Russia’s Arctic culture heritage sites get protection

This old hunting cabin on the Vaygach island in the Russian Arctic could be subject to protection. (Thomas Nilsen/Barents Observer)
This old hunting cabin on the Vaygach island in the Russian Arctic could be subject to protection. (Thomas Nilsen/Barents Observer)
This abandoned polar hydrometrological station at Cape Menshikova on Novaya Zemlya can be declared a culture heritage site as Arkhangelsk authorities urge Moscow to include Arctic objects in the state register.

When included into the state culture heritage registry, historical sites, buildings or places of spiritual interest in the Arctic will be protected by law.

Arkhangelsk authorities argue that such protection is needed as many of the objects in question require either reconstruction or restoration works. Increase in Arctic tourism, another goal for the authorities in Arkhangelsk, could harm the constructions if not protected.

Arkhangelsk Oblast includes the two Arctic archipelagos of Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya, in addition to islands like Kolguyev and Vaygach.

It is the regional Ministry of Culture in Arkhangelsk that will organize the historical and cultural expertise that eventually will decide which objects to be included in the list, news-agency Dvina Inform reports.

On the Svalbard archipelago in the Norwegian Arctic, the Environmental Protection Act states that all traces of human activity dating from 1945 or earlier are protected elements of the cultural heritage.

Related stories from around the North:

Canada: The discovery of an Arctic shipwreck, Radio Canada International

Finland: Heritage hunting in Finnish forests, Yle News

United States:  Crews unearth military history on Alaska Glacier, Alaska Dispatch

Thomas Nilsen, The Independent Barents Observer

For more news from the Barents region visit The Independent Barents Observer.

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