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Giant Ukrainian Egg by Martin Starr – Wikimedia commons

Ten Best Facts about the Giant Ukrainian Egg, Vegreville, Albert

The Vegreville egg is a giant sculpture of a pysanka. It is a Ukrainian-style Easter egg. Easter eggs are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is also called the Paschal egg.

The sculpture was commissioned by the town of Vegreville, in the Canadian Province of Alberta. It is noted for its high Ukrainian Canadian population. In the article are the top ten best facts about the Giant Ukrainian Egg.

1. The sculpture contains distinct features

Vigreville egg by Myke2020 –

The egg is a spectacle made by a huge team of people. Paul Sembaliuk was the project lead and designer of the Vegreville egg. The egg is built by an intricate set of two-dimensional anodized aluminum tiles in the shape of congruent equilateral triangles.

It also has a star-shaped hexagon, fashioned over an aluminum framework. The egg is 9 m long and three and a half storeys high. It weighs 2.5 t. The egg was designed in 1975 in honor of the early Ukrainian settlements east of Edmonton. 

2. The sculpture has always depended on funds from grants 

In order to obtain funding for the sculpture, the town of Vegreville applied for a federal government grant. Obtaining the fund was a success but a condition was set. The condition is that the culture was to be dedicated to the 1975 centennial of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

3. The egg was commissioned by the Town of Vegreville

The sculpture is noted for its high Ukrainian Canadian population. Vegreville received a grant in order to construct it. It is a nod to Ukrainian culture in Canada, and specifically in early Ukrainian settlements east of Edmonton, Alberta. It is called the Vegreville egg because it is built-in Vegreville.

4. The egg is one of the main tourist attractions in Canada

Ukrainian egg by Kevstan –

Thousands of tourists from around the world visit Vegreville annually and marvel at the Ukrainian egg. It is one of the premier tourist attractions on the Trans Canada Yellowhead Highway It is located on the north side of Alberta Highway 16A in Elk’s Park.

The sculpture is really an immense jigsaw puzzle. It contains 524-star patterns, 3,512 facets, 2,206 equilateral triangles, 6,978 nuts and bolts, and 177 internal struts.

5. The Ukrainian egg was built by Paul Maxym Sembaliuk

Ukrainian egg symbolism by SriMesh –

The sculpture was designed by Paul Maxym. Obviously, he never did the work alone but was helped by a team. May materials were considered, from concrete to wood. The money contributed to Vegreville was not enough to build the egg according to his design.

Paul used many of his political and community contacts to muster up the support for the project. Then he was a graphic artist working for the government. He managed the design and production of a 25 million dollar province-wide anodized aluminum signage project.

Since the contract was given to the Permaloy coatings division in Alberta, Paul Maxym asked the division if they would as a favor to the Ukrainian immigrants of Canada, donate money to the project. Permaloy agreed to the proposal.

6. Paul wanted used aluminum to build the sculpture

Paul wanted to use aluminum because of it is durability. It also can hold colors without fading under the rays because it is resistant to UV. Aluminum is easily machinable. Paul needed only to anodize the aluminum metals by electrolytic passivation.

7. The prowess of a computer scientist was influential in the sculpture

The Vegreville banner by Striatic –

Well, early I said that Paul Maxym did not construct the Ukrainian egg aloe but he was helped by a team. One of the team members also a specialist was called Ronald Resch. Resch was not only a computer scientist but also an artist, and a geometrist.

He was known for his work in folding paper, origami tessellations, and 3D polyhedrons. His main work in the sculpture was to execute the technical drawing for the sculpture. His software was used to guide the lasers while cutting the tiles of the sculpture. 

Ronald Resch created an algorithm to cast a periodic B-spline curve. The curve was used to execute the technical drawings of the Ukrainian egg. Resch and his team tiled the egg. He solved the surface of the tiles mathematically something that was hard for the whole team.

8. The Ukrainian egg required different professions to design it

Alberta’s giant egg required mathematical, architectural and engineering firsts to build from 3500 aluminum pieces. Mathematics was required on the enigma of how to assemble two-dimensional titles onto the three-dimensional egg.

The architecture was required to plan, develop and implement building designs. The architectures compile feasibility reports, determine environmental impact, create project proposals, estimate costs, determine timelines, and oversee construction processes. The engineers were required to construct the sculpture to its feet as planned.

9. Description of the Ukrainian egg

Vegreville egg by Striatic –

The egg is tiled using a total of 1108 congruent equilateral triangles, 524 concave hexagons, 3512 visible facets, 6,978 nuts and bolts, and 177 internal struts. The tiles range in thickness from 1.588 mm to 3.175. The tiles are jointed at angles ranging from 1° at the center to 7° at the tips.

The tiles are held together by an internal framework of radiating spokes, which connect the egg’s “shell” The pysanka leans at 30° relative to the base and turns with the wind similar motions of a weather vane.

10. Alberta’s big egg was a technological breakthrough

Vegreville egg by MinburnCounty –

World-first computer modeling by the computer scientist Ronald Resch and Canadian artist Paul Maxym,  went into building this giant Ukrainian Easter egg. The egg is the second-largest pysanka in the world.

The largest pysanka actually is built into the part of the Kolomyia Pysanka Museum in Ukraine. The Queen visited also visited the Ukrainian egg after its completion in 1974. Be sure to visit Vegreville, Alberta, Canada, and get to see this wonder in a little place.