The Arctic regions of Russia are the vast spaces of land which are
spreading northwards of the 66th parallel, from the west to the east. They
are the Northern facade of Russia, majestic and spiritual in the old
days...
    The development of the Arctic regions is a wonderful history in the
life of Russian people. A lot of books were written, a lot of heroic deeds
were glorified. However, there is an absolutely unknown aspect in this
history until nowadays - it is its Architecture. Namely in the

architectural images, in the forms of earthly order it is possible to read
not only the character of life of the people, but to understand the heart
of their world outlook.
    The first records of Russian expeditions to the "unknown midnight
countries" were related to the tenth century, though the first Russian
settlements in the European and Asian parts of the Arctic regions had
appeared in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. They form a long chain
of towns from Kola (the territory of modern Murmansk), on the shore of the

Barents Sea, to the Kolyma ostrogs (fortified settlements) and Anyuisk
fortress on the Malyi Anyui River - the last, right tributary of the Kolyma
River which flows into the East Siberian Sea.
    All these lands, "the high latitudes" of Earth, are washed by the
Arctic Ocean which was called in the old time the Holy Sea by Russian
coast-dwellers. Until now it is possible to feel here the holiness of a
space, as if there is the beginning of the God's life on Earth. It is

difficult for a body in the far north, but easy for a soul.
    The Polar territories of European Russia, situated mainly on the Kola
Peninsula and in the lower reaches of the Pechora river, were first
developed by the Christian missionaries who built churches and fortified
monasteries. The Siberian Arctic region was opened up by Russian
manufacturers and service class - the Cossacks, who built simple fortified
winter settlements (zimovies) and then - wooden town-fortresses. In fact,

all ancient Siberian cities including such a big ones as Tobolsk, Tyumen,
Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Yakutsk and many-many others went through the same
way of forming: zimovie - fortress - town.
    The Holy city of Jerusalem, its ideal image, specifically refracted in
Russian conditions of life, was always a prototype for ancient monasteries.
The idea of the Holy city and its meaning, as the God's settlement on Earth
full of a grace, were the subject to be reconstructed, but not their forms.

    What was the way of building the Arctic towns? What was the motive
power for people suffering from indigence and hunger, overcoming incredible
difficulties but not turning back, to pave the way "towards a sun"
according to a call of their soul and heart?
    A beauty and a harmony, reigned in old Russian Arctic towns from the
very beginning, were the direct reflections of all the best, which was
concentrated in the wooden architecture of Russia. On the far lands, which

are difficult of access even now, where the trees more thick than a finger,
are not growing, the integral architectural ensembles were constructed.
Beautifully crowned churches were dominating over a desert silence of the
Arctic region. By the power of expression and their artistic qualities they
were not yielding to the churches built in the regions of Russia rich of
wood. The eighteen-domed Cathedral of the Resurrection in Kola (1684),
being a prototype for the famous twenty two-domed Cathedral of the

Transfiguration at Kizhi (1714), is a bright example. The Cathedral in Kola
was ruined by the English in 1854.
    The town of Obdorsk, renamed Salekhard in 1933, could be rightfully
considered a central one in this legendary chain of Russian Arctic
settlements. This is the only town in the world, which is situated directly
on the Arctic Circle. Salekhard is a "gas capital" of Russia today. Ancient
monuments were not saved in it. However, two structures of old Russian

wooden architecture, characteristic to the history of this town, were
reconstructed in 1993-1995: the main Tower (Nikolskaya) at the Obdorsk
Fortress, the wooden Chapel, the Holy Gates and wooden fence at the Old
Cemetery, where a lot of victims of Stalinist repression were buried. Even
not so long ago all territories of the Russian Arctic zone were covered by
a horrible spider's web of prison camps, which came to replace the beauty
of the towns-ensembles.
    The town of Mangazea, standing in the lower reaches of the Taz river,

was called in the past a "goldboiling Sovereign's patrimony", a "second
Bagdad". This legendary town, the sable Klondike at the beginning of the
sixteenth century, was founded in 1601 and existed only for several
decades...
    Until the early 1970s, a splendid hip-roof wooden Church in the glory
of the God's Transfiguration (1700), was lonely dominating on a bank of the
Indigirka river, on a site of the former town of Zashiversk. Alexander
Opolovnikov had measured this Church in 1969 for the first time. Later on

this monument was dismantled and moved on to the museum of wooden
architecture near Novosibirsk. At the end of the eighteenth century
Zashiversk was an administrative center of a vast Kolymo-Indigirskyi land.
Its architectural image was a traditional one, but at the same time it was
absolutely unique. The "abomination of desolation" on its place is for a
long period of time...
    If the town of Obdorsk, founded in the lower reaches of the Ob river in
1595, was an advanced post for developing the West Siberian Arctic region,

the town of Yakutsk built on a bank of the Lena river in the mid
seventeenth century was its East Siberian gates. A unique monument of
Russian wooden fortification architecture - the Tower of Yakutsk Fortress -
is preserved until now.
    Namely Yakutsk was a starting point for developing the banks of the
Yana, Indigirka, Alazeya, Kolyma rivers...And in these unknown distances
splendid buildings were standing, which could give rise to our awesome
admiration today. Indeed, "there is nothing impossible for the God". When

people are illuminated with an idea, when their work is spiritualized and
full of sense, a miracle is happening. Naturally, this phenomenon is
peculiar not only to the inhabitants of Russia, but to all peoples of the
World.
    In this respect, Russian Arctic towns-legends are, without any doubt,
the fellows of ancient European cities; and some buildings, for instance -
the zimovies, have the same features with the Alpine structures.
    It is proved, that the sources of human thinking are common. The more

clear for us will be the initial causes of the phenomena, good or
destructive, the more reliable will the life of future generations.
    The history of Russian Arctic regions, their past and present, could be
a mankind's "book of memory" by right. It has many wonderful and many
terrible pages in the life of long-suffering Russia. And as it is known,
one learns from one's mistakes. In case if they are not fatal, of course.