The Bench of Friendship was designed, and primarily crafted, by Alexei Kobikov, Master Blacksmith of the Kovgard Forge in Pervouralsk in the central Ural Mountains of Siberia. The bench was the brainchild of Nikolai Arzhannikov, leader of the democracy movement in Leningrad in the late 1990s and founder of Russia's Committee on Human Rights.  Arzhannikov, who has long worked to increase understanding between people and nations, saw the bench as not only a commemorative gift, marking 200 years of U.S.-Russian diplomatic relations, but as a symbol of all the good we have to share with each other if our countries will learn to work with, and not against, each other.
    Work on the bench began in August 2007.  Its frame was finished on December 13, 2007.  Both dates were historically significant.  (See time line:  http://www.accesstoideas.org/timeline.html )  It was not until March 6, 2009, however, that the bench finally began its journey to America. 
 

The bench was placed in the Main Square of Pervouralsk on March 2, 2007—Election
Day in Russia. The streets crowded with people, many took advantage of the chance to
use the bench and have their pictures taken with it before it journeyed to America. It was frequently featured in the press. Those interviewed had only the warmest words for such an idea, and a sincere desire for normal relations between our nations.
 

    From the moment the bench arrived in America, it was met with the one thing the blacksmiths hoped for more than all else: understanding.  (See AmericanWelcome)
 

 

    • From March 26th thru July 11th 2009, the bench was displayed at the home of America's second president, John Adams, in honor of the vitally productive role his son, John Quincy, played as America's first diplomat to Russia. 
 

 

    • In July of 2009 the bench journeyed to New Hampshire where it tangibly united two communities 6000 miles apart from each other in weeks of celebrations.  The people of the Lakes Region hosted two different welcoming celebrations (one in Alton, the bench's official home and one in Wolfeboro where the bench is hosted at the town docks each summer).  In addition, the Wolfeboro Inn donated the Winnipesaukee Belle for a symbolic dedication ceremony on Lake Winnipesaukee on July 14th (at which an American eagle showed up and circled the boat).
 

 

    • The well loved Winnipesaukee Chocolates Shoppe created a special, new Bench of Friendship bar in July.
       To order see: http://www.winnipesaukeechocolates.com/pages/Winnipesaukee%20Chocolate%20Bars.html

 

 

    • The renowned Hampshire Pewter Company of Wolfeboro produced a commemorative pewter ornament that was chosen to represent NH in the annual White House Pathway to Peace pageant.  The exquisite ornament may be ordered on line.  See: http://www.hampshirepewter.com/cart/home.php

 

 

    • And the well respected Heifetz International Music Institute performed a special Russian Tribute Concert during its July Celebrity Series concerts for which two of the blacksmiths were in attendance.

    In the end, it was not so much a tribute to a bench, as a tribute to people, to their hearts and hopes, and to what they can do to tangibly nudge nations closer together.  Before the bench left for America, the blacksmiths invited the staff of the U.S. Consulate in Ekaterinburg to a celebration at their forge.  At that celebration several symbolic gifts were exchanged -- among them a hand forged leaf, calling to mind the ancient words of the Bible, "The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."