#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The palace building was originally planned to be made lower, only three floors, but wider – to occupy almost the entire square space.
Here is how Vitold Nepokoichitsky, who was the chief architect of Norilsk for three decades, wrote about this:
“The initial project developed by me was completely different in terms of its layout and appearance, and, being more deployed along the front, it would fit well into the square. Due to the difficulty of developing an individual project at the stage of working drawings in an extremely short time and with an acute shortage of performers, it was decided to reuse the project of a similar House of Culture of Nizhny Tagil”.
This project, like the previous one, was very successfully combined with the size of Komsomolskaya Square. After the project approval, the builders began earthworks, and soon a huge pit appeared in the square center. However, construction was suspended after some time, and the pit, gradually filling with water, served as a dubious “decoration” of the square for several years.
When they decided to resume construction, the project turned out to be morally and technically obsolete. Its main drawback was the insufficient width of the building, which was lost among the multi-storey buildings surrounding it.
The Palace of Culture has an unusual foundation. Its back part stands on a rocky foundation, and the front rests on piles on permafrost and a covered karst lake.
On June 23, 1965, on the Metallurgist Day and the Norilsk combine’s 30th anniversary, the Palace of Culture was solemnly opened. On July 18, the first tour began in it – the Irkutsk Symphony Orchestra became a guest.
In the History Spot photo project previous publication we told about Rodina – the oldest cinema in Norilsk.
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Text: Svetlana Ferapontova, Photo: Nornickel Polar Branch archive
