Kirov inmates built a "house" with horses.

      The region’s correctional facilities have completed the annual snow-and-ice sculpture festival “Snow Perfection of Vyatka,” the press service of the UFSIN of Kirov Oblast reported. Participants began preparing for it at the start of winter: they made sketches, harvested ice and gathered snow, and then turned all this into large-scale figures.

      This year’s works include Ded Morozes with Snegurochkas, New Year fortresses, characters from fairy tales and cartoons, animals and abstract compositions. The most popular figure was the horse — the symbol of the year. It was sculpted in a wide variety of versions: from a Dymkovo horse to the cartoon horse Yuliy and sleighs with bells.

      Different institutions produced their own versions of the symbol of the year. In Kotel’nich female inmates made and painted a Dymkovo horse, in Kirovo-Chepetsk a bright red horse appeared, and in the settlement of Vostochny they molded an entire collection of Dymkovo figures.

      The competition is held in two stages: first the best works are selected within the institutions, then at the regional level. Results will be announced at the end of winter. The sculptures will be judged on originality, complexity and neatness of execution.

      The snow figures will decorate the colonies’ grounds until spring — until the last ice melts.