#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The Muslim mosque became the third ‘house of God’ in the city of Norilsk. The registration of the religious association of Norilsk Muslims took place in October 1992.
At the end of 1993, construction of the Norilsk mosque, the northernmost one in the world, began. The location for it was chosen on 50 Let Octyabrya street. The author of the project was Norilsk architect Evgeny Solnyshkin. Designing a mosque building in the Arctic Circle turned out to be a difficult task: Muslim canons had to be combined with northern execution.
The work of Norilsk architects received a diploma at the International Biennale of the Architects Union in Moscow. “Our guys took a model of the mosque to the capital”, Margarita Rebrova, head of the Norilskproekt architectural and construction center, later recalled. “It was a large plexiglass box, and at the airport they were forced to pay for it as oversized cargo. But, seeing what beauty they were carrying, the airport employees let them through without any hindrance. So the city has something to celebrate not only among old buildings, but also in new architecture”.
The construction was organized and sponsored by Mikhad Bekmeyev, an ethnic Tatar and native of Norilsk. Mithad Bekmeyev named the mosque Nurdkamal in honor of his parents – Nurdin and Gainikamal. The grand opening of the mosque took place on September 19, 1998. But the completion of the building continued for another year and a half. According to documents, the building was put into operation in January 2000.
In September 2015, a temple dedicated to the memory of law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty was founded near the building of the city Department of Internal Affairs. Construction was carried out, among other things, using voluntary donations from employees and veterans of the Department of Internal Affairs. The temple-monument was named in honor of Saint Prince Vladimir, who is considered the heavenly patron of law enforcement agencies. The opening ceremony took place on July 15, 2017. The first to enter the new temple were the relatives of those killed in the line of duty. Then everyone was able to pray and light candles.
Construction of a wooden church on the mountain near Komsomolsky park began back in 2006. The temple was named in honor of St. Luke, mundanely Valentin Voino-Yasenetsky, an outstanding surgeon and professor. A doctor, the author of Essays on Purulent Surgery, who manually removed cataracts and performed many other medical miracles, was ordained bishop of the Orthodox Church in the 1920s, during the time of persecution of the church, and paid for this with harsh prison sentences and exile to the north of the Krasnoyarsk region. Now he is called the Archbishop of Krasnoyarsk and Crimea. The construction of the temple in his honor was not easy and was periodically suspended. Only in April 2018 the temple was consecrated, and on Easter 2018 the first Divine Liturgy took place.
The decision to build a temple complex in Norilsk in honor of the new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church was made in 2014, when the Norilsk diocese was formed. Funds for its construction were allocated by the Nornickel company. Sketches and design documentation for the temple under construction were made in the workshops of the Danilov monastery. The zero cycle was developed by the Norilskproekt Institute of Gipronickel, and it also provided supervision over the foundation work. The Sofrino art factory filled the temple with church utensils made of metal, brass and gilding. The bells were supplied by the International Center for Bell Ringing, and an electronic bell ringer system was also provided.
14 icon painters from the Moscow cathedral workshop were invited to paint the walls and create a wooden iconostasis. In addition to the Gospel stories, the stories of clergy exiled to the Arctic Circle – new martyrs and confessors, after whom it was named – are illustrated under the arches of the temple. The list of new martyrs canonized by the Church includes more than 1700 people who were shot or served undeserved punishment in camps during the persecution of the Orthodox Church. Three exhibition halls in the temple museum are dedicated to the new martyrs and the development of Orthodoxy in Taimyr, starting with the Turuhansk region. The opening of the temple, designed for 300 people, took place in September 2018. It was consecrated by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill.
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Text: Svetlana Ferapontova, Photo: Nornickel Polar Branch and Norilsk residents’ archives, Nikolay Shchipko
