The sculpture “Permyak - Salty Ears” in the city of Perm was recognized as one of the strangest, most original and at the same time visited attractions in Russia. Who is called “Permyak - salty ears” and why, where this expression came from - let's figure it out.
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According to its author Rustam Ismagilov, it should remind Perm residents of the history of the region, the hard work of their ancestors, and also entertain tourists.
The landmark, erected in April 2006 with funds from BinBank, has become the property of the city, since with its help everyone can feel like a “real” Permian.
It is located in the center of Perm at the address: Komsomolsky Prospekt, building 27. Consists of two elements, namely the figure of a photographer with an old camera and a small pedestal, on top of which there is an oval frame with an unnatural big ears. The interesting thing is that a seemingly comic object carries a serious message from time immemorial...
Why was the monument called that, and why are the ears so big? There are three explanations for their size, as well as claims that all Permians have them “salty”:
- According to the first version, in the past, active salt mining was carried out in the Perm region. People working in the salt mines worked in inhumane conditions. They had to manually drill a well for several days in order to extract the saline solution. After that, in a chicken hut on a large square stove, they evaporated the water, dried it and packed the salt into bags. Hard work affected the health of workers, and salt dust flying from the bags they carried on their backs when loading onto barges caused irritation, peeling, and redness of the skin of the ears. There was simply no time to wash it off and therefore the salt corroded the skin;
It is important to know: after several years of working in salt mines ears people increased in size, which is why the Permians received the nickname “Salty Ears”.
- According to the second version, the inhabitants of the region used salt as a means of payment instead of money.
note: Permians took small bags and poured salt into them, tied them with a thread and hung them behind their ears.
Interestingly, this method of storing it was explained by the banal lack of pockets on clothes and the fear of losing a product that was in great demand. If necessary, Permians exchanged salt for other goods they needed;
- According to the third version, the salt mining sites were located at a fairly large distance from many villages. And, if it was not possible to bring goods by water, then they had to go on foot through the forests. Sometimes they have to travel tens or even hundreds of kilometers, so salt was taken in bags for a year in advance.
Amazing things that are useful to know:
- The concept of “Permyak salty ears” was widespread throughout Russia, and people often used it in their speech. This is how it is mentioned in the story “Childhood” by Maxim Gorky during a conversation between grandmother and grandson;
- Nowadays, a sculpture with a similar name evokes pleasant emotions and a desire to take pictures among many tourists. Pictures of big ears bring a smile every time someone looks through their photo album. At the same time, the sculpture makes you think about the size of your ears and at the same time learn a little about the history of Perm. It does not have a pedestal, which makes it as accessible as possible to people.
- Over time, the expression became “winged” and is now widely used in modern speech. In Perm, it gave the name not only to the monument, but also to a Telegram channel dedicated to the city, and a community on VK and Facebook called “Salty Ears.”
The most interesting and amazing monuments of the city of Perm
The wealth of the Perm region is talented people. They are the authors of many monuments located on its territory. There are sculptures of the great heroes here Patriotic War, creative individuals, a simple worker, but there are some absolutely amazing ones:
- you can look at Alyoshenka, as the name of the stranger who fell on earth, in the village of Molebka;
- The monument to Nikita the Flyer in Kungur is no less beautiful. The boy dreamed of flying and decided to jump from the bell tower and flew. After which he was executed and became a symbol for balloonists;
- Not far from the Ural Hotel you can see a monument to a bear. They say that anyone who rubs his nose and makes a wish is doomed to success;
- A unique view opens from the embankment where the inscription: “Happiness is just around the corner.” Depending on the time of year, it is either on land or in water, which looks fascinating.
In the Perm region there are a great many monuments and sculptures and almost each of them has its own history, makes you think, change your life and believe in a miracle.
Watch the following video about the strangest monuments in Russia:
Photo gallery
Sculpture "Permyak - salty ears" (Komsomolsky Prospekt, near the Central Department Store). This sculpture was created according to a legend about the inhabitants of the Perm region. When salt mining began in Solikamsk, workers had to carry heavy bags of salt on their backs. The salt spilled onto their ears, causing them to become red and large. Therefore, Permians began to be called - Permyak - salty ears.
Information about modern sculptures of the city.
Very soon everyone will be able to feel like a “salty-eared” Permian. To do this, you will need to appear in the park near the Prikamie Hotel, in the place where (presumably in August, and not on City Day, as previously assumed), the sculptural composition “Photographer” by Rustam Ismagilov will be installed. It represents the scenery of an old photographic studio, where, in order to become the hero of a drawn scene, you need to put your face in an empty hole. The same will be the peculiar ritual of “initiation into Permians”. To do this, according to Ismagilov Jr.’s project, anyone must stick their head into the frame (at the same time, huge marble ears will immediately “grow” in them) and take a photo. The second part of this composition is the figure of a photographer with a camera on a tripod, which serves as a hint and guide to action. And all this is in a very “human” size - no higher than one and a half meters. This is not a monument, but an urban sculpture. Benches in the form of stone bags (with hypothetical salt, of course) will complement the genre scene.
There has never been anything like this in Perm before. The move is as simple as possible, but at the same time very modern. It is playful and interactive, suggesting a fundamentally different existence in urban space. This is a kind of attraction, a performance. The authors would like this sculpture to become truly popular. The choice was also successful in that the “photo studio” will be located right next to the hotel, so that everyone who comes to Perm can painlessly “grow ears” and take away photos as souvenirs. Rustam Ismagilov's project won the competition, which was announced by the Perm branch of BIN Bank about a month ago. The composition “Photographer” shared first place with a very strong rival - “Elastic Structure Carrying Salty Ears” by Alexey Zalazaev. According to the chairman of the jury, Yuri Lapshin, if he had his way, he would have erected both sculptures at once. But Zalazaev’s project, as usual, turned out to be too expensive and went beyond the estimate, which amounted to 2 million rubles. Alexey Zalazaev, taking as a basis the traditions of the Perm animal style and transforming them beyond recognition, created in his signature style something that simultaneously resembles Gogol’s nose and the designs of Salvador Dali (only, of course, instead of a nose, Zalazaev has an ear). The composition consists of 99 ears, and their totality forms the hundredth. This allegorical sculpture, according to Zalazaev’s plan, is a metaphor for the century. The jury members liked the project so much that it was proposed to implement it in one of the sister cities of Perm. The idea is excellent, although in the minds of a Westerner it is unlikely to be associated with Perm history. The author of the “hundred-haired” sculpture himself did not appear at the award ceremony. They say he is very busy: he personally participates in everything preparatory work on the installation of a monument to Doctor Grail, which was about to be transported from the courtyard of the art gallery, where it stood all winter, to Lenin Street. The second place in the competition remained empty, and the third went to Natalya Katsparzhak, who has long been involved in the development of the Perm souvenir products. Her “Permyak - salty ears” is made in a cheerful colorful “matryoshka” style. By the way, it’s not a bad idea: sell her clay pickle-eared men right there, near the hotel, trade in this place will go wherever how lively. Seven more projects participating in the competition remained “outside the brackets”. They are made in a purely traditional manner. Among them there is, for example, a project with a man in a suit from the heyday of salt making in the Kama region, sprinkling salt on a loaf of bread; a man with protruding ears and a huge bag over his shoulders or a head grown into the ground epic hero. The jury awarded all these works with diplomas.
Information about culture in the city of Perm.
Perm is one of the cultural and scientific centers of the country. University (founded in 1916, the first higher education institution in the Urals educational institution), technical university, institutes: medical, agricultural, pharmaceutical, pedagogical, arts and culture. Research institutes of the Perm Scientific Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and other research and design institutions. Perm has long been famous for its musical and theatrical traditions. The first musical performance took place here in 1806, a stone opera house was built in 1878, and a theater management was organized in 1895, replacing a private enterprise. Nowadays the city has open theaters: opera and ballet named after. P.I. Tchaikovsky (founded in 1870), dramatic (1927), puppets (1940), young spectators (1945). The Perm ballet school is world famous (the Choreographic School was founded in 1945). Philharmonic. Circus. Art gallery (started in 1907, when the artist V.V. Vereshchagin donated several of his paintings to the Perm Scientific and Industrial Museum, which made up its first fund; opened in 1922; the exhibition includes a rich collection of Perm religious wooden sculpture of the 17th - early 20th centuries) . Museum of Local Lore. The historical part of the city is located on the elevated left bank of the Kama, below the mouth of the Chusovaya, at the confluence of the Yegoshikha River. The regular layout of the city was laid out in the 1720s. Tatishchev (production complex of the plant, rectangular blocks along the upper terrace of the shore). The oldest part of Perm was formed in the 1750-70s. with two centers - a trade center (on the site of the Perm I station, founded in 1878) with a road departing from it to Okhansk and an administrative center, which occupied a plateau above the piers in the north-west, with the city Peter and Paul Cathedral (1757-64; 5-domed, with 4 -faceted dome and pediments), former Offices (late 18th century), guardhouse and residential governor's building. By master plan In 1782, the geometric layout was extended to the riverside neighborhoods. In 1796-1804 (under the governorship of the St. Petersburg engineer K.F. Moderakh), intensive construction began down the Kama, to the west: the stone Gostiny Dvor, the city government, the treasury chamber (reconstructed, now the City Executive Committee). Main Public School (men's gymnasium, rebuilt in 1847-51, now one of the buildings of the Medical Institute); boulevards and squares are being laid out, and the embankment is being strengthened. Among the religious buildings of the old city of Perm - Cathedral Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery on Mount Sludka (1798-1832; bell tower - 1818-32, designed by architect L. Rusk, P. T. Vasiliev, I. I. Sviyazev), rotunda church at the “new” cemetery (1832-37 , architect Sviyazev), mosque (1902-03, architect A. I. Ozhegov), Kazan Church in the pseudo-Russian style, with majolica panels on the facades (1905-07, architect Yu. Skavronsky), 5-domed 2-tier Church of the Ascension in neo-Russian style (Feodosievskaya; 1903-10, architect Ozhegov). Among the monuments of civil architecture of the era of classicism in Perm are the Bishop's House in the complex of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery (1793-98, reconstructed in 1853, 1901), the City Duma (late 18th century, built on in the 19th century, originally a one-story house of Zhmaev) ; buildings of the architect Sviyazev: the Yakovlev-Meshkov house (1820s, restored in 1885-86), a school for children of clerical workers (1825-29), a seminary (1829-31), a wooden Krylov mansion (now a medical dispensary), a wooden rotunda in the former Country Garden (1824), Noble Assembly (1830), etc. Among the numerous buildings of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. in the spirit of eclecticism and Art Nouveau style: former houses Lyubimova and Meshkov, the old building of the opera house, the house of the Music College, the old building of the Perm II station, the Cyril and Methodius School (1911, architect Kendrzhinsky, now the House young technicians) in neo-Russian style, etc. In the late 1920s and early 1950s. fragmentary construction was carried out on vacant plots in the old part of the city and standard block-by-quarter development in new areas (including in Zakamye). According to the master plan 1949-52 - comprehensive industrial construction in all areas, incl. in the historical part of the city (House of Soviets, Drama Theatre, Social and Political Center, Philharmonic Concert Hall, Builders' House of Culture, Polytechnic Institute, Vostochnaya Hotel, Crystal Cinema, etc.), and the development of new residential areas (Gorki , Balatovo, Yanvarsky microdistrict, Gaiva village).
Monument "Permyak salty ears" or monument to ears is a sculpture in Perm dedicated to salt workers.
History of the monument “Permyak - salty ears”
Vernekamye is a historical place of salt production in Russia.
In 1430, the Kalinnikov merchants opened the first salt pans in the area of modern Solikamsk, and later they appeared in Dedyukhino, Pyskor, Lenva, Veretye and Orel and other cities and towns. Salt was delivered by river to the largest fairs in Russia and was in great demand.
Salt was extracted by evaporation from water that was extracted from underground wells.
After evaporation, the salt was dried, stored and placed in bags of 4-5 pounds (64-80 kilograms). The bags of salt were carried by hired saltmen.
Carrying salt, which was often still wet, caused the salt-carriers’ skulls to become deformed, their muscles to fail, and the skin behind their ears to be eaten away by the strong saline solution. Very often, the ears became enlarged and red. This is where the saying “Permyak has salty ears” arose.
Sculpture “Permyak salty ears”
The monument was opened on April 1, 2006 and was built with funds from OJSC BINBANK. Author: Rustam Ismagilov.
The composition consists of two parts - the figure of the photographer and a round frame with large ears, which can be used to photograph your face.
Next year the museum will celebrate its half-century anniversary. Moreover, its official opening took place in September 1980. The museum tells about the architecture exclusively of the Perm region. All wooden buildings - and there are 20 of them - are transportable, that is, not from here. The farmhouse is about 170 years old and is typical of the region from the mid-19th century. At that time, they still tried to erect buildings without a single nail, because they (nails) were forged by hand, and therefore were expensive. In their architecture and arrangement, Perm houses were in many ways similar to the houses of the Russian North. ((material_123241)) The house consisted of 3 rooms. The main thing is the hut, that is, a log house with a stove, where the peasants lived in the winter. Opposite the hut there was a cage - a summer log house, without a stove. Between them is a canopy, or, to put it modern language, hallway. Inside, the hut is divided into 4 main parts, without partitions (sort of like a modern studio apartment). Glass windows in most peasant huts appeared only in the second half of the 19th century. The stove always stands in one of the corners, to the left or right of the entrance and looks deep into the hut. The second part is kut (kitchen). The third - diagonally from the stove - is a red (beautiful) corner, the most honorable place where guests were seated, where there was a table for meals and the Virgin Mary. And the fourth part is Podporozhye (not to be confused with the city of the same name in Leningrad region), where there were chambers in which they slept (there were no beds then). In the hut there was always a shaky (cradle) attached to an ochup (stick); as a rule, the mother shook it with her foot, because she worked with her hands - she spun threads. There are beliefs associated with ochup: they say that it is like a bridge between heaven and earth, children descended along it. Smooth ochup - for that family who needed children, uncouth, with bark - if the family already had many children, and another slab-eater would be a burden. The sign, they say, did not help... It should be noted here that at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, infant mortality was huge - about 50%. And the people themselves, contrary to some prejudices, were short in stature, which is why the doorway in the hut was not high. Every family had woven belts. The belt is an obligatory part of the folk costume. It's like a talisman against damage and the evil eye. Without it, people tried not to go out. Anyone who appeared in public without a belt was said to have “lost his belt.” A term that is still familiar to us today. ((gallery_1215)) The whole family sat down to eat at the table, no one ate alone. Why? Yes, everything is very simple. The oven is not a microwave; they couldn’t melt it for every eater. And the second reason: there was not much food, it was necessary to divide the food equally among everyone. There were no plates of our own; we ate from one pot with wooden spoons. It was impossible to be distracted during the meal - you would instantly remain hungry. There was a salt shaker on the table - as a sign of contentment in the house. The larger it was, the more honorable it was. And all because salt was expensive in those years. ((material_122888)) A covered courtyard is an indispensable attribute of a peasant estate. They worked in it in the winter, and domestic animals lived here - horses, goats, pigs, cows, chickens, etc. The horse was considered the main animal, because it was reputed to be the main labor force. Right there, in the covered courtyard, muzzles - cone-shaped fish traps - were dried. Good house covered with hewn boards; there were no thatched roofs, like in the south of Russia, in the Perm region. Before the advent of sawmills in the late 19th century, planks were considered scarce because they were cut with an axe. Logs were cheaper; a good thick log could be cut into 2 boards. In the open courtyard there were vegetable gardens and outbuildings. Let's say a barn for food supplies. There were no shops in those days - they tried to preserve what they grew. Perishable foods were stored in glaciers, a kind of analogue of today's refrigerator. The glacier was a hole 2-3 meters deep: ice was brought from the river in the spring, dumped into the hole, where it remained until the fall. Every family had a bathhouse. They placed it far from the house, near the river: after all, they heated it mainly “in the black”, and therefore fires were a frequent occurrence. Religious buildings The main one here is the Kletsk Church of the Transfiguration, built in 1702. Consists of cages - rectangular log houses. It was placed by ship, that is, all parts of the church stood on the same line, one after another. It looks like a sailing ship. Structurally the church is unoriginal - the altar ( East End), a prayer room in the center, a refectory and a vestibule (entrance hall). The logs from the temple were released outside and a porch was placed on top of them. The church is two-story, services were held on the 2nd floor, and below there is a basement used as a warehouse. There is another reason for such architecture - winters in the region are harsh, there is a lot of snow, the ground freezes deeply. ((gallery_1214)) An unusual element of the Temple - a cross barrel, is located on the wedge of the roof, under the dome. Two decorative barrels are inserted into each other - crosswise. Similar barrels have been found in Russia, in particular, they can be seen in Kizhi, Vitoslavitsy, etc. But there the barrels are the roof itself. In the Khokhlovka church the roof is on its own, and the barrels were mounted separately. Why, you ask, such a decision? Yes, just like that, for the sake of beauty. ((material_122215)) The domes of the Church of the Transfiguration are made of aspen. And also for decoration. It is known that with age, aspen acquires a silvery color. Therefore, against the background of a dark log house, the domes stood out advantageously. IN Soviet years The Transfiguration Church was used as a granary. Sacrilege, of course, but thanks to this, oddly enough, the church has survived to this day. As well as the second museum church - from the late 19th century. Salt production Except, as in the Perm region, there are no more corresponding monuments related to salt in Russia. There are 4 of them - all like one production cell. The first mention of salt making in the Perm region dates back to 1430. Salt mill. It is not easy to recognize, since it has neither blades nor a tail, which acts as a lever for turning the blades. On the 1st floor of the mill, millstones were working - grinding grain. Bread in those days was predominantly rye, almost no wheat was sown, the climate did not allow it. The salt factory, presented on the territory of the museum, was built in the 80s of the 19th century. It became the last plant in Russia that extracted salt using the ancient method of extraction. The plant closed only on January 1, 1972. To organize production, it was necessary to find lands where there were salt deposits at depth, and so that groundwater would constantly come across this salt in the ground. It is the water that will dissolve the salt and thus there will always be salt lakes. In such places they built a well and pumped out salt water and evaporated it in a large frying pan. This is the tricky way. ((gallery_1216)) The well had to be dug at a depth of 200 meters. Brine lifting towers were placed above the well. A steam engine-pump was installed in them. The well was dug using the rotary impact method. They shaved the longest possible log with a metal cone at the end with a slot. They stuck it into the ground, turned it, the earth was stuffed into the cone, took it out and, putting on the logs, took out the earth. Turned by hand. The construction of one well could take 6 years. Pumped out brine to the very roof. Then, by gravity through a system of wooden pipes, it spread throughout the plant, and first of all it ended up in a large 100-ton barrel barn. The barrel was poured into a brewhouse, where the brine was boiled. ((material_120613)) In the brewhouse, crystalline salt appeared from the solution. When the brine was poured into the frying pan, it began to boil. Under the floor there is a huge oven. The water went out into the street in the form of steam, and the salt crystallized. With shovels they threw it onto the floor, where it dried. Next, the salt was poured into bags, and the salt pickers carried it to the barns. Even women acted as salt pickers. The bags were worn not on the hump, but over the head. They stood on “goat” stands. The weight of “women’s” bags reached 50 kg, men carried 80-kg bags. Alas, the work is dangerous. First of all, by the fact that salt kept falling into the ears - hence the expression: “Permyak - salty ears.” The salt corroded the skin, everything hurt, ulcerated... The stove was heated with wood until the 1950s, then they switched to coal. The stove is long and made of brick for safety reasons. After each addition of salt, it was cleaned of ash, a lot of work. ((gallery_1221)) The 100-ton chest-barrel was brought to Khokhlovka by water without disassembly. They just couldn’t make it out - over the century of its existence, the log house had been cemented with salt. Today the salt comes out of the chest and it tastes salty. By spring, such barns were filled to capacity with salt. The salt from them was taken away during the flood on barges. Basically, caravans of ships went to Nizhny Novgorod, to the fair. Until the 1740s, the main salt in Russia was Perm, and until then it had no competitors. Then the salt plant was built on the territory of the present Astrakhan region. There is a huge salt lake, the sun itself evaporates the salt. Perm salt workers immediately began to focus on the local market. Today, the region produces mainly the more expensive potassium salt; it is the second largest deposit in the world in terms of reserves. There are deposits of table salt to this day, but extracting it is not so profitable.
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We live in a huge country, in different parts which has its own jokes, expressions and sayings that are not understandable in other areas of our Motherland. However, it often happens that when arriving in a particular city and not knowing its history, tourists find themselves in rather delicate situations. For example, when they are unable to answer a joke, or do not understand the meaning of what was said. Today we will look at one of those funny expressions that sometimes drives some of our fellow citizens into a stupor, this Permyak salty ears, which means you can find out a little below. Visit our website more often and you will be able to enrich your vocabulary with both quite cute expressions and words that should not be used in polite society. Therefore, do not forget to add this resource site to your bookmarks, because we regularly have new information.
However, before continuing, I would like to point you to a few more useful articles on the topic of phraseological units. For example, what does Because gladiolus mean? how to understand Don't dig a hole for someone else; translation Memento mori; which means the forest is being cut down, chips are flying, etc.
So let's continue Perm salty ears, why do they say that?? This expression has several origins, but we will look at the most popular ones.
Permyak salty ears origin
First version. In the 16th century, salt was a very expensive and valuable commodity; it was mined in the upper reaches of the Usolka River and transported on huge barges. The town of Usolye-on-Kamsky was built there, which was later renamed Sol Kamskaya, and then Solikamsk. This settlement has become the most major center salt development in Russia.To extract salt, they first dug a well and then pumped out the brine, which was then evaporated. This crumbly product was usually packaged in simple bags that had holes and torn edges. Unfortunately, at that time the process of delivering bags on board the ship was not mechanized, and the loaders had to carry salt on their long-suffering shoulders all day long. And since the salt miners put the bag on their shoulders and, bent over, dragged it along the gangway, particles of this mineral, crumbling, fell on their backs, shoulders, and even on their ears. After a working day, when people came home, they changed their clothes, and this solved the problem of discomfort on the body, but sometimes the movers could forget to wash their ears, after which they began to turn red and hurt.
Second version. During the development of Siberia and the Urals, about three hundred years ago, many peasants went to these inhospitable places to find a new home. Some went to Perm, others even to the ocean, and there were such travelers great amount. It took several years to get to these places, moving mainly along rivers and lakes. All along their journey they met with local people who were very negative towards these " aliens". And how to appease the local gloomy guys? At all times, banknotes have been used for this. True, at that time the peasants had almost no hard cash, but they found a way out of the situation. After all, in that era, salt was equivalent to silver or even gold. Therefore Enterprising citizens carried with them small, pre-packaged bags of salt. Since ordinary people did not have pockets, as a class, one clever man came up with the idea of hanging these bags behind his ears, using a special loop for this. Having seen such an innovation, the rest of the settlers began to actively use it. this method. For this, the local “natives” nicknamed these travelers, future Permians, “ salty ears".
In April 2006, the most amazing and strange monument in Russia was built in Perm, next to the Ural Hotel. It looks like a pillar with an oval with ears on it. This entire composition is designed so that everyone can stick their head into this oval and feel like a Permian with salty ears.
After reading this informative article, you learned Permyak salty ears, why do they call people that, and now you won’t get caught
