#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. In 1971, demographers predicted that by the beginning of the new millennium, 200,000 people would live in Big Norilsk. They made a downside mistake.
Norilsk developed faster than planned, and it did not have enough housing. And even then, in the 1970s, the authorities began to look for a new place for another satellite town.
What was known about the place of its construction? Ten kilometers from Norilsk, not far from the Talnah road, nearby lake Vygodnoe, several camp sites are around.
Since 1963, the Norilsk Integrated Magnetic Ionospheric Station settled in that area: scientists settled down far from the city in order to observe the aurora borealis. It is interesting that now the NIMIS building has the address Yugoslavskaya street, 1, and from this point of view it can be considered the oldest building in Oganer.
The prospectors believed that the area of the rocky soil in the area of the future satellite of Norilsk was about 200 hectares. This was enough to settle 70 thousand people. It was planned to build Oganer for such a number of inhabitants.
Urban planners offered elongated lines of buildings in a forested area. They wanted to leave a green area in the center. A ring road-street around, with public buildings on it.
On August 14, 1981, at a technical meeting with the director of the plant, Boris Kolesnikov, a decision was made on the prospective construction of a new district northeast of Norilsk. It was also decided to locate a new hospital there. The authors of the project were Norilsk, Moscow and Leningrad designers.
A year later, at a similar meeting on the new residential district Oganer this toponym was first heard. This name was used to denote topographic points on maps.
‘Ogonyor’ is translated from the Dolgan language as ‘elder’, this is a respectful appeal to an old man.
Norilsk myths also mention a specific person in whose honor this place is named: Spiridon Laptukov, geologist Nikolay Urvantsev guide from the indigenous inhabitants.
In previous issues of the History spot photo project, we talked about the fact that in 1982 Norilsk had set an absolute birth rate record.
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Text: Svetlana Samohina, Photo: Nornickel Polar Division archive
