People watch a castle-shape wooden construction burning as part of celebrations at the Maslenitsa (Shrovetide) festival at the Nikola-Lenivets art park

A giant castle was burned at an end-of-winter festival in Russia.

The wooden effigy was a symbol of the coronavirus and stood 24 metres tall before being burned.

Wooden effigies are traditionally burned for Maslenitsa, a pre-Christian holiday that symbolises the beginning of spring and the week before Lent.

The creator of the monument, artist Nikolai Polissky, said he was inspired to create the structure as a symbol of the coronavirus that the burning would destroy.

"We can compare it (the coronavirus) to an evil wizard or cannibal, so we decided to build him a castle or kind of palace, to finally do away with him by burning it," he told The Associated Press.