REACHING OUT THROUGH TIME
The Arctic exploration history:
a paragon of courage,
concentration, and unity!
Heroic feats of the legendary four Soviet polar explorers led by Ivan Papanin and the historic flight across the North Pole by Valery Chkalov and Mikhail Gromov were once more honoured by the Mobile Polar Museum launched in the context of the International Polar Year. The project was created by Alexey Shaburov, Director General of MVK, the International Exhibition Company.
"We are not attracting people to the museums which, being geographically remote, are not convenient for all people. We are synthesizing a new Polar Museum which is becoming nation-wide..."
Alexey Shaburov
Project Author
The museum is truly unique gathering artifacts and historical documents provided by seven museums from different Russian cities, the polar explorers' relatives, and private collectors; uniting them in a single harmonious exposition. Today the Mobile Polar Museum accommodates around three hundred exhibits: polar explorers' and pilots' personal belongings, photographs and video footage. MVK sponsored a reprint of 1937 newspaper editions telling the story of the brave men who conquered the Arctic: Valery Chkalov, Mikhail Gromov, Ivan Papanin, and Otto von Schmidt.
Another remarkable aspect of the concept is that it was opened not just at the North Pole but at the exact location where seventy years ago Otto von Schmidt and members of the Papanin polar expedition established the first polar station.
On April 23rd, 2007, the MVK team of twenty-five of the most extraordinary men of totally different vocations and aspirations supported the idea to revisit the exact North Pole location the first polar explorers made camp at and to launch a museum up there.
In the deadly silence of the snow white wastelands where the merciless gustoes of the spiky Arctic wind chill you to the bone, there roared the chords of the National Anthem of the Russian Federation and men hailed the opening of the Mobile Polar Museum, the first ever exhibition at the North Pole. A copy of Papanin’s tent that had once been set on the Earth’s ice cap and that had preserved the inimitable aura of the North was the core of the exposition. In honour of the seventieth anniversary of the event, cellist Denis Shapovalov, Mstislav Rostropovich’s disciple gave a live performance just like his master had also played for the first polar explorers. The twenty five comfort-loving city businessmen were thrust out of their cozy central-heated homes and thrown into the hostile environment of the Arctic, the end of the world, where the beauty of ice rocks and plains reveals Mother Nature in her primeval beauty. They sure did experience the same thrill the Papanin crew did seventy years ago. The world’s first North Pole Exhibition received massive media coverage from the members of the team themselves, for some of them represented the Argumenti I Fakti (Arguments & Facts) newspaper, Vokrug Sveta (Around the World) magazine, and Channel 5 Saint Petersburg. MVK was the media partner of all expeditions organized within the framework of the International Polar Year. The museum exhibits accompanied the Arctic 2007 high latitudes expedition members to the floor of the Arctic Ocean and to the NP-35 floating polar station.
The Mobile Polar Museum’s exposition traveled to the largest exhibitions of Moscow, Yekaterinburg, and Rostov-on-Don; it was attended by over four hundred thousand people whereas over one hundred thousand Internet users from all over the world browsed through the exposition at the MVK official website posting most positive feedback. This MVK project received the highest appraisal as a relevant historical and patriotic event. In June 2007, the exposition was presented to the RF State Duma deputies. Artur Chilingarov, the RF President’s Special Representative for the International Polar Year, Deputy Chairman of the RF State Duma remarked that the Mobile Polar Museum Project had become another bright page in the chronicles of the International Polar Year.
“The funding museums are often inaccessible to the general public due to their remote geographical locations,” Alexey Shaburov, the Project Author, explained. “Hence we have synthesized a new Polar Museum that goes straight to the people. Or mission is to instill love for these harsh lands into the hearts of the younger generation.”
Sewing historic events with a single thread, MVK becomes a robust bridge from the past to the future aiming:
TO UNITE extraordinary business and progressive personalities across generations;
TO CULTIVATE a positive outlook and tender attitude towards the Motherland;
TO PROGRESS along the path of self-perfection in life and in business.
07.30 am
– the gathering of the team at Exhibit Hall 7, clothing and gear distribution, loading the bus (Sokolniki ECC). All participants are to carry valid foreign passports;
08.30 am
– transfer to Vnukovo Airport;
10.30 am
– arrival at the Vnukovo Airport; International Terminal, registration for the Moscow – Longyearbyen (Spitsbergen, Norway) flight on an AN74;
12:30 pm
– departure, travel time: 5 hours 30 minutes;
04.00 pm
– landing at the Longyearbyen Airport, plane refueling, extra clothes distribution;
05.00 pm
– boarding, flight Longyearbyen – Barneo, estimated travel time: 2 hours 30 minutes;
07.30 pm
– landing at the Barneo aerodrome, general tour around the Barneo ice base (20 minutes);
lunch at the Barneo lounge (45 minutes); accommodation at the Barneo ice base heated tents (10 people per tent);
boarding the Mi-8 helicopters (under favourable weather conditions) that are to bring the expedition to the geographical North Pole; estimated travel time – 40 minutes;
the Grand Opening of the world’s first North Pole Exhibition, examining the exposition, photo/video session (2 hours);
return to the Barneo ice base;
North Pole Conqueror’s Certificate Awards Ceremony;
A press-conference dedicated to the newly-launched Mobile Polar Museum Project.
08.30 am
– breakfast at the Barneo lounge;
09.10 am
– performance by Denis Shapovalov in honour of the Mobile Polar Museum and the world’s first North Pole Exhibition;
09.40 am
– summing up;
03.30 pm
– departure from Barneo to Longyearbyen;
06.00 pm
– arrival at Longyearbyen, refueling;
07.00 pm
– boarding, departure for Moscow; estimated travel time – 5 hours 30 minutes.
02.30 am
– arrival at Vnukovo Airport, Moscow *Local time is indicated (the time difference between Longyearbyen and Moscow is 2 hours; the Barneo ice base goes according to Moscow time). The Expedition Schedule is subject to change due to weather, ice, or other conditions.