Ethnographic Expedition 2008. Part V

August 2–5, 2008

Achinsk

The species ranges of traffic lights in our country are truly a mystery. The last time I encountered this surprising model was in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, only there it was orange, not pink. In the future, this design will turn up again in Dudinka.

Tomsk

I was here fairly recently. The local traffic lights continue to surprise with their unexpected decorativeness.

Krasnoyarsk

Krasnoyarsk is an oasis among dull Siberian cities (the closest hubs of pleasantness are Tomsk on one side and Irkutsk on the other). You want to fall in love with Krasnoyarsk immediately. Just take the regional museum of local history, built in an Egyptian style.

Numerous rare artifacts have survived here.

Well Kept Building. 2 9th of January St.

Numerous.

No. 3 Surikova St.

Rare.

Meteor

The lampposts are decorated with everything imaginable.

By the way, traffic lights are also attached to lampposts here, sparing the need for extra poles at crossings.

A Potemkin facade.

A novel spelling for Rospechat newsstands.

Rozpechat needs no advertisement

In Omsk, they cover steps with rubber mats to make them less slippery; here, they cut artistic diamonds into them.

A man who looks like the long-lost brother of Hellboy’s title character sells delicious-looking nuts on the main square. Unfortunately, the nuts are musty and rancid.

Everyone in Krasnoyarsk is a mountain climber. There’s a completely astonishing nature reserve called Stolby (“Pillars”) located within city limits. Stolby consists of many tall rocks of different shapes scattered through a high-quality forest. All the locals have been exploring and climbing these rocks since childhood. Don’t be surprised if the person who takes you to Stolby suddenly opens their backpack, pulls out a pair of rubber slippers and a pouch of talcum powder, smiles and disappears up above.

This is where the purely local term stolbist comes from.

A big request to all! Remember the stolbist commandment: pocket your trash—and we’ll have a clean planet.

Krasnoyarsk is incredibly homey.

The concrete bus stops on suburban roads have a special design and are painted the colors of the Russian flag.

Divnogorsk

We’ve been lied to. The Krasnoyarsk Hydroelectric Power Plant is actually located in Divnogorsk. The plant will soon begin powering the city’s sole traffic light, of the same variety as in Achinsk.

There’s no need for more traffic lights here, anyway.

Divnogorsk road map

The advertisements here are truly unique.

“The Russian people, have you forgotten that you’re Russian?”

“If the Russian people don’t repent, the end of the world is nigh.”

For the 100th anniversary of the passing of Saint John of Kronstadt.

The town also has a monument to a dump truck shitting concrete pyramids.

Zheleznogorsk

Not far from Krasnoyarsk is the closed city of Zheleznogorsk, formerly known as Krasnoyarsk-26. Here, a radioactive bear rubs his back on electron hula-hoops, and hidden inside the depths of a uranium-rich Siberian mountain is the Mining and Chemical Combine (MCC), the whole reason the city came to exist in the first place. It’s not as top-secret as it used to be, but you still can’t get into the city without a permit.

Krasnoyarsk-26

A peaceful atom in good hands—this is the main decorative motif for everything to do with the city.

Everything, without exaggeration.

Happy Birthday, beloved city!

Zheleznogorsk is a ZATO (closed administrative-territorial formation), just like Seversk and Sarov.

But unlike those two closed cities, Zheleznogorsk has done a much better job of preserving its Soviet past.

Glory to the Soviet people

It’s a true open-air museum.

Turn off electrical equipment when leaving your home

Even the statues on 1950s-era buildings are still intact here, like in North Korea.

Surprise

And just like in North Korea, there are still windows that were made in an era when no one knew how to make completely smooth glass panes.

Fresh potatoes in stock

Zheleznogorsk could even compete with Chernobyl for the title of most authentic Soviet city. I mean, where else would you find something like this?

A modern household requires a sufficient amount of household goods

A neon advertisement.

Gosstrakh

The only thing that betrays the current era is the bank signage. The banks all came here recently, ruining the virginal visual flora.

The trash cans throughout the city are of a convenient variety: it’s easy to take the insert out by the handles once it’s full.

Decorative balcony supports have managed to survive here, like in other closed Russian cities. I don’t think any of the open cities have any of these things left whatsoever.

It’s not that progress has bypassed this place entirely, not at all. All the requisite establishments are where they should be and functioning. They just don’t mess with history. A tanning salon doesn’t take down an old barbershop’s signage.

Tanning salon. Color superlamps!

And a Coke fridge doesn’t lead to the whole gas station being repainted.

One unique Zheleznogorsk feature is the traffic sign poles.

You can see these signs from afar. It’s fantastic.

The vehicles of Ethnographic Expedition 2008 briefly stopped and stood at the turnoff to the tunnel into the depths of the secret mountain where the aforementioned MCC is located. The soldiers standing next to the tunnel entrance observed us carefully through their binoculars.