#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The village of Kresty (eng.: Crosses), part of the Taimyr rural settlement of Hatanga, celebrates its 100th anniversary in April, reports the Northern Territories Development Agency.
The settlement dates back to April 1924, when by the North Committee’s decision, a Gostorg trading post was opened in the Kresty settlement. But the legend, passed down from mouth to mouth, from generation to generation, indicates an older age of the village. They say that back in the 18th century, the Krestovskoye fishing winter hut arose near the cross at the mouth of the Heta river, which became the distant predecessor of modern Kresty.
There is an assumption that the name of the settlement came from the confluence of two rivers – Kotui and Heta, which resembles a cross. According to another version, the name Kresty appeared because travelers arriving in the settlement first noticed wooden crosses on the graves, visible from afar on the high bank of the river.
The Taimyr village is located 20 kilometers from the village of Hatanga, with which it is connected by a seasonal winter road.
Kresty is inhabited by representatives of the Dolgan people, considered the northernmost Turkic-speaking people in the world. The Dolgan language includes Norilsk, Pyasina, Avam, Hatanga and Popigai dialects.
According to the 2020 all-Russian population census, 275 people live in the village. The village has a kindergarten school for 50 students, a club and a library.
Earlier, a mobile store appeared in the village of Kresty.
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Text: Polina Bardik, Photo: Denis Kozhevnikov
