Polar reception at the State Duma. Mobile Polar Museum will be opened on june 14 at 12 pm
The official opening ceremony of the museum will take place on June 14, 2007 at the State Duma of Russia. It is a part of the MVK Mobile Polar Museum The Role of History in Life and Business devoted to the 70th anniversary of the two heroic expeditions: Otto Schmidt’s first Soviet drifting polar station “NP-1” and Chkalov and Gromov’s polar flights. The exhibition will be working on June 13-15. The project is supported by Artur Chilingarov, the Special Representative of the Russian President concerning the International Polar Year, the Deputy Chairman of Russian Parliament, and the President of Russian Polar Explorers Association.
Official opening ceremony will be visited by A. Loginov, the Authorized Representative of the Government of Russia at the State Duma; Yury Senatorov, the Vice-President of the Russian Polar Explorers Association; N. Evtiheev, the Prefect of the East Administrative Division of Moscow; Andrei Lapshin, the President of MVK; Aleksey Shaburov, Director General of MVK International Exhibition Company; V. Boyarsky, Director of Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute; Vladimir Schmidt, Professor of Moscow State Industrial University, son of Otto Schmidt and other famous scientists and artists.
The museum was officially opened in May at one of the exhibitions, organized by MVK International Exhibition Company. Opening of this museum on the eve of the International Museum Day is very important for Russian culture, emphasized Gennady Zabotkin, the Deputy Head of the Culture Department of the Ministry of Culture and Mass Communication of Russia. “We welcome every new opening museum”, said he.
Now the museum contains more 300 exhibit items, many of them are exhibited for the first time. The families of Schmidt, Papanin and Vodopyanov granted the papaninities’ personal things to the museum: gramophone, logbook, coatee, bunny boots and the ice-floe model. By the way in the museum you can also see the pilot Vodopyanov’s musical scores. The polar museum also contains the papaninities’ portable radio on which Ernst Krenkel transmitted the radiograms 70 years ago.
The materials for the museum were granted by the project’s partners: The Museum n.a. I.D. Papanin (Yaroslavl Region); V.P. Chkalov’s Memorial Museum (Ulyanovsk Region); Murmansk Regional Museum; Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute; Russian State museum of Arctic and Antarctic (Saint-Petersbourg); Central Museum of Russian Air Force; Supporting Fund of Documentary movie n.a. R. Carmen; Museum of Sevastopol Defense (Ukraine); Krasnogorsk State Archive; Polar Explorers Society and Metelitsa Female Expeditions Team.
The museum Role of History in Life and Business will be mobile: during a year the polar museum will tour Russia with MVK exhibitions: it will work in Moscow, Saint-Petersbourg, Novosibirsk, Kazan, and Rostov-na-Donu. According to Aleksey Shaburov, 18 regions expressed the desire to exhibit it in their cities. They expect over one million people to visit the museum. Whereas, all the museums that have granted their exhibits are visited by 60, 000 people a year.
“This museum will remind all the generations and the youths especially, about the feats of Soviet polar explorers and pilots. It will restore the history of Arctic exploration. I am glad that people mind the history of Russia and USSR. This patriotism will do Russia good”, said Vladimir Schmidt.
The project started at the North Pole point where 70 years earlier four papaninities came ashore. On April 23 MVK expedition erected Russian flag there and pitched an exact copy of Papanin’s tent which became the centerpiece of the exhibition. The first exhibition at the North Pole target became the brightest page of the International Polar Year. The expedition flied en route Moscow – Longyearbyen (Spitsbergen) – North Pole. The polar researcher Victor Boyarsky took the participants to the North Pole. The flags of Russia and MVK were planted at the North Pole. Denis Shapovalov, one of the best cellists in the world, student of Rostropovich, was the first to play at the Pole.
“We are restoring the history which influences our mentality, self-consciousness, responsibility and love for the Motherland. It makes the Russians long for the better future. We show how strong the Russians and Russian science, goals and opportunities are”, emphasized the initiator of the project, Aleksey Shaburov. “Moreover, such projects are aimed at strengthening the positions of Russia and improving its image at the international level. We are sure that we decently represent our company and Russia on behalf of the exhibition community. We try to unite people of different professions and views to accomplish the common goal. It is the progressive character of our projects which I consider to be my social duty”, added he.
On May 21, 1937 4 heavy planes landed on the ice-floes near the North Pole target. On June 6 they planted a Soviet flag there. The expedition led by Otto Schmidt left for the Main Land. Ivan Papanin, the Head of the station, Evgeny Fedorov, the Meteorologist-Geophysicist, Petr Shirshov, the Hydrobiologist and Glaciologist and Ernest Krenkel, the Radio operator, stayed on the ice-floe. NP-1 carried a lot of researchers. They measured the depth of water which turned out to be 4, 290 m. Every day they took the ground samples, measured depth and speed of drifting, determined the coordinates, made magnetic measurements, hydrologic and meteorological tests. The ice-floe was drifting, as it turned out soon. For 9 months NP-1 covered 2, 500 km from the North Pole to the Greenland Sea. The station was evacuated on February 19, 1938 by two icebreakers Taimyr and Murman.
Mass-media accreditation and additional information:
Natalia Yurchenko, Press-Secretary of MVK Director General
Tel: +7 495 995 05 95
Alena Bazhenova
Tel: +7 495 995 05 95
Please, provide your full name, name of mass-media and number of video devices to work at the State Duma. Deadline: June 8, 2007, 7 pm.