In the 1960’s the largest man-made lake in Poland was created when a dam was built on the River San. This lake is Lake Solina in South East Poland and it is over 13.5 square miles. The lake is a popular destination for water sports and other recreational activities. The dam itself is 82 meters high and 664 meters long which makes it one of the largest structures of its kind in Europe, and as such created the perfect backdrop for the largest ecological mural in the world. An ecological mural is any kind of mural that is made in an eco-friendly manner. The mural at the Lake Solina dam only used about 13 gallons of ecological water paint which were used to sketch the outline on the wall. After the outline was sketched, the mural itself was created using water pressure to remove the dirt from the dam wall, which had built up over the years since it was constructed, changing the wall from light grey in color to near black. This process is actually referred to as “reverse graffiti” because it is created by removing dirt from a surface instead of adding medium to a wall as you would with typical graffiti.
The PGE Polish Energy Group, is the company that owns the dam and commissioned the mural on the Lake Solina Dam. They worked with the advertising agency Scholz & Friends, along with artist Przemek Truscinski who designed the large mural after discovering the true color of the dam when some of the dirt was washed away with a pressure sprayer.
The mural features some of the plants and wildlife that are indigenous to the area near Bieszczady Mountains which include several types of fish, a lynx, and an eagle among other local animals.
The artists/clean up crew had to scale over the side of the nearly 270 foot dam with pressure hoses in order to start removing the dirt to reveal the design Przemek Truscinski envisioned it could be.
The mural is 4.9k square meters big and it took the team of artists over a week to complete. Not only was the mural itself eco-friendly by using reverse graffiti, but the water used to remove the dirt from the dam was also recycled back into the lake from whence it came. Not only that, but the electricity that powered the pressure washers was also from clean energy which came from the hydroelectric plant next to the dam.
The work was completed in July and is estimated to be available for your viewing pleasure for the next year until more dirt will accumulate on the dam distorting and covering the piece of art. The mural’s creators are hoping to have Guinness Book Of World Records recognize this as the largest eco-friendly mural in the world.
Lake Solina Dam was already a beautiful location, nestled into the trees in the Bieszczady Mountains in South East Poland but now it truly is a work of art in addition to being a work of engineering.
I can honestly say Poland has never been on my bucket list as one of the countries I had plans to visit before I die, despite having a friend that lived there for a couple of years who highly recommends Poland as a great place, but now I think it is. I would love to see this larger than life mural on the side of the dam. However, I guess I better plan a trip soon if I want to see it before the elements erase this particular mural forever!