A castle made with waste. Despite their age, retirees Alexey and Valentina Krivov, a couple living on the outskirts of Artyom, Russia, still believe in fairy tales. And in the value of creative recycling. For this they have spent the last 17 years of their lives transforming their home into a perfect fairytale castle, using only materials found on the street and in a nearby landfill.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
A castle made with waste. Despite their age, retirees Alexey and Valentina Krivov, a couple living on the outskirts of Artyom, Russia, still believe in fairy tales. And in the value of the creative recycling. For this they have spent the last 17 years of their life transforming their home into a perfect fairytale castle, using only materials found on the street and in a nearby landfill.
Alexey and Valentina did not want to grow old in an anonymous gray house and, since they could not afford to buy a castle of their own, they decided to turn their home into a abode worthy of a prince and there a princess. Alexey worked in construction for most of his life and this gave him the chance to be the foreman of his personal project, while Valentina, who had experience as decorator and stuccatrice, took care of the details.
They began work on their architectural marvel in 1995, salvaging whatever materials they needed from waste. As their castle began to take shape, i their neighbors started noticing it and they have decided to help Mr and Mrs Krivovs in any way possible. 16 years later, their castle was ready, with a beautiful courtyard lined with colorful tiles and traditional Russian style columns.
It certainly doesn't look like something built out of garbage. But, according to Alexey and Valentina Krivov, everything from bricks to fittings, cables to decorative tiles was recovered from there, or donated by their neighbors. And since they also wanted to share their castle with their pets, the domes and towers of the structure have become the favorite kennels of 14 cats and 3 dogs.
Roberta Ragni
