Translate into English. 1. Тагильский лаковый промысел основан при Демидовых и существует более 250 лет

1. Тагильский лаковый промысел основан при Демидовых и существует более 250 лет.

2. Основой для письма служит металлический поднос.

3. Особенность росписи – двухцветный мазок: на кисточку набирается
одновременно две краски – темная и светлая.

4. Используются масляные художественные краски. После росписи подносы покрывают несколькими слоями лака.

5. Кроме традиционного металла используются и другие материалы –
дерево, береста, стекло.

6. При выполнении панно фон и часть росписи наносятся на картон, часть – на стекло, что позволяет выделить первый план, создать объемность изображения.

7. В советское время подносный промысел пытались возродить дважды.

8. Первая волна была в 30‑х годах, а вторая — в 80‑х.

9. В Тагиле работал целый цех подносной росписи, в котором трудились более 100 художников.

10. Но сегодня все это, к сожалению, в прошлом.

11. Производства практически нет, хотя существует небольшая экспериментальная группа и отдельные художники.

12. Они отмывают и расписывают старые формы, так как новых сегодня в Тагиле не штампуют.

13. Но в целом, сегодня можно констатировать, что этот промысел погибает.

Text 13. STATUE OF LIBERTY MADE OF RUSSIAN COPPER?

Http://www.russianamericanbusiness.org

By Valeriy TROITSKIY

To witness the laying of the first STONE into the would-be platform of the Statue of Liberty, more than a hundred people came to Bedlow’s Island. Edward Ehlers announced the list of all items that were placed in a SMALL copper box and lowered it into a HOLLOW space under the first stone.

According to the declared list, under the Statue of Liberty lay buried a copy of the American Constitution, the text of George Washington's Farewell Address, bronze medals with names of all US Presidents up to Chester Arthur, a portrait of sculptor Bartholdi, and … Russian and Jewish immigrant newspapers of New York City.

The latter circumstances give rise to a new look at the single remaining mystery of humanity's great memorial, the Statue of Liberty.

Norwegians - candidates No. 1

It would seem that everything is known about the Statue of Liberty: its height, weight, length of its nose, width of its mouth, thickness of its book, as well as numerous other little details. The Statue's total weight, for instance, is 450 000 pounds; the weight of its copper plates alone is 200 000 pounds. Lady Liberty is only a little more than a hundred years old - a tiny period in historical sense. As commonly known, the Statue, created by a French sculptor Bartholdi, was presented as a gift to American people for the 100-year anniversary of independence. Even at that time, all information about the Statue appeared open; there were no secrets.

One issue concerning the Statue, however, remains enigmatic even today. What copper was used to create one of the most well-known monuments of the world? To be more specific, where did the copper come from? Today, no historic documentation exists to respond to the question fully.

The leading candidacy for the source of copper can be claimed by several countries at once.

English copper mines in Cornwall and Devon were renowned throughout the world, particularly in the later half of XIX century. Apart from that, judging from geographic convenience, a possible supply of Lady Liberty's copper skin, as some experts think, may be an English excavation site Swan Sea.

Hamburg and Mansfield are the two most likely nominees from Germany.

In Spain, there was a famous copper mine at Huelva that, for several centuries, remained among the largest of its kind in Europe.

The most probable true source of the Statue's copper, though, is Norway. Certain Norwegian specialists even maintain that the last Liberty mystery is already solved. In 1870, Norway had a great copper source at Visnes on Karmoi Island in the North Sea. The headquarters of the Norwegian mining company were located in Paris; the proprietor was a Frenchman. Additionally, all raw materials from the mine were delivered to Antwerp and Dunkirk.

The principal argument for Norway arises from a spectrographic analysis. In exploring the theory, a New Jersey company Bell Laboratories analyzed a copper sample from the Statue and compared it to the metal from the Norwegian mine. The conclusion lead researchers to assert that there was a high likelihood for the North Sea theory. The copper samples appeared similar.

Similar… Were they identical? Not quite. There was no unequivocal answer.

A Norwegian origin of the Statue can be spoken of as only a possibility, just like its potential English, German, or Spanish (the Spainish mine was also owned by a Frenchman) roots.

The Russian legend

… For the first time, I heard the story of the copper's Russian origin from a Russian journalist, who attended an exhibition in Paris. She described her museum guide, a Russian woman, about 45-years-old, who lived in France for two decades. When the journalist's group passed a smaller model of the American Statue of Liberty in Paris, the guide told the story of the real Liberty's Russian copper source.

The little story would have been forever forgotten, if I had not once again encountered it in the form of a direct affirmation. Visokogorskiy Ore Enrichment Factory of Nizhniy Tagil, in Sverdlovsk Region, Russia, on its official Internet-site, declared that the copper used in the construction of the Statue of Liberty came from Russia.

Let me just briefly remind you the Statue's story. A French sculptor Frederic-August Bartholdi was commissioned to create a statue dedicated to the American independence centenary in 1876. (There are other theories of the statue's purpose, but we shall not pursue them here.) Due to funding shortages, the work was not completed on time. The French conducted various charity benefits and lotteries. Americans, in their turn, were occupied with gathering money for building the Statue's platform. Bartholdi worked on the project with fascination; he produced several preliminary models, smaller than the actual Statue. His assistant, a future celebrity, Gustav Eiffel, designed the internal constructs of the monument. The outer covering was made of copper plates that were manually reshaped as necessary. In the United States, imminently famous Joseph Pulitzer criticized wealthy classes of America for the failure to sponsor the Statue. At last, the money was gathered, and, on July 4, 1884, the Statue was given to the US ambassador in France. Subsequently, the monument got transported to America, installed on the island, and opened with a ceremony on October 28, 1886.

At initial glance, there is no Russian connection in the many-year construction history of the architectural masterpiece. So what is it that gives the NizhniyTagil plant the basis to have contrary claims?

I contacted the director of Nizhniy Tagil's historic museum and inquired whether there was any direct proof of Russian copper's use. To my surprise, the museum had no evidence. The theory has been passed on through generations as a legend and ensconced itself deep in the people's beliefs. The director, as usual, complained about the lack of funds to investigate the issue.

Nevertheless, I could gather certain facts, whose great number is simply too big for the Russian theory to be a legend.