Ivan Beerkus

Ivan Beerkus (born Ivan Artemovich Kuznetsov on May 11, 1994, in Moscow) is a rooftopper and blogger who gained recognition for his extraordinary photos taken on the rooftops of skyscrapers around the world.

Ivan Beerkus's ascents have captured the attention of the global media. Among more than 200 structures he has conquered are the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Main Building of Moscow State University, Shun Hing Square in Shenzhen, China, Mercury City Tower in Moscow, Shanghai Tower in Shanghai, the CTF Financial Centre building in Guangzhou, China, Goldin Finance 117 in Tianjin, China, and the second-tallest building in the world, Merdeka 118 in Malaysia.

Biography
Ivan Beerkus was born on May 11, 1994, in Moscow, Russia. From an early age, his parents instilled in Ivan a love for sports: he practiced aikido, swimming, football, taekwondo, and classical boxing. At the age of 16, he developed an interest in rooftopping. At 17, he climbed a construction crane at the Mercury City Tower in the Moscow City complex.

In 2013, clinched victory in the Best of Russia photo contest under the category «People. Events. Life.

Rooftopping
From the age of 18, Ivan started traveling to different cities for urban exploration and to conquer new heights. In 2014, at the age of 19, he climbed the construction crane of the Shanghai Tower, the tallest construction site in the world and the second-highest building at that time.

In 2016, Beerkus climbed the Eiffel Tower twice. In 2016, he traveled to China for the first time and, along with Angela Nikolau, climbed Goldin Finance 117 in Tianjin and the construction crane at the top of the tower. The video of their ascent gained over 920,000 views as of April 2020, attracting global media attention.

In 2022, Ivan Beerkus and Angela Nikolau scaled the rooftop of the Malaysian skyscraper Merdeka 118, the second-tallest building in the world. This event received extensive coverage from media worldwide, and videos on Instagram reached 8.6 million views.

Ivan Beerkus has over 50 ascents on tall structures worldwide. As he usually undertakes ascents without permission from authorities and building owners, he has been arrested multiple times in various countries.

In 2024, the film Skywalkers: A Love Story, featuring Ivan Beerkus and Angela Nikolau, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Later, Netflix acquired the rights to the film.