Matryoshka is called a “gift with a Russian soul”, but the appearance of one of the main symbols of Russia remains a mystery for the second century.

The popularity of nesting dolls inspired the work of Western masters. In 1890, the Russian consul reported from Germany to St. Petersburg that they began to fake Russian souvenirs in Nuremberg, but the production did not go on, just like in France.

The largest nesting doll is located at the “crossroads of the worlds” – in the Chinese city of Manchuria. A thirty-meter sculpture is installed at the intersection of the borders of Russia and Mongolia. The symbol of friendship is decorated with images of three girls: Chinese, Mongolian and Russian.

The largest family of nesting dolls was made in the Nizhny Novgorod city of Semenov. In one meter wooden matron 72 figures sit. And one of the largest museums in Europe – the Russian Ethnographic Museum – holds master classes in painting figures.

Matryoshka the size of a poppy seed can be seen in the Tomsk Museum of Slavic Mythology. Mammoth bone figurine will have to be examined under a microscope. Modern Lefty Anatoly Konenko not only made a figure a little more than a millimeter in size, but also painted it according to all the artistic canons.