A massive brick stove has been unveiled near the village of Petrovo in Russia's Kaluga region, southwest of Moscow. At 11 metres high, it’s four times bigger than any other Russian cooker. Its creators claim it’s the largest in the world.

A traditionally built Russian brick stove is as old as Russian legends and fairy tales.

The stove was such a vital part of any household, it almost had a personality.

It was used for cooking, baking, drying, heating and healing. And it was literally the Russian family’s everything – another family member.

Russian Stove builders incorporated the seats and even the beds into the masonry stove. As it never gets too hot, it is very save to be around it or even sleep on it.

The huge stove in Kaluga region was also built according to traditional techniques. However, there’s still a smaller heating stove inside. And most of the time the record size stove will work as a museum.

Cultural and educational center in one – that was the organisers’ idea who built the stove and several traditional wooden houses here. Every one of them comes with a masonry stove inside and each of the stoves is typical of a different Russian region.
 
To see what a traditional Russian stove looks like, and to see the biggest in the world, please click the video button.