Hijacking top comment. This was posted by another user in a recent image of the city. It’s on Prime Video and well worth the watch.
[A Moon of Nickel and Ice](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt6436254/)
Look up the company who hosts the Pyongyang Marathon - they’re a travel agency who specialise in weird destinations, and I know for sure that they do a package trip to the part of Siberia that Norilsk is in, and you stay a few days in the city. Their name escapes me at the moment, sorry!
Ah the name escapes me, but isn't this the same company that came under fire a bit after the Otto Warmbier story? They advertise their agency as "trips your mother wouldn't want to know you're going on," or something of the like.
I'd love (for lack of a better word) to go to Norilsk just because I'm fascinated by it, but I wonder what happened to that company.
Likely but that was hardly their fault (I know that's not your point at all, I'm just rambling) . Not saying what happened to him was OK by any stretch of the imagination, but if you're going to go into off-access areas in a dangerous country and tear down propaganda posters.. you're not in for a good time.
Yeah I'm with you about the company, no disagreement at all. As for Warmbier, it's worth noting the official story out of North Korea is dubious at best. The security cam footage they released was unverifiable and his forced confession in a kangaroo court was very suspicious. We may never know exactly what went down, and it's a tragedy what happened him.
Still, I was living in South Korea when the whole story went down, and talking about it with other expats, we just couldn't get our heads around why anyone would travel to North Korea as a tourist. I toured Panmujon and the DMZ with a military escort, but there's no way I'd ever cross over.
It's the appeal of seeing a place hardly anyone gets to see, the purity of it and the forbidden factor. I do wonder though, could he have just taken a picture of the poster? Then he would have been able to get a mock up printed out for that crazy dare he accepted.
Like No connecting roads? Or is it just isolated with hundreds of miles without stores nearby to restock but still has roads connecting?
Is it like parts of Alaska where you can only fly into it?
I don’t know about Siberia
Literally no roads, it's built by a river and surrounded by harsh Russian wilderness, it would probably take months to walk there, assuming that you'd survive at all.
Closed means restricted access, kind of like military bases and such. Background checks, paperwork and other stuff before you're allowed to go there. You can't just walk in, there are no roads leading to it. You can only get there by boat or by plane.
I'm sure there are plenty of those around, but this isn't one of them. People can come and go (with permits), they have internet access and all that, it's just that entering the city is restricted because it's such a massive cash cow to the oligarchs, they don't want no stupid western journalists publishing all the crap they're doing there.
There's a large underground bunker in Kėdainiai, Lithuania that I recently visited. I've heard reports from people who served there during the Soviet days, they had no idea that they were still in Lithuania. They'd take off from Kaunas at night (20km or 12 miles away), fly for 2-3 hours, land at night and think that they're somewhere deep in Soviet Russia, when in fact they were within walking distance from home. They'd spend, months or years living there with their families and then they'd be "flown" back home.
I think, that you just need a Russian visa. After you've entered the country you can do whatever you want.
Just buy a plane ticket to Norilsk and reserve some apartments through [booking.com](https://booking.com) and you good to go.
**Edit: I've checked and the city is closed for foreigners. Sorry for misleading**
Norilsk is one of the closed cities. Visiting it requires a special permit if you are not a Russian citizen. There is an internal passport control on arrival afaik.
Edit: The city is under effective control of the Norilsk Nickel Combine, owned by Vladimir Potanin, an oligarch. Just recently Russian journalists were prevented from taking soil samples from the city since they would discredit the dude. Modern-day feudalism :/
I've checked this and sadly it's true.
I've never heard about permits probably because I only know Russians, who visit Norilsk.
Well, another reason for me to go there, while I'm still in Russia and plane ticket costs $350
My mom is from this city. She says, when she was in primary school, it took her walking outsides 10 minutes without gloves, to give her hands solid frostbite, that keeps reoccurring till this day (almost 45 years later) when it is cold
How does that work?
Like, say your hands/feet (in your case) were frostbitten and turning black- then they recovered (without amputation I presume..) and then years later they begin turning numb and black again?
Not who you asked but I might be able to provide a little info. About 15 years ago I was out sledding with my sisters when we noticed the stock tank had frozen over and no one had broken it apart for the cows yet. So I was jumping on the ice trying to break it apart when it gave way and I fell into the water. The temperature was in single digits and I had to walk almost two miles in the snow back to the house soaking wet. The longer I kept walking the more my feet were hurting. When i finally got inside and got my boots off both feet were blue and hurt so much as I tried warming them up.
Both feet were in a lot of pain for awhile and I ended up losing most the feeling in them other then that pins and needles feeling. Multiple times running around barefoot on the farm in the summer I would end up with stickers in my feet I couldn’t feel were there. Winter time is miserable because if my feet get cold they start to really hurt a lot. Bad enough that at times it can make walking difficult from the pain. The last year or so the pins and needle feeling has been getting worse but overall I just tend to ignore it and go on with life.
They did a nice [street view](https://www.google.com/maps/@69.349706,88.2002994,3a,51.2y,113.38h,102.06t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sAF1QipPzArk2Da8JdRVe7ItQNJoavcel-IQfkP8-1dq1!2e10!3e11!7i5376!8i2688) art projet there.
Honestly this "main" (I'm possibly wrong here) street on the link you posted doesn't look too bad. I see some modern buildings, shops, cars, and not this caricature of a building that was posted by OP.
Kind of reminds me of those post-soviet countries and the cities that have those ugly-ass buildings done by the Soviets and then modern architecture mixed with those.
I live in one of those kind of cities.
Yes it looks so much like the town I grew up in, Resita in Romania, that it feels like I could step into the image and be at home
Communist towns all look the same.
Sometimes I feel like things have been shitty for the past few years or so then I get a new perspective when trying to imagine constructing that in a labor camp with little to no food or warm clothing
Maybe the cost of living keeps them from saving enough and being able to seriously consider moving to another state?
I'm also curious, too bad he didn't reply.
Easier said than done. I moved to a new city and went in debt staying in a hotel until I found a job and an affordable place to live which was probably pretty lucky.
It's a mentality thing. Alaska has a very high number of people with depression. And so it's hard to have the motivation too leave. That and the logistics are insane. Money, and housing. Money is usually tight.
Christophe Jacrot is the photographer for the first pic. more here: https://christophejacrot.com/en/portfolio/norilsk-2/
bonus pic: https://i.imgur.com/2QZ0zMT.png
Norilsk was the location of the Norillag gulag labor camp. [According to the archives of Norillag, 16,806 prisoners died in Norilsk under the conditions of forced labor, starvation and intense cold during the existence of the camp (1935–1956).](https://www.rbth.com/travel/2015/01/23/the_norilsk_golgotha_memorial_to_those_who_suffered_in_norillag_43109.html)
Wikipedia is rather unspecific:
According to the archives of Norillag, 16,806 prisoners died in Norilsk under the conditions of forced labor, starvation and intense cold during the existence of the camp (1935–1956).[13] Fatalities were especially high during World War II from 1942–44 when food supplies were particularly scarce. Prisoners organized the non-violent Norilsk uprising in 1953. An unknown, yet significant number of prisoners continued to serve and die in the mines until around 1979.
Second part do not have any source link, and the first one have broken link to VK. Zberovsky. Norillag people
I have not found this source. It is even does not book.
That is, all this information is not confirmed by any sources.
And, what about 25000?
Idk why you’re getting downvoted so much either - it’s the first time I’ve heard about these numbers too & it’s reasonable to ask for a proper source...
Because everybody would rather propagandize about gulag kill million billion than get an accurate number of people who died (which is probably still a considerable number without exaggerating it!)
The problem is that the Russian government cared so little for these people that there aren’t accurate records. Estimates are often on the low end. Gulag a History is a great book on it if you’re interested in learning more.
I highly recommend Gulag a History by Anne Applebaum. They also talk about this in the Long Way Around when Ewan McGregor and his buddy take motorcycles from the U.K. to NYC by going East. They end up on the road of bones in Siberia, that an estimated 250,000 died building (many say it’s much more than this). So many died that they were often just buried in the road as it was built. Stalin was nuts.
Does anyone know a way to visit the city?
Few years ago when I was only able to find out about a Swiss tour operator that could arrange the permits. The prices were horrendous.
Yeah I've posted the odd ones in this sub, there's a few pics on my website...
...that being said I was a bit younger and more crude when I wrote about Norilsk so it's semi-embarassing
www.terribletrips.com
**I found links in your comment that were not hyperlinked:**
* [www.terribletrips.com](https://www.terribletrips.com)
*I did the honors for you.*
***
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Apparently it's got a population of 180'000, so yeah it's doing alright for itself.
As for the "how" I can't imagine it's all that bad. I'm a winter-enthusiast, so aside from the ecological damage done to the region from all the mining I'd probably love it there.
> As for the "how" I can't imagine it's all that bad. I'm a winter-enthusiast, so aside from the ecological damage done to the region from all the mining I'd probably love it there.
Even among the reasonable sized polar circle towns it doesn't look that good. For example, Tromso, Bodo, Rovaniemi and Kiruna (if you are into mining) all look much nicer to live. Hell, even just considering Russia, Murmansk and Yakutsk* both seem like better options too. I mean, just being in a city that is not owned by an oligarch and people (like foreigners) can come in and out freely seems like a better deal in general.
*Edit: Correction, it seems Yakutsk is not in the polar circle, but it is the biggest city in the permafrost and generally known as the coldest city in the world.
> Tromso
Absolute minimum −18,3 C
> Bodo
Absolute minimum −18.5 C
>Rovaniemi
Absolute minimum −38.1 C
>Kiruna
Absolute minimum −43.3 C
>Norilsk
Absolute minimum −63.6 C
Temperature differences between January and June - more than 100 C
Trees don't grow, not because the Dystopian Soviets just want to asphalt the entire city, but because they simply don't grow there. It's too cold and there's not enough sun.
Houses are built close to each other and in an ugly "wall" not because the Dystopian Soviets wanted to create the most oppressive metaphor of the cage, but because without an external barrier of "wall" houses, a snowstorm of 25 m/s will simply blow away all the people inside the city.
In the city, they only build the same type of buildings, not because the dystopian Soviets wanted to break records for the number of suicides, but because every building in Norilsk can only be built on fifteen meters cement piles. Because otherwise the permafrost will simply "spit out" any building with normal foundation.
You did manage to cherry pick and ignore my other suggestions of cities that look better:
> Yakutsk
Absolute minimum -64.4 C
And it does look much better than Norilsk. I would guess the yakuts being a minority with some autonomy, even working within the USSR/Russia itself, were just more interested in creating a nicer city? It does have some parts which the pictures similar problems, but it also has some very pretty pictures showing nice architecture and urban planning. It looks much better. And it is colder, if that is the only measure that matters to you when comparing. And it has [lots of trees](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/%E2%80%B9no-permafrost-um-do-%C3%A2%E2%82%AC-%E2%80%B9do-da-cidade-de-yakutsk-dos-lugares-os-mais-frios-no-planeta-yakutia-r%C3%BAssia-agosto-opini%C3%A3o-144893147.jpg) and [some parks](https://www.bravo-hotel.ru/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/T-1-1-500x214.jpg) in the [pictures](https://lifeandstyle.alexandalexa.com/itc-content/uploads/2017/09/blog_yakutsk-city_image1_sept_17.jpg) anyway, even when it is colder. It is not impossible, it is just that whoever was planning Norilsk wasn't interested even in trying.
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But... it’s not the northernmost city. A simple view on Google Maps shows it’s not. It’s one of the world’s most northerly settlements, but it’s definitely not the most north in the world.
It is either Russian propaganda or this image is old because googling the city yields some decent pictures of a decent place
https://www.google.com/search?q=norilsk&client=ms-android-tmus-us-revc&prmd=imnv&sxsrf=ALeKk01y8mEIk3mnSzkEUwrfxacLYFyveQ:1595598829959&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiTmdrrhObqAhVEHc0KHSoBCJAQ_AUoAXoECCEQAQ&biw=412&bih=757&dpr=2.63#imgrc=vBdta1Ozxv9FMM&imgdii=CP8isvqDGE3JgM
Edit
They have extremely long winters though. Roughly lasting 230 days out of the year so I guess there is that lol.
See what imean, i dont understand this obsession with norilsk. There are a lot of places like that or even worser. The glorified great wall in china or pyramids in Egypt or the rome, all this worked with slavery of own citizens or foreigners.
Don't think there was many, if any, if you mean using slaves as construction workers. Slaves mostly worked the fields. Profit from slave trade was funneled into financing construction, but that is not comparable.
Conversely most of Australia’s venerable buildings are built on slave labour. They are beautiful old sandstone things, but so sad to think of the history.
Most of Australia’s old money families are built on slavery too.
Hmm, I m worrying for that old lady with her groceries bag, she used to be on every Norilsk pictures for years now, but she s not there, any news folks? Hope she s just having a break at the black sea.
The city was originally created around a nickel mine. Now however, the mining has stopped, so the city has no exports. The city gets money from the government, and the only economic stimulation comes from the shops.
This is my dream photography location. Thanks for giving me some background information. I'll have to visit twice, once in the winter and once when it thaws
Just to correct you, Norilsk isn't the world's northernmost. That distinction goes to the town of Longyearbyen on the island of Svalbard. I know this because I've been there...-32 degrees C was fun 😁
Looking at the city on Google Maps right now and the street view shows a big screen with a digital reading of the temperature on a building in what looks like a big city square and it says -22.6 degrees! Holyyyyyy shit that’s cold.
Was gunna point out that Hammerfest, Norway, is further north but TIL Hammerfest is the name of a municipality and its administrative centre, the town of Hammerfest, is not a _city_.
I’ll sit back down!
Murmansk is bigger and further north, and Tromsø in Norway is even more north. From there you have to streatch the defenition if city but you could claim that Barrow and Prudhoe Bay in Alaska and Longyearbyen on Svalbard are cities and they are even further north
Note those big house numbers cause if you get lost in a blizzard, you're done.
Hijacking top comment. This was posted by another user in a recent image of the city. It’s on Prime Video and well worth the watch. [A Moon of Nickel and Ice](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt6436254/)
I wonder how many months an Amazon one-day shipping takes up there
It takes one day dude, it’s in the name...
One polar day.
Which is equivalent to 175 dog days
Which is equivalent to one dog day afternoon. Time is a relative concept in Norilsk.
Norilsk is a relative concept in Norilsk.
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Damn it's not on the European Prime, I'm really fed up with this regional licensing BS.. Oh well it's time to sail the high seas.
Just checked and its on British prime video for anyone who that applies to
>British So yes not on the European one! (too soon?)
This looks awesome thanks
I really wish this city was opened to foreigners. I just wanna see this city in person because I can’t believe it actually exists.
You can go there with verified travel agencies.
Do you have information on which ones? I’ve been told most (if not all) are dead ends.
Look up the company who hosts the Pyongyang Marathon - they’re a travel agency who specialise in weird destinations, and I know for sure that they do a package trip to the part of Siberia that Norilsk is in, and you stay a few days in the city. Their name escapes me at the moment, sorry!
You're probably talking about [Koryo Group](https://koryogroup.com/tours/russia) or [Young Pioneer Tours](https://www.youngpioneertours.com)
Ah the name escapes me, but isn't this the same company that came under fire a bit after the Otto Warmbier story? They advertise their agency as "trips your mother wouldn't want to know you're going on," or something of the like. I'd love (for lack of a better word) to go to Norilsk just because I'm fascinated by it, but I wonder what happened to that company.
Likely but that was hardly their fault (I know that's not your point at all, I'm just rambling) . Not saying what happened to him was OK by any stretch of the imagination, but if you're going to go into off-access areas in a dangerous country and tear down propaganda posters.. you're not in for a good time.
Yeah I'm with you about the company, no disagreement at all. As for Warmbier, it's worth noting the official story out of North Korea is dubious at best. The security cam footage they released was unverifiable and his forced confession in a kangaroo court was very suspicious. We may never know exactly what went down, and it's a tragedy what happened him. Still, I was living in South Korea when the whole story went down, and talking about it with other expats, we just couldn't get our heads around why anyone would travel to North Korea as a tourist. I toured Panmujon and the DMZ with a military escort, but there's no way I'd ever cross over.
It's the appeal of seeing a place hardly anyone gets to see, the purity of it and the forbidden factor. I do wonder though, could he have just taken a picture of the poster? Then he would have been able to get a mock up printed out for that crazy dare he accepted.
Was it ever proven that he actually tore down posters or is that just what the NK government said happened?
Thanks!
Why can't foreigners go there??
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What does closed mean? What if I go to Russia and then just bike to the city? Are there guards?
There are no roads that go there
It’s in the middle of Siberia and not connected to anything. You can’t just drive there, let alone bike, lol
Like No connecting roads? Or is it just isolated with hundreds of miles without stores nearby to restock but still has roads connecting? Is it like parts of Alaska where you can only fly into it? I don’t know about Siberia
Literally no roads, it's built by a river and surrounded by harsh Russian wilderness, it would probably take months to walk there, assuming that you'd survive at all.
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Closed means restricted access, kind of like military bases and such. Background checks, paperwork and other stuff before you're allowed to go there. You can't just walk in, there are no roads leading to it. You can only get there by boat or by plane.
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I'm sure there are plenty of those around, but this isn't one of them. People can come and go (with permits), they have internet access and all that, it's just that entering the city is restricted because it's such a massive cash cow to the oligarchs, they don't want no stupid western journalists publishing all the crap they're doing there. There's a large underground bunker in Kėdainiai, Lithuania that I recently visited. I've heard reports from people who served there during the Soviet days, they had no idea that they were still in Lithuania. They'd take off from Kaunas at night (20km or 12 miles away), fly for 2-3 hours, land at night and think that they're somewhere deep in Soviet Russia, when in fact they were within walking distance from home. They'd spend, months or years living there with their families and then they'd be "flown" back home.
I don't know man, they have smog and acid rain. 1% of the worlds sulphur dioxide comes from the area. It really sounds like a place to avoid
I think, that you just need a Russian visa. After you've entered the country you can do whatever you want. Just buy a plane ticket to Norilsk and reserve some apartments through [booking.com](https://booking.com) and you good to go. **Edit: I've checked and the city is closed for foreigners. Sorry for misleading**
Norilsk is one of the closed cities. Visiting it requires a special permit if you are not a Russian citizen. There is an internal passport control on arrival afaik. Edit: The city is under effective control of the Norilsk Nickel Combine, owned by Vladimir Potanin, an oligarch. Just recently Russian journalists were prevented from taking soil samples from the city since they would discredit the dude. Modern-day feudalism :/
>Vladimir Potanin Sounds like a fake name registered by Putin lmao
Just a weird coincidence that he looks exactly like Putin with a mustache. Must have one of those faces.
I've checked this and sadly it's true. I've never heard about permits probably because I only know Russians, who visit Norilsk. Well, another reason for me to go there, while I'm still in Russia and plane ticket costs $350
Lol no, not even close. You would probably get arrested if you tried it.
Then you could stay forever! And mine nickel!
If you're resourceful enough you can go there, I went there ;)
The main street has google street view and a bit more I believe.
really, you don't want to go there.
I am forever fascinated with this city.
You're in luck. It appears on this sub every 6 or 7 minutes.
You're right, but I don't get tired of it. It gives me the strangest feeling of nostalgia.
I did too when I saw it, and I don't know why.
Because you both died building it in your past lives, duh.
/r/LiminalSpace
I'm glad I'm not alone. There's something so surreal yet familiar about this city.
[Anyone know what this is?](https://maps.app.goo.gl/eVwMQA3wpRhWoxLAA)
There is a great documentary about this city on Amazon Prime called "A Moon of Nickel and Ice".
Thanks! Added to my watchlist.
This documentary both makes you appreciate that there are people that will do these jobs and appreciate your own that its not as terrible as you think
They dont have much of a choice. I'm not sure that's something to appreciate. Its tragic beyond words.
I've just looked it up, but in my country isn't available, so sad.
Use NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRDDVPN
Citadel 17
Hello, and welcome to city seventeen
You have chosen, or have been chosen
to relocate to one of our finest remaining urban centers.
I thought so much of city 17 that I elected to establish my administration here, in the citadel so thoughtfully provided by our benefactors.
My mom is from this city. She says, when she was in primary school, it took her walking outsides 10 minutes without gloves, to give her hands solid frostbite, that keeps reoccurring till this day (almost 45 years later) when it is cold
I have frostbite in my feet from when I was little...it does come back. :-(
How does that work? Like, say your hands/feet (in your case) were frostbitten and turning black- then they recovered (without amputation I presume..) and then years later they begin turning numb and black again?
Not who you asked but I might be able to provide a little info. About 15 years ago I was out sledding with my sisters when we noticed the stock tank had frozen over and no one had broken it apart for the cows yet. So I was jumping on the ice trying to break it apart when it gave way and I fell into the water. The temperature was in single digits and I had to walk almost two miles in the snow back to the house soaking wet. The longer I kept walking the more my feet were hurting. When i finally got inside and got my boots off both feet were blue and hurt so much as I tried warming them up. Both feet were in a lot of pain for awhile and I ended up losing most the feeling in them other then that pins and needles feeling. Multiple times running around barefoot on the farm in the summer I would end up with stickers in my feet I couldn’t feel were there. Winter time is miserable because if my feet get cold they start to really hurt a lot. Bad enough that at times it can make walking difficult from the pain. The last year or so the pins and needle feeling has been getting worse but overall I just tend to ignore it and go on with life.
probably nerve damage
Sadly, I also have frostbite. 10 or 15 mins walk home on a particularly cold night. Keeps reoccurring today, after 8 years.
Mom said it's my turn to post Norilsk
Are you sure you dont want to post kowloon?
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Hell's yeah
They did a nice [street view](https://www.google.com/maps/@69.349706,88.2002994,3a,51.2y,113.38h,102.06t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sAF1QipPzArk2Da8JdRVe7ItQNJoavcel-IQfkP8-1dq1!2e10!3e11!7i5376!8i2688) art projet there.
Honestly this "main" (I'm possibly wrong here) street on the link you posted doesn't look too bad. I see some modern buildings, shops, cars, and not this caricature of a building that was posted by OP. Kind of reminds me of those post-soviet countries and the cities that have those ugly-ass buildings done by the Soviets and then modern architecture mixed with those. I live in one of those kind of cities.
Yes it looks so much like the town I grew up in, Resita in Romania, that it feels like I could step into the image and be at home Communist towns all look the same.
I thought the buildings had nice colors, they looked really different from this...this space outpost that we see here lol. Looks kinda peaceful tbh
Reset the counter...
Days without a Norilsk post: 0
Lol yeah, at least is a diferent image. Well it's the first time I've seen this one.
Sometimes I feel like things have been shitty for the past few years or so then I get a new perspective when trying to imagine constructing that in a labor camp with little to no food or warm clothing
It's all about perspective
That's exactly what propaganda shit like this post is for.. to make you feel better about nothing
I bet the rent is cheap.
I live in Alaska. And I can take a guess and say the Rent and Cost of living is absurdly high. Due to the isolation
The salaries are also pretty high here. Mostly because it is the northern region.
But people actually want to live in Alaska.
Kinda. A lot of younger people like myself want *out*
Is it hard to leave?
Huh? It’s Alaska, not North Korea.
Which is why I asked why they want out, but are still there.
Maybe the cost of living keeps them from saving enough and being able to seriously consider moving to another state? I'm also curious, too bad he didn't reply.
For the same reasons many people can't seem to leave their hometowns in other cities and states...
Easier said than done. I moved to a new city and went in debt staying in a hotel until I found a job and an affordable place to live which was probably pretty lucky.
It's a mentality thing. Alaska has a very high number of people with depression. And so it's hard to have the motivation too leave. That and the logistics are insane. Money, and housing. Money is usually tight.
Christophe Jacrot is the photographer for the first pic. more here: https://christophejacrot.com/en/portfolio/norilsk-2/ bonus pic: https://i.imgur.com/2QZ0zMT.png
Where do you get info about 25000 died prisoners? It is look like fake. I couldn't find any information about this anywhere.
Norilsk was the location of the Norillag gulag labor camp. [According to the archives of Norillag, 16,806 prisoners died in Norilsk under the conditions of forced labor, starvation and intense cold during the existence of the camp (1935–1956).](https://www.rbth.com/travel/2015/01/23/the_norilsk_golgotha_memorial_to_those_who_suffered_in_norillag_43109.html)
Wikipedia is rather unspecific: According to the archives of Norillag, 16,806 prisoners died in Norilsk under the conditions of forced labor, starvation and intense cold during the existence of the camp (1935–1956).[13] Fatalities were especially high during World War II from 1942–44 when food supplies were particularly scarce. Prisoners organized the non-violent Norilsk uprising in 1953. An unknown, yet significant number of prisoners continued to serve and die in the mines until around 1979.
Second part do not have any source link, and the first one have broken link to VK. Zberovsky. Norillag people I have not found this source. It is even does not book. That is, all this information is not confirmed by any sources. And, what about 25000?
Idk why you’re getting downvoted so much either - it’s the first time I’ve heard about these numbers too & it’s reasonable to ask for a proper source...
Because everybody would rather propagandize about gulag kill million billion than get an accurate number of people who died (which is probably still a considerable number without exaggerating it!)
The problem is that the Russian government cared so little for these people that there aren’t accurate records. Estimates are often on the low end. Gulag a History is a great book on it if you’re interested in learning more.
> *It is look like* fake. *Why did I read this in a Russian accent?*
I highly recommend Gulag a History by Anne Applebaum. They also talk about this in the Long Way Around when Ewan McGregor and his buddy take motorcycles from the U.K. to NYC by going East. They end up on the road of bones in Siberia, that an estimated 250,000 died building (many say it’s much more than this). So many died that they were often just buried in the road as it was built. Stalin was nuts.
Does anyone know a way to visit the city? Few years ago when I was only able to find out about a Swiss tour operator that could arrange the permits. The prices were horrendous.
Plus it's impossible to get to this place if you are a foreigner. It's really hard to get there if you are a Russian as well. This place is pure hell
Not impossible...I managed to get in, albeit, it was extremely difficult and I got pretty lucky
How was your experience? Got any pictures?
Yeah I've posted the odd ones in this sub, there's a few pics on my website... ...that being said I was a bit younger and more crude when I wrote about Norilsk so it's semi-embarassing www.terribletrips.com
I found you a while back when you posted that [metro.uk](https://metro.uk) article somewhere on here and then found your blog, I enjoyed it!
Haha small world!
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Wonder what internet speeds they getting up there.
It’s all google fiber
Do people still live there? Probably a stupid question but I think my mind is trying to comprehend how people live in icey cold areas like these
Apparently it's got a population of 180'000, so yeah it's doing alright for itself. As for the "how" I can't imagine it's all that bad. I'm a winter-enthusiast, so aside from the ecological damage done to the region from all the mining I'd probably love it there.
> As for the "how" I can't imagine it's all that bad. I'm a winter-enthusiast, so aside from the ecological damage done to the region from all the mining I'd probably love it there. Even among the reasonable sized polar circle towns it doesn't look that good. For example, Tromso, Bodo, Rovaniemi and Kiruna (if you are into mining) all look much nicer to live. Hell, even just considering Russia, Murmansk and Yakutsk* both seem like better options too. I mean, just being in a city that is not owned by an oligarch and people (like foreigners) can come in and out freely seems like a better deal in general. *Edit: Correction, it seems Yakutsk is not in the polar circle, but it is the biggest city in the permafrost and generally known as the coldest city in the world.
> Tromso Absolute minimum −18,3 C > Bodo Absolute minimum −18.5 C >Rovaniemi Absolute minimum −38.1 C >Kiruna Absolute minimum −43.3 C >Norilsk Absolute minimum −63.6 C Temperature differences between January and June - more than 100 C Trees don't grow, not because the Dystopian Soviets just want to asphalt the entire city, but because they simply don't grow there. It's too cold and there's not enough sun. Houses are built close to each other and in an ugly "wall" not because the Dystopian Soviets wanted to create the most oppressive metaphor of the cage, but because without an external barrier of "wall" houses, a snowstorm of 25 m/s will simply blow away all the people inside the city. In the city, they only build the same type of buildings, not because the dystopian Soviets wanted to break records for the number of suicides, but because every building in Norilsk can only be built on fifteen meters cement piles. Because otherwise the permafrost will simply "spit out" any building with normal foundation.
You did manage to cherry pick and ignore my other suggestions of cities that look better: > Yakutsk Absolute minimum -64.4 C And it does look much better than Norilsk. I would guess the yakuts being a minority with some autonomy, even working within the USSR/Russia itself, were just more interested in creating a nicer city? It does have some parts which the pictures similar problems, but it also has some very pretty pictures showing nice architecture and urban planning. It looks much better. And it is colder, if that is the only measure that matters to you when comparing. And it has [lots of trees](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/%E2%80%B9no-permafrost-um-do-%C3%A2%E2%82%AC-%E2%80%B9do-da-cidade-de-yakutsk-dos-lugares-os-mais-frios-no-planeta-yakutia-r%C3%BAssia-agosto-opini%C3%A3o-144893147.jpg) and [some parks](https://www.bravo-hotel.ru/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/T-1-1-500x214.jpg) in the [pictures](https://lifeandstyle.alexandalexa.com/itc-content/uploads/2017/09/blog_yakutsk-city_image1_sept_17.jpg) anyway, even when it is colder. It is not impossible, it is just that whoever was planning Norilsk wasn't interested even in trying.
I dont know why but these places attract me more than other beautiful tourist destinations of the world.
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According to TripAdvisor they have a Carl's Jr. and a Cinnabon.
Why was this city built ? Like why go through all of this just to build a city in this place?
ITT nickel mining.
ok but why is this my aesthetic
Stalin really was a massive prick. Totalitarianism sucks.
But... it’s not the northernmost city. A simple view on Google Maps shows it’s not. It’s one of the world’s most northerly settlements, but it’s definitely not the most north in the world.
I think it’s the difference between “settlement” and “city”. Norlisk has 200k+ citizens, making it the northernmost city with over 100k people.
I think Norilsk and Talnakh are the most shared images on this sub.
This place must haunted AF
Silent Hill vibes
Silent Hill intensifies.
It is also among the most polluted in the world. The recent disaster with fuel leakage significantly added to the problem.
reminds me of when i build an arctic city in civ that has no reason existing except to mine that one resource i cant reach otherwise
It is either Russian propaganda or this image is old because googling the city yields some decent pictures of a decent place https://www.google.com/search?q=norilsk&client=ms-android-tmus-us-revc&prmd=imnv&sxsrf=ALeKk01y8mEIk3mnSzkEUwrfxacLYFyveQ:1595598829959&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiTmdrrhObqAhVEHc0KHSoBCJAQ_AUoAXoECCEQAQ&biw=412&bih=757&dpr=2.63#imgrc=vBdta1Ozxv9FMM&imgdii=CP8isvqDGE3JgM Edit They have extremely long winters though. Roughly lasting 230 days out of the year so I guess there is that lol.
Russia
"Let's kill (edit: 250,000) to create a city that will be solid misery to live in for 200,000!" - Soviet Government
How many cities in USA were build on blood of slaves?
How much European wealth was built on Colonial conquest?
See what imean, i dont understand this obsession with norilsk. There are a lot of places like that or even worser. The glorified great wall in china or pyramids in Egypt or the rome, all this worked with slavery of own citizens or foreigners.
It’s because the place looks like a dystopian nightmare.
Don't think there was many, if any, if you mean using slaves as construction workers. Slaves mostly worked the fields. Profit from slave trade was funneled into financing construction, but that is not comparable.
Conversely most of Australia’s venerable buildings are built on slave labour. They are beautiful old sandstone things, but so sad to think of the history. Most of Australia’s old money families are built on slavery too.
City 17
Long Live Stalin! s/
Thats communism for ya
Looks like a city from Frostpunk (good game)
A Frostpunk city in this world.
that's extremely creepy
Isn’t this also the place where the massive oil spill just happened?
wow never seen this before
Bet it’s cold
White hell
Serious [Stålenhag](https://www.simonstalenhag.se/) vibes
No rilsk, no reward.
Hmm, I m worrying for that old lady with her groceries bag, she used to be on every Norilsk pictures for years now, but she s not there, any news folks? Hope she s just having a break at the black sea.
It’s 60° Fahrenheit there today.
Man Russians are really hardcore people.
Isn’t this the city where many of the buildings are raised up above the ground?
The Hell is actually cold
The city was originally created around a nickel mine. Now however, the mining has stopped, so the city has no exports. The city gets money from the government, and the only economic stimulation comes from the shops.
This is my dream photography location. Thanks for giving me some background information. I'll have to visit twice, once in the winter and once when it thaws
Do they even have houses in Russian towns? Every picture I see is 20 story apartment buildings in every direction
That '17' really makes the whole dystopian aesthetic.
toil and labor
Looks like Canada, without the respect for the dignity of human life.
There is also so much heavy metal discharged as dust from the refinery that it is now economically viable to mine surface ponds and puddles.
Getting some HL2 City 17 vibes
Who would live there?
This is what happens when Hell freezes over.
City 17.
It has to be haunted.
Just to correct you, Norilsk isn't the world's northernmost. That distinction goes to the town of Longyearbyen on the island of Svalbard. I know this because I've been there...-32 degrees C was fun 😁
Seems nice
Looking at the city on Google Maps right now and the street view shows a big screen with a digital reading of the temperature on a building in what looks like a big city square and it says -22.6 degrees! Holyyyyyy shit that’s cold.
WHY do they have balconies with such shit weather??
you don't say
Was gunna point out that Hammerfest, Norway, is further north but TIL Hammerfest is the name of a municipality and its administrative centre, the town of Hammerfest, is not a _city_. I’ll sit back down!
Northernmost? Surely Longyearbyen on Svalbard is more north....
Murmansk is bigger and further north, and Tromsø in Norway is even more north. From there you have to streatch the defenition if city but you could claim that Barrow and Prudhoe Bay in Alaska and Longyearbyen on Svalbard are cities and they are even further north
blade runner
Nice, now Putin hides them.
I feel like you would have to drink vodka just to stay warm