The construction of a new stadium, opposite school No. 4, began in 1952. At first, on the site of the state farm’s cattle yards, a public garden named after Pushkin was laid out. In 1956, they began to level the territory directly under the new stadium. Social activists and sportsmen helped in the breakdown, ennobling the territory in their free time.
On Metallurgist Day, July 18, 1959, the new stadium was inaugurated. But it did not become Zapolyarnik, as we call it today. While they were constructing and equipping it, it was called Builder. The stadium was opened under the name Molodezhny, and since 1961 in honor of the new Norilsk sports club, the name Zapolyarnik appeared on its entrance columns. The park and the stadium have become a favorite summer vacation spot for the Norilsk people.
In the late 1980s, instead of the old wooden skating rink building, an administrative complex was built at the stadium. From time to time, the idea arose to cover the stadium with a dome to make it all-weather. The idea was to cover the Zapolyarnik with a transparent dome, but after calculating the bearing capacity of the structure and taking into account the fact that the sports ground would lose in size, the idea was abandoned.
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Text: Svetlana Samokhina, Photo: Nornickel Polar Branch archive
