#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The idea of meeting in the Central House of Writers in Moscow arose after the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Norilsk Mining and Metallurgical Combine. In 1975, a gala concert was held at the Central House of Writers, and it was decided in the future to celebrate the round dates of the city and the combine in the format of meetings of Norilsk residents of all generations. The first meeting took place in 1978, in the year of the 25th anniversary of Norilsk-city. The forum was hosted by the well-known Konstantin Simonov, who more than once visited Norilsk as a special correspondent for the Pravda newspaper (due to bad weather, he even celebrated New Year 1964 here in the company of Vladimir Dolgih).
Chief geologist of the NMMC Yekaterina Suhanova, director of the Octyabrsky mine Gennady Veber, miner Yevgeny Astashin, metallurgist Nikolay Khokhlov (those who were in the camera’s frame) and many other wonderful people marked with high titles and awards came from Norilsk to the meeting accompanied by the director of the Norilsk Mining and Metallurgical Combine Boris Kolesnikov.
Konstantin Simonov’s team included poets and writers, a former Norillag prisoner David Kugultinov who read new poems. Bulat Okudzhava and Novella Matveeva sang their songs.
It is known that the meeting lasted four hours and ended with the creation of a Moscow community of Norilsk people headed by Vladimir Dolgih, former director of the NMMC.
Read other materials of our photo project in the History spot section.
Text: Varvara Sosnovskaya, Photo: Nornickel Polar Division archive
