Mamonovo, the border-crossing town outside Kaliningrad, is about to get some pop art: a new sculpture in the form of a giant can of Baltic Sprats. The tin monument will be about the size of a family car and hopefully rustproofed too.

Mamonovo Sprats are as famous as Campbell’s Soups in this part of Russia. Locals claim that the town has taken over the mantle of ‘Sprat Central‘ from Riga, its Latvian rival. Mamonovo now produces a third of Russia’s canned fish. Here it’s almost raining sprats and cods.

Rivalry is intense in the Baltic states. 1994 saw the ‘Sprat Wars’ between Russia and Estonia, when competitive Estonian sprats were tariff barriered from Russia. Many Estonian fish factories went bankrupt.

What’s special about Baltic Sprats? Well, they’re versatile. You can have them salted, smoked, fried with or without batter, grilled, devilled, any colour you like so long as it’s sprat.

The façon Russe is Sprats with a Russian salad - eggs, potatoes and mayonnaise. Latvians like their sprats with a beer and black bread. In Estonia they are very fond of Silgusoust - Baltic Sprats with bacon in sour cream. You could eat these by mistake, since the sprats are unrecognisable in this dish.

Apparently, Sprat lovers will club together to fund the cost of the Mamonovo monument. Industrial pop art is not new in Russia. Perhaps the sculpture below was funded by earthmoving equipment enthusiasts.