Stone has a ritual significance for many regions of the world, the theme of worshipping it exists in the folklore of various nations. Ural territory is strongly associated with stone, it is becoming the center of regional sacred meanings. A number of researchers identify ancient stone structures as calendar objects that are installed for fixing the movement of the heavenly bodies, the main characteristics of which were space and time with a focus on Cosmos. As well they are considered as objects of religious practices and portals to parallel worlds. Russian and Soviet Ethnographer L. Sternberg, wrote: “Stone is an animate being because it often acts performatively, gives birth to fire, has a sort of shell that makes sounds, throws a shadow. Living for centuries, it must know everything”.

The couple Leonid Ivanovich Rymarenko and Vera Eliseevna Volyanskaya are considered the founders of Soviet scientific filmmaking. They worked at the Sverdlovsk Film Studio for almost half a century. Both were artists, and their unique vision allowed to create their extraordinary films. According to Tatyana Kirillova, a historian of the Ural cinema, stone is the eternal love of the directors: “Its birth, everyday life, and aesthetics have excited the filmmakers. This passion lead to the great researcher of stone - to the personality of the major scientist, Academician Alexander Evgenyevich Fersman”. Thus emerged “Fersmaniada”: films “A Story about a Stone” (1957), “Memories of a Stone” (1968), “Be useful to mankind” (1983) “. The film “A Story about a Stone” was awarded the Lomonosov Prize and won prizes at the Monte Carlo and Montevideo IFFs. Unfortunately, most of the directors' legacy is unavailable today — this is what happened to the movie “A Tale of Stone”. However, Anatoly Malakhov’s article from 1958 sharing details on the plot and technology of the film has been preserved.

I was inspired by the work of Leonid Ivanovich and Vera Eliseevna — their close attention to light and color in every frame, their love for stone, the special poetic atmosphere of their films. Based on the description of the mysterious film “Treasure Hunters”, I also turn my eye to the theme of stone, but I work with the urban landscape. In Yekaterinburg, I noticed how stone has made its way into the modern Ural city. I focus on stone objects in public spaces. Stone is in the streets, on squares, in courtyards, in parks, at the basements of the houses. It subordinates the landscape in some way. Thus, the Ural identity is refracted in daily routes, and the city is “strengthened” by the power of the Stone.