Born From Gulags, This Ex-USSR City Is The Most Depressing Place on Earth | Norilsk Russia
Located in the heart of Northern Siberia, sitting deep inside the Arctic permafrost, lies Norilsk, one of the northernmost inhabited cities in the world. Norilsk is Russia's most polluted city. It's nearly completely isolated, restricted from tourists, cannot be reached by road, and was built on the ruins of a forced labor camp. It inhabits 177,000 people.
Timestamps:
0:00 Norilsk, Russia
0:35 Stalin, Gulags, USSR
1:47 Why Do People Live Here?
3:14 Climate
4:05 Civilian Life
5:09 Blood River
This Stubborn Homeowner Refused To Move So They Demolished His House...
Intro Song: Molchat doma - Kletka
Background Music: Russian Doomer Music - Ambient
NORILSK RUSSIA - The Most Depressing City in the World
I found that the internet has just discovered an unlikely place that has a story that must be told, as the most depressing city in the world. Could you ever guess if you haven’t seen the title of this video? We are referring to none other than the city of Norilsk. Yes, there might be a lot of subjective factors that could cause a city to be described as depressing or the most depressing. That's why you shouldn't take it too personally if your favorite place is dubbed the most depressing town or city in the world. But really, what makes Norilsk the most depressing city in the world? Let me start this by telling a bit about Norilsk.
Where is Norilsk?
Norilsk Norilsk, is a city in the Krasnoyarsk Krai region of Russia. The city is located some 186 miles (or 300 kilometers) north of the Arctic Circle and 1,491 miles (or 2,400 kilometers) of the North Pole. The city in the south of the western Taymyr Peninsula is also around 55 miles (or 90 kilometers) east of Yenisey River and 932 miles (or 1,500 kilometers) north of Krasnoyarsk.
With its last known population of more than 180,000, it is the second most populous city inside the Arctic Circle. This city in the largest country in the world occupies an area of 10 square miles (or 23.16 square kilometers). It’s 40 miles (or 64 kilometers) away from the port city of Dudinka. It’s the most depressing city in the world.
Norilsk in the Past
What most people would readily know about this city, which seems to be a distant land from the main world, is that it was founded less than 100 years ago. However, it all started back for Norilsk in the 1840s back then when Alexander von Middendorff, a zoologist and explorer of Baltic German and Estonian extraction found a local coal deposit on the land not far from the Putorana Mountains. As of 1860, coal deposits were being called Norilsk and became synonymous with the location of the city. That was how the area got its name.
Nevertheless, it wasn’t founded before 1935/36 when USSR constructed a huge extraction complex in the same Putorana Mountains using nearly 500,000 forced laborers. These laborers almost made up of Gulag prisoners, worked for almost 20 years in permafrost. Imagine that! Working in a permanently frozen land which was not a suitable condition for such work, or any kind of physical work for that matter! Consequently, 18,000 construction workers died in horrible conditions. We can infer from this the depressing condition of this city didn’t just start today. It has been a depressing place all through its existence, only that the world had not focused on Norilsk until recent developments.
Norilsk Today
Following the fall of the Soviet Union, the city became the leading producer of nickel and palladium in the world. Today, the city is the location of the biggest copper-nickel palladium deposits known on the planet. What is more, a fifth of the world’s nickel is derived from the city. This valuable element that is resistant to corrosion is so crucial that more than half of the total global palladium is used in jewelry and car exhausts.
This is the business of almost everyone in the city. Okay, let’s say at least 60 percent of the population. As everyone was somehow connected to this business, it has become the major source of employment and a good income for households in and for the city. Unfortunately, this kind of business that is too unkind to the environment is enough to make living in the city depressing.
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#norilsk
Norilsk in Russia's Siberia is The Coldest City in The World with - 55°C Temperatures
In Norilsk, Siberia, which is situated 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle, the average annual temperature is -10C. The cold period extends for about 280 days per year, with more than 130 days featuring snowstorms. The extreme weather conditions result in anxiety, nervousness, drowsiness and depression for many residents. Isolated, polluted and – above all – cold, it is a city built on misery and blood. It is also a city of surprising wealth – the reason for its unlikely existence. Norilsk, squatting 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle, has the largest deposits of nickel, copper and palladium on earth and its hellish mines are thriving. Gulag prisoners began expanding the Siberian settlement in 1935 and over the next 20 years, 500,000 slaves took part in its construction. Thousands lost their lives. Today, Norilsk is the northernmost city on earth and still a place of extremes. The average temperature is -10C, reaching -55C in the endless winter. There are two whole months of polar night, when people endure near total darkness, and Norilsk is encased in snow for eight to nine months a year. Despite this, the city now has 170,000 residents. Russian photographer Elena Chernyshova spent several weeks there for her project: Days Of Night- Nights Of Day and her pictures show a normal life of sunbathing, picnics and parties existing alongside a desperate battle to keep warm during bitterly cold spells. It is, for obvious reasons, an indoor place of sports and shopping centres and social gatherings in apartments. Children are often forced to spend several months indoors so the city has large buildings where they can enjoy outdoor activities like cycling and running, even during the winter. During cold spells, a convoy of 15 to 20 buses transport workers around. If one bus breaks down, the passengers can be evacuated to another bus. This column circulates three times a day. Norilsk was first settled in the early 1900s after the discovery of rich mineral deposits, formed 250million years ago, at the foot of the Putorana Mountains. In 1935, the USSR started constructing a metallurgical complex to extract the materials and with this came the wretched columns of prisoners, condemned to a living death in the Arctic wasteland. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 but the city thrived and Norilsk Nickel is now the world leader in production of nickel and palladium. It brings in two per cent of the Russian GDP. But working condition for miners are still bad. The compensation is long holidays – 90 days a year – and retirement at 45. Norilsk is consistently in the top 10 of most polluted cities on Earth. Every year, more than 2 million tons of gas (mainly sulphur dioxide , but also nitrogen oxides, carbon and phenols) are expelled into the atmosphere. Life expectancy is 10 years less than in other regions of Russia, the risk of cancer is two time higher and respiratory diseases are widespread. Some studies show that the air quality is responsible for 37 percent of deaths of child deaths and 21.6 per cent of adult deaths. The polar days and nights cycle also has a strong influence on the human body, which struggles to adapt to such extreme conditions. Darkness causes a reduction in the release of the hormone melatonin, which regulates many functions of the body. This leads to sleep and nervous system problems, constant fatigue, psychological discomfort and depression. A lack of melatonin also aids premature aging of the body and promotes the development of cancer.
⁴ᴷ⁶⁰ Walking in Norilsk City, buying some goods from the market. 13 October, 2020, 16:00 -2°C
Now I'm in Ulyanovsk, check my last videos. I've maked also a documentary film about Norilsk.
Filmed: 13 October, 2020
Temperature: -2°C
Walking Time: 20 minutes
Norilsk-Russian: Нори́льск, is an industrial city in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located above the Arctic Circle, east of the Yenisei River and south of the western Taymyr Peninsula. It has a permanent population of 175,000.
It is the world's northernmost city with more than 100,000 inhabitants and the second-largest city (after Murmansk) inside the Arctic Circle. Norilsk and Yakutsk are the only large cities in the continuous permafrost zone.
Norilsk was founded at the end of the 1920s, but the official date of founding is traditionally 1935, when Norilsk was expanded as a settlement for the Norilsk mining-metallurgic complex and became the center of the Norillag system of Gulag labor camps. It was granted urban-type settlement status in 1939 and town status in 1953.[10]
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By Freight Train from Norilsk - Russia's Closed Arctic City
Norilsk Railway (Russian: Норильская железная дорога) is a single-track railway and formerly the northernmost railway line in Russia.
The railway connects the mining towns Talnakh, Norilsk and Kayerkan with the port Dudinka on the Yenisei river. The railway line has a 1,520 mm Russian gauge, and was partially constructed by the prisoners of Norillag.
Originally, it was 1,000 mm narrow gauge, 114 km long, and built in 1936.
Later, in 1953, it was rebuilt to Russian broad gauge and expanded to 231 km of track. The railway is owned by the Norilsk Nickel mining company and does not belong to Russian Railways.
From 1957 onwards, the railway was electrified with 3kV DC in stages.
In the 1990s, the railway was in serious decline. In 1998 the electric catenary was removed and the electric rolling stock sold off. Diesel locomotives haul freight trains since then, passenger service on the railway was discontinued.
In the early 1990s, a paved highway connecting Norilsk with Dudinka was completed. The passenger train service on the Norilsk Line ended in 1998.
In 2010 in the Yamal Peninsula, Gazprom completed its Obskaya–Karskaya Line, which is now the northernmost railway in Russia.
While doing urbex in Norilsk I caught a freight train from Norilsk to Dudinka. That was a slow but interesting ride conducted during the period of white nights when it is bright 24/7 and sun doesn't get down completely.
Enjoy!
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Nuclear winter in Norilsk
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In this video:
- railway station Norilsk classification yard,
- surroundings of the town of Kayerkan,
- abandoned garage of Norilsk city buses,
- abandoned administrative building,
- Bear Creek mine,
- foundry of the Norilsk nickel plant,
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march-april 2021
Norilsk, Russia: una delle città più inquinate,fredde e tristi del mondo
Scrivete nei commenti se conoscevate la città più inquinata della Russia!
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NORILSK, Russia: come si vive veramente?
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