Ust-Khantaiskaya Hydro Electric Power Station

In 1975 Ust-Khantaiskaya Hydro Electric Power Station was put in use. In is one of the northernmost power stations in the world.

By its engineer approach Ust-Khantaiskaya Hydro-Electric Power station is a unique construction and believed to be an emerald of hydraulic power industry on the north of Krasnoyarsk krai. Its capacity is 441mW and it includes a seawall (length - 420 meters, height - 72 meters), left side dam (length – 2000 meters), right side dam (length – 2500 meters), water disposal with overflow dike, flumes and raceways, artesian supply channel, underground building of Hydro Electric Power Station (length – 139 meters).

In the Subarctic it is difficult to find such a combination of natural and man-made objects. Large and deep Khantaiskoye Lake (the maximum depth is 387 meters, second deepest lake in Russia after Lake Baikal) with its numerous mountain tributaries joins shallow Small Khantaiskoye Lake by creek. From this lake Khantaika river flows to shallow man-made Khantaiskoye reservoir. Running through the turbines of Hydro Electric Power Station, water never freezes within 30 km. In extreme conditions of the Subarctic a lot of geographers, hydrologists, chemical hydrologists, ichthyologists and hydrobiologists, geobotanics and ornithologists study Khantaisk hydraulic system. Ust-Khantaiskaya Hydro Electric Power Station forms large Khantaiskoye reservoir (1561 km²).

Unique village Snezhnogorsk was built specially for the workers of hydro power station. Living conditions there as close to the living conditions in modern cities as possible.

Numerous exhibits of Snezhnogorsk Regional Museum represent the heroism of hydro power station constructors.

Ust-Khantaiskoe reservoir

Legendary Ust-Khantaiskaya Hydro-Electric Power Station at Khataika river forms a large Khantaiskoye reservoir (1561 km², length – 160km, width – 9km), which was filled with water in 1970-1975.

Among other large man-made reservoirs in Siberia, Khantaiskoye reservoir is the northernmost one. It is situated above the Arctic Circle in the basin of the lower course of the Yenisei River. Severe climate conditions have a big impact on processes that form its hydro biological regime; in particular eternal frost solids, which lie on the bottom of the reservoir, have the most of impact.

Many people have negative attitude to construction large hydro electric power stations and reservoirs, but the situation with Khantaiskoye reservoir is different. It is built in inhabited and poorly digested territory, which has not much of natural resources (plant resources, minerals) and this reservoir became an advantage for local people. And it was not just for Norilsk, which gets cheap electricity, but it was a nature which only gained from creating that reservoir. Establishing a shallow heated reservoir has increased drastically the value of Khantaika river basin as a fish production water body.

Norilsk Subarctic Drama Theatre of V. Mayakovsky

Norilsk Subarctic Drama Theatre of V. Mayakovsy is more than 60 years old. An order to open a theatre was not found in any archive. It is believed, that on November 6, 1941 for the first time a curtain was rose in the glass-house of the Norillag camp. In the troop there were performers from Igarka and Krasnoyarsk (student of the Vera Pashennaya) as well as prisoners, delivered to the rehearsals under guard.

Norilsk theatre was created on the conditions of private theatrical concern. It had best decorations, brightest and large-scale performances. More than 500 plays of Lope de Vega, K. Goldoni, W. Shakespeare, F. Shiller, N. Pogodin and others have been performed on the stage of the theatre. Later hundreds more in other buildings – in Miners Club on Garnaya street, in theatre building on Sevastopolskaya street. In 1987 the theatre moved to Leninsky prospect and now, the square in front of the theatre is called Theatre Square.

At different times E. Yurovskaya, M. Shelagina, G. Zhenov, I. Smoktunovsky, E. Urusova, A. Schegoleva, V. Lukyanov, V. Goloving were the members of the theatre troop.

Today Norilsk Subarctic Drama Theatre  is one of the best theatres in Krasnoyarsk krai, leader of annual festivals. Every play stays in repertoire for a long time which means that all the actors and director are professionals, decorations and costumes are made excellently. In 1998 European International Fund “Partnership for progress” awarded Norilsk Subarctic Drama Theatre with “Golden palm” for being a one of remarkable events in cultural life of Russia. In recent year theatre went on tour in Magadan, Perm, Novgorod, Omsk, Chelyabinsk, Krasnoyarsk, Magnitogorsk, Saint-Petersburg, Vilnius, Kemerovo, Novosibirsk, Vorkuta, Ukjta, Syktyvkar, Abakan, Dudinka, Igarka, Yeniseisk, Moscow etc. as well as in Geneva and Lausanne.