#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. They tried to give children in Norilsk special care in order to compensate for the disadvantages of life in the North. For example, in the 1960s, in summer, a real carousel was installed on the site of the future house of services and the main post office. To the delight of the children, it was quite large – with deer, horses and camels.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Norilsk children rode horses and ponies along the central city street. For these purposes, a luxurious snow-white carriage was brought, which looked very exotic on the polar city’s streets.
In the 1980s, a real children’s town with attractions was designed “on the mountain”, in Komsomolsky park. They managed to set several sections of a brick wall for the town, and lay a staircase to it. They are still there, but the matter did not go further. Officially, the reason for the failure was that Soyuzattraction federal organization could not find any suitable attractions for Norilsk.
But in the late 1980s, a decommissioned Mi-8 helicopter appeared on Metallurgists square. Inside the “Mishutka” – as it was called – there was a video salon with cartoons.
But this was only the first stage of the attraction. On the basis of the helicopter, the entrepreneurs wanted to make a carousel for 30 seats – it’s a pity that it didn’t work out either.
Few people remember that in the early 1990s, a real race track with electric bumper cars worked in an inconspicuous hangar on Leningradskaya street. Everything was like on the mainland, only, of course, indoors. Well, in recent decades, trampolines and carousels have been regularly put up for Norilsk children on Metallurgists square.
In the History Spot’s previous publication, we talked about the fact that the first Norilsk students were not only taught, but also clothed, fed, and given housing.
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Text: Svetlana Ferapontova, Photo: Nornickel Polar Branch archive
