Lomography

World's Largest Ukrainian Easter Egg!
written by dirklancer on October 3rd, 2009 , 12 comments (5 votes)

Please activate JavaScript to see this gallery.

I went on a little road trip to show my kids some of the world’s biggest things a couple of weeks ago. Not things that much of the world has ever heard about, mind you, but in their own special highly qualified way, the world’s biggest things.
The second monument on our mini-road trip was this egg.

A large contingency of Ukrainian settlers tamed this part of the Canadian prairie over a hundred years ago, and the area is rich with their cultural heritage. This proper title for this location should be “World’s Largest Pysanka” – it was built over 30 years ago to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and to recognize the heritage of the area’s ethnic heritage.

The most popular activity for tourists at this monument is to stand with their hands in the air in front of the monument and have someone take their picture from a perspective that makes it appear as if they are holding the massive egg above their head. I tried this with my children…but when I took my turn ‘holding’ the egg, I’m not quite sure my son knew what we were going for…

This monument is of interest for several unique reasons, many ‘firsts’ were achieved in its construction; firsts in mathematics, engineering, and architecture. Upon close inspection you can see that the ‘Pysanka’ is actually made of 524 star patterns, 3,512 facets, 2,206 equilateral triangles, 6,978 nuts and bolts, and 177 internal struts – all in a gigantic, three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle.

Take Hwy 16 for about one hour east of Edmonton, in the town of Vegreville. You can’t really miss it, it’s a big egg. There’s a tourist information centre on the site, as well as a campground, a large pond, and a great playground. It’s a nice place to stop for a picnic, if you’re into driving an hour out of the city for a picnic, that is.

http://www.geocities.com/williamwchow/egg/e-egg.htm
http://www.cuug.ab.ca/VT/vegreville.html
http://www.cbc.ca/sevenwonders/wonder_vegreville_egg.html