#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The expedition group at cape Chelyuskin will restore obelisks to the deceased polar explorers, the Clean Arctic project’s press service reports.
“The area where the cemetery is located is on the coast – between the polar station and the border outpost. And cape Chelyuskin has one peculiarity – there is no fast ice there, so real Arctic storms rage in this place, plus permafrost. All these factors, of course, have a destructive effect on the obelisks, it will be necessary to choose the best materials for reconstruction so that they last as long as possible”, said the expedition head Vitaly Kalinichev.
The participants have already taken the necessary measurements to update the memorial plaques and fence. The restoration of the monuments will be carried out next summer, during the project’s second expedition to Chelyuskin. The work will be carried out with the participation of specialists from the Taimyr Museum of Local History and the Russian Geographical Society (RGS).
Volunteers of the Clean Arctic project note that special attention will be paid to the restoration of monuments on the peninsula, since the northernmost airfield of Eurasia is located there and the polar aviation development began from the cape.
It should be noted that in the cape cemetery there are five graves of polar explorers who died in the 1930-1940s during research. At that time, the transport system in the North was just developing, and it was impossible to remove their bodies from the Arctic territory. The Northern Sea Route’s main directorate’s pilot G. T. Vorobyov and flight mechanic G. V. Shipov, who died in a service flight, airbase worker Vasily Purnemtsov, winterer Nikolay Mirovich and others are buried there.
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Text: Polina Bardik, Photo: Nikolay Shchipko
