A Simple Truth of a Tiny Letter

Pyotr Chobitko, a calligrapher from Saint Petersburg, believes classic calligraphy is a solid foundation for personality development. On February 4th, he arrived at the Sokolniki MEC Moscow office to meet Alexey Shaburov, President of Sokolniki MEC and General Manager of the International Exhibition of Calligraphy.

During the talk, they discussed the issues of calligraphy’s influence on individual development, significance of the Letter and its impact on all the spheres of social life. Every child is inherently talented. Writing is a very efficient way to develop a child’s mind, for it involves the spheres of the so-called primary and secondary consciousness. Calligraphy unites the rational and the irrational. Calligraphy combines science and art, the conscious and the unconscious. It is no trifle that in Western countries there is a tendency called «slow progress in calligraphy». Every developed society can come across a crisis, which can be overcome by going back to the sources of its national identity. Like no other art, calligraphy is a perfect solution to the problem, for every handwritten letter carries a large charge of genetic memory, which allows a person feel a part of the country and society she lives in.

Pyotr Chobitko

The purpose of the project is to restore the culture of writing, lost after the 1708 reform of Peter the Great. The participants of the International Exhibition of Calligraphy will form the environment, which is to nourish the fading sprouts of neat handwriting and stimulate the interest for its sources and history. There are three levels of calligraphic art: Master, Miracle, and God-Inspired. Sokolniki MEC project will stimulate the development of all these levels to preserve all the unique treasures of Old Russia.

Maria Makeyeva
Coordinator of the International Exhibition of Calligraphy