Dec 07, 2015 A life-sized sculpture of President Vladimir Putin recently went on display at St Petersburg, home town of the Russian leader.
The chocolate creation, which was produced by sculptor Nikita Gusev, stands approximately 172cm in height and weighs 77kg.
The sculpture went on display at the St. Petersburg’s annual “Festival of Chocolate”. The festival, which is in its fifth year, also included confectionary master classes, fairs and chocolate quests.
Commenting on his creation, Nikita Gusev said:
“On one hand the chocolate is soft and malleable, on the other side and it can be very hard. It is very plastic, it can take any form. I think this material really suits him (Putin) because he is like that, in different situations he can be different, sometimes soft, and sometimes hard.”
Explaining his unique approach, Nikita went on to say:
“I took different emotions of his, different photographs from different angles to better understand because if he was really here it would have been easier. I could have come close and made measurements and used them.”
Last year, Pope Francis was presented with a full-size chocolate version of himself by the students of the Accademia of Maestri Cioccolatieri.
Mikhail Lyubchenkov, organizer of the chocolate festival then shared the motivation behind the creation saying:
“We decided to immortalize him in chocolate in this sculpture. I want to add that last year The Pope was given a chocolate sculpture of himself. My thought that if Pope Francis can have a chocolate sculpture why can’t our President?”