#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The city boundaries were called lines, not streets, in the St. Petersburg manner. Apart from the Southern line there was also the Eastern line – now Talnahskaya, and the Komsomolskaya line – on the western outskirts.
The Southern line might have been called that till now, if not for an architectural collision.
In the mid-1960s, it was planned to build a new southwestern region of Norilsk – along the Dolgoye lake. And the Southern line was supposed to smoothly flow into the 50 years of October street.
This new street was supposed to become a new city boundary, built up with nine-, twelve- and even sixteen-story high-rise buildings. But by 1967, the city planners did not have time to build up this area, but the revolution anniversary obliged.
As a result, in honor of the holiday, the Southern line itself was simply renamed. And the new area then became known as the Urvantsev Embankment. It’s a pity, because the native Norilsk people still sigh about the Norilsk southern toponym.
In the History Spot’s previous publication, we talked about the arch that protected the entrance to the Norilsk industrial zone.
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Text: Svetlana Ferapontova, Photo: Nornickel Polar Division archive