) and accordingly called River of Vyshyvankas (embroidered items). The concept remains the same: each of the capital’s districts displays its own thematic composition of flowers. The only thing that has changed is the entrance fee. Earlier the exhibit was free of charge. This year adults have to pay 10 hryvnias for a ticket, children and pensioners pay five, and disabled war veterans are allowed to enter free. According to Kyivzelenbud, the exhibit organizer, this fee was introduced because compositions were constantly broken and workers had to restore them every night. So they decided to collect an entrance fee in order to make up for losses and teach visitors some discipline. They plan to spend the funds on the city’s green development.
Despite the entrance fee a lot people came to visit the exhibit. Florists say that the event is packed as usual — almost two million people come to feast their eyes on the floral masterpieces. And there was much to see: two flower carpets that depict the life of the Ukrainian countryside, the Holy Virgin, swans made of roses, an ethnic-style Easter table, and even a wedding composition. Every district of Kyiv made floral compositions related to the historical traditions of rushnyk embroidery of a given region of Ukraine. The best floral rushnyk, to be chosen by means of a visitors’ book and special jury votes, will be awarded 300,000 hryvnias. The main criterion for selecting the best composition is authenticity and patriotic spirit.
Floriculturalists claim that there is particularly tough competition this year, so it will be not easy to pick the winner. Each of the compositions is original and beautiful, even though all the districts have almost the same range of flowers to choose from: agratums, cineraria, begonias, lilies, carnations, ivies, coleuses, and alternators. There are also some dwarf trees and shrubs.
According to Kyivzelenbud general manager Yaroslav Makarchuk, it took 100 to 300 thousand flowers to make the floral embroideries of each composition. Incidentally, one flower-embroidered item costs a handsome 300,000 hryvnias. Floriculturists told us that, to create one design, they used around 50 varieties of different-colored flowers.
“We had stared to work on the composition well before the exhibit was opened. We first sowed the required flowers in greenhouses. Some of them were sown three to four months before the exhibition,” says Kyivzelendud employee Nina Davydchuk. “Before replanting the flowers on the Field of Songs, we sowed over the lawns with special grass and only then did we begin to sow green plants, which took us two weeks. Now, too, there is a lot of work to do because we must keep the compositions fresh. So we water them every morning and evening.”
Whoever has not yet seen the floral rushnyks still has a lot of time to do so, as the exhibit will remain open until September 1. Kyivzelenbud does not yet know the theme of the next year’s exhibit, but rumor has it that foreign florists will join the competition.
