18 - Yakutia Today

Transcription

18 - Yakutia Today

Leonid Spiridonov is a
wrestler, an Asian champion
in 2006, a bronze medalist
at the World championship
2009, a bronze medalist in
Asian Games 2010.
“Olympic Torch
Relay in Yakutsk” p. 8
Olympic Athletes
in golden Aldan
p. 12
Diamond
Yakutia p. 14
A Park for
a Mammoth
p. 30
Yakutia TODAY#18, November - December 2013
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4883 km
m
5700 k
«XXII Olympic Winter Games»
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CONTENTS
# 18, November - December 2013
#18, November - December 2013
The northern world
Love Yakutia
p. 4
A unique guidebook to Yakutia is now
available.
p. 5
Greetings
The official greeting of Egor Borisov, the
President of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia)
p. 6
In Focus
Diamond Yakutia
p. 14
Facets of perfection
p. 18
Economics
Investment Development Agency of the
Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
Key element in the development of the
investment potential of the Republic of Sakha
(Yakutia)
p. 22
Culture
Projects of the mediagroup SITIM
Revive titans of the past
p. 24
Magazine “Belem Buol+”
Will teach children Englis
p. 24
Sports
Winter sports in Yakutia
It’s only fitting for frosty Yakutia to go in for
winter sports
p. 7
How to protect oneself from Yakutian frost
Real fur mukluks – how and what they are
made of
p. 25
Tourism
Interview
Tourist products of Yakutia
Taking Diamond Path to the Pole of Cold
p. 26
“I see Yakutsk as one of the best cities in
Russia”
The head of Yakutsk has answered the questions of “Yakutia Today” magazine
p. 8
Where does winter start in Russia?
The third international festival “Winter starts
from Yakutia” took place
p. 28
Sports
Wonderland
Yakutian figures in visual image of Olympic
Games
p. 11
A Park for a Mammoth
The Yakut mammoths are a unique scientific
material
p. 30
Olympic Athletes in golden Aldan
For the last two years the Skiers’ training
center has been working in Yakutia
p. 12
Shamanism – the Heritage of the Past
How Russian tsar Peter I asked Yakutian shamans for help
p. 33
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THE NORTHERN WORLD
Love Yakutia
When you fly from Moscow to Yakutsk, sit on the right
side of the plane. Six and a half hours – and the drone of
turbines is starting to die away: the liner begins losing
height. From the window you can see the boundless
taiga. Vast glades, lakes, swamps. No villages, no roads.
The plane descends lower, and a city becomes visible far
to the right. The landing is often made from the east,
and you will make two turns right above the Lena before
you fully descend to the ground. If you sit to the right
of the plane, you will be able to see this mighty Siberian
river in its full glory.
…Just two minutes later the undercarriage makes contact with the airstrip. Welcome
to Yakutsk! For starters – we congratulate
you, dear reader! The population density is
so low that while you are in Yakutia you will
enjoy three whole square kilometers at your
disposal. Try to imagine this huge estate of
300 hectares. Each of the million citizens of
the republic has one such estate, including
older people and infants. Do you remember
the uninhabited taiga that you saw from the
plane window? Do enjoy this gift! But treat
it with care!
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Look at the sky. Is the sun shining? If the
sky is cloudy, it means that you have been a bit
unlucky. Wait for the next day and the weather
will improve. Yakutsk is one of the sunniest
cities in the country. On average it has 228
clear days a year, which means that only one
in three days is cloudy.
Look around you. Who were you flying
with? They are mainly natives of the region.
Some of them will go to their flat in the city;
others are waiting for another flight to a faroff district. And from there – more traveling,
along rivers and dirt roads. All these people,
of different nationalities and backgrounds,
consider this cold region in permafrost to be
their home. They love it, take pride in it, and
are ready to invest their hard work, time and
knowledge in it. Look close and do not jump to
conclusions. You are in the North, and people
do things more slowly here.
Although, thanks to a recently-built terminal, you will get your luggage just within
10 minutes. Not too long ago it took airport
services one and a half hours to unload a
long-haul Boeing. “Slowly” is putting it mildly!
The absence of even a slightest hint of
falsity will probably be one of your most vivid
impressions during the journey across Yakutia.
Everything is fair here, which is dictated by
nature itself: it is winter – then you can expect
minus fifty degrees, if it is summer, you can
rest assured that the temperature will be plus
thirty degrees. Meet the local farmers, listen to
their stories about how they grow watermelons in permafrost and how they freeze cow
milk. Enjoy an off-road ride in an UAZ at the
speed of 10 kph. Then you will understand that
these people’s love to their little homeland is
a strong, ardent feeling.
By the way, here you will encounter a
number of interesting idiosyncrasies and
quirks, so do be ready. For instance, never
mix up the words “Yakutyane” and “Yakuts”.
Yakutyane are all the residents of the republic,
regardless of the nationality (akin to “Russians”). At the same time, the Yakuts is the
proper name for the Sakha people. By calling
them “Sakha” you will show great respect for
the local people. However, do not decline this
word – saying in Russian “v Yakutiyu” is fine,
but you cannot say “v Sakhu”.
If your Sakha acquaintances will start
speaking Yakut in your presence, do not hold
a grudge against them. For them Sakhalyy
(Yakut) is the native language with many centuries of history. By the way, Sakhalyy is very
similar to Tatar, Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Turkish
– they all take root in one language family. Just
remind them that you do not understand what
they are saying, and they will switch back to
Russian that very moment (or English, to the
best of their ability).
This is an incredibly rich region – the price
of everything that is hidden in the depths can
THE NORTHERN WORLD
hardly be calculated. It has always been rich:
both in tsar and in Soviet times. And the more
advanced the methods of exploring mineral
deposits become, the richer Yakutia grows.
However, up till very recently the proverb “so
near yet so far” had been very apropos of the
situation with the Yakut mineral deposits and
with their near unreachability. But now, as
the infrastructure moves forward, investment
projects become more feasible.
Today many Russian regions would be
envious of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic’s
development rate. Construction sites are virtually everywhere: new enterprises are being
created, jobs are being generated. People are
confident in their future: the republic is the
only region of the Far Eastern Federal District
where there is constant population growth.
This causes some unexpected problems, such
as overcrowded kindergartens which cannot
admit all children. The birthrate forecast
requires pre-school facilities to admit no less
than 15 thousand pupils by 2016, while as
things stand now they will only be able to
admit 12 thousand. Regional authorities are
currently working on solving this issue.
Travel sector is also actively developing. It is true that tourism in Yakutia is more
expensive than many foreign and domestic
destinations, but from year to year more
and more people visit the republic: some
come here for excitement, others – to see the
beautiful nature, and others still – in search
of authentic culture.
Authenticity is a very precise definition
of the local culture. Despite the progress and
intense economic growth, people do not forget
about their roots and ancient traditions. When
you arrive in Yakutia you can see real shamans,
listen to old folksongs and participate in the
national dance osuokhay. Knowledgeable
people say that in the turmoil of the 1990s
the cultural aspect was really brought to the
forefront. Thanks to this people not only have
not done anything foolish, but were even able
to lay the groundwork for the future progress
during this hard transitional period. When the
center of Russia refused ideology in education,
Yakuts thought it sensible to preserve upbringing through culture. The solution was, on the
one hand, based on the equal approach to the
Yakut and Russian languages and cultures,
and on the other – on the state program for
supporting education, which let children study
in the best higher education institutions of
the country irrespective of their nationality.
The consensus is that this approach “saved”
the generation by way of fostering tolerance
in the youth.
Indeed, upon arriving to Yakutia you
will immediately pay attention to the “young
breed” of highly educated people with broad
outlook, proficient in foreign languages and
with a spark in their eyes. They may very
well be the main sight of the otherwise cold
republic.
A unique guidebook to Yakutia is now available
In January of 2014 a unique
guidebook to the Sakha (Yakutia)
Republic came out, both in Russian
and English languages.
The publication provides comprehensive travel information on the
region: resort zones, ecological itineraries, skiing facilities and, of course,
incredible natural sights. Another unique feature of the guide is that it not
only has the overview of natural and cultural sights of the region, but also
contains up-to-date information on its infrastructure and development
prospects, as well as relevant and easy-to-read geographical maps.
The guidebook lets you in on the magical, mysterious world, where
you will learn the secrets of ancient rituals and witness the majestic beauty
of pristine nature. Yakutia is the coldest region in Russia. It houses the
Northern hemisphere’s pole of cold – the area with the lowest temperature
ever recorded. Yet at the same time this is the warmest, most hospitable
region, residents of which always welcome travelers. But do not take just
our word for it – the guide also contains the impressions of travelers who
experienced the hospitality of the locals and the incredible beauty of the
region first-hand.
The guidebook is available
in print and online.
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GREETINGS
A welcome speech by the
President of the Sakha
(Yakutia) Republic
For the English magazine
«Yakutia Today»,
Devoted to the Sochi XXII
Winter Olympic Games
and XI Winter Paralympic
Games of 2014
Dear
readers!
The XXII Winter Olympic Games and XI
Winter Paralympic Games are the most outstanding sports events of 2014. They turned
the city of Sochi into one of the centers of the
world’s sports culture.
These are already the second Olympic
Games in the history of our homeland. Many
of us remember the great event of 1980 – the
XXII Summer Olympic Games in Moscow.
I am confident that the Olympic Games of
2014 will yet again make everyone proud of
their country.
Carrying out such a large-scale event will
improve the image of the Russian Federation
as one of the great sports powers. The winter
Olympic and Paralympic Games will take place
in the unique climate conditions of the warm
sea that neighbors the snowy mountain tops.
I would like to invite all guests of the
Winter Olympic Games to visit an exposition
of the Russian regions in the Olympic Park
and learn about the unique opportunities in
Yakutia, with its tremendous tourism potential
and unique methods of diamond production
and cutting.
Our republic is famous for its sports
achievements, and we take pride in our Olympic champions and prize-winners. I would like
to mention a small contribution of the Sakha
Republic (Yakutia) to the preparation of Russian Olympic athletes for the Sochi Olympics.
This winter in Aldan, which is one of the
world’s best modern Centers for Skier Training, the men’s national biathlon and crosscountry skiing teams of Russia completed their
pre-seasonal training.
Since 1996 Yakutia has been hosting the
International sports games “Children of Asia”
in order to develop junior sports, further
strengthen international ties of the Sakha
(Yakutia) Republic with Asian countries and
promote the ideas of the Olympic movement.
The games are held under the patronage
of the International Olympic Committee and
the President of the Russian Federation, together with the Olympic Committee of Russia,
Rossport, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and
the Ministry of Education and Science of the
Russian Federation.
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The experience of hosting the International sports games “Children of Asia” in
Yakutia and participating in them has shown
that sports not only make our life healthier
and more interesting, but they can also be instrumental in fostering good relations between
different nations and countries. I would also
like to mention the significance of the International games “Children of Asia” in raising
future Olympic champions, since each time
new talented sportsmen are revealed during
these competitions. Thus, Yakutia makes a
great contribution to developing the world’s
Olympic movement.
I wish organizers and participants of the
Sochi Olympic Games the true Olympic spirit,
fruitful work and reaching new heights in
sports! As for spectators, I want to wish them
unforgettable impressions!
Let the strongest win!
President of the
Sakha Republic (Yakutia)
E. BORISOV
SPORTS
Winter sports in Yakutia
It’s only fitting for frosty Yakutia to go in for
winter sports
In Yakutia the ground is covered with white snow for seven months. It is not
for nothing that people call it the Pole of Cold. For many centuries local people
used spatula to find food in such adverse conditions, that’s why shooting and
racing across the snow mantle is in the blood of Yakutian people. As you can
see, it’s only fitting for frosty Yakutia to go in for winter sports.
If previously we could hardly boast of
international achievements, in the new
century the situation has changed for the
better. Winter sports are rapidly developing
in Yakutia. Lately Yakutian athletes started
to show stable results, and besides, big support is coming from the government of the
republic.
For example, at the Winter Olympics in
Vancouver in 2010 a native of Neryungrinsky
district Zoya Polunina played in the Russian
National Hockey team. She is the first athlete
in the history of Yakutia who took part in the
winter Olympics.
Some achievements have been made in
biathlon, the most spectacular kind of winter
sports. This year Nadezhda Elisseyeva from
Churapcha managed to reach a standard of
the master of sport of Russia, which brought
her a gold medal in the country championship. She won a biathlon relay-race performing for the team of Novosibirsk oblast.
The skiers have pulled up recently. In
2009 Dmitry Ploskonosov won a silver medal
of Russia’s championship among youth and
gained the right to participate in the world
ski-run. As a member of the Russian national
team at the world championship Dmitry had
the eighth place, which is a good result. In
2010 a Yakutian Alina Kashina became a
silver prize-winner of the World Universiade
in Turkey.
And last year the junior ski-racing team
of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) won an
all-team victory in the Far East Championship and left behind such strong teams as
Magadan, the Khabarovsk Territory, Sakhalin and Amur oblasts.
Starting this year Yakutia made still another big step for the development of winter
sports in the republic – a Federal Skiing
Training Center was opened in the city of
Aldan. The center offers an original skiing
run with steep slopes, standard shooting
field, renovated sports center, gyms, roofed
run track of 120m, and a modern recreation
center.
Early October this year post-seasonal
meets took place at this skiing base for all the
leading skiers and biathletes of the national
team of Russia who are preparing for the
upcoming Olympiad in Sochi. They included
Olympic champions Nikita Kryukov, Eugeny
Ustyugov, Eugeny Dementiev, Olympic prize
winners Alexander Panzhinsky, Alexey
Petukhov and many others. And their choice
was not a random one. Aldan is a historic
place. Back in their time the heroes of Rus-
sia Larisa Lazutina, Lyubov Egorova, the
Olympic champion in biathlon and ski racing
Anfisa Reztsova, as well as legendary Raisa
Smetanina, Mikhail Ivanov and many others
were trained here before the Olympics. The
Aldan skiing run was used for training even
by the current coach of the Russian national
team, the Olympic champion Mikhail Devyatyarov. Three years ago the coaching staff
decided to resurrect the old traditions, so it
is not a surprise that it was here that they’d
prepared for Sochi 2014. We must pride
ourselves on being a part of the Olympic
movement in our country.
The main advantage of Yakutia is availability of early natural snow. Here we have
one of the best places for training on the
snow in early October. Whilst leaders of other
countries ski on roller skis in this time of the
year or get trained on artificial snow, Russian
athletes have an opportunity to be the first
ones to step on natural snow.
Since the last year the star skiers Nikita
Kryukov, Alexander Panzhinsky and Alexey
Petukhov decided to not only have annual
pre-seasonal trainings, but defend the honor
of the team of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) at different competitions. Presently the
three of them are giving the double scoring
– to Yakutia and to Moscow.
The arrival of such big masters will raise
the prestige of the republic. Now the team
of Yakutia has a chance to train side by side
with the stars of Russian and world sports.
This is a big step forward.
Nikolay BYASTINOV
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INTERVIEW
“I see Yakutsk as one of the
best cities in Russia”
The head of Yakutsk has answered the
questions of “Yakutia Today” magazine
Next year Sochi will host the first Winter Olympic Games in the Russian history.
Twinning with Ancient Olympia gave the
Yakut delegation the opportunity to participate in lighting the fire, and the Yakut
children were one of the first to carry the
Olympic torch in the relay. Please tell us
more about this memorable event.
- The participation of schoolchildren
from sister cities in the Olympic torch relay
is a tradition of Ancient Olympia’s municipality; the city’s administration forms the
groups of torch-bearers who carry fire on
their territory. I should say that the number
of Olympia’s sister cities is a lot smaller
than the number of cities that wish to be
twinned with the homeland of the Olympic
Games. The twinning procedure is quite
complicated: the candidate must receive
the unanimous vote of all the members of
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the city council. The negotiations between
Yakutsk and Olympia had been held for quite
some time; the initial idea was put forward
by Ivan Pantaziev, the chairman of the Greek
community in Yakutia. Finally we arrived at
a decision. The main arguments in our favor
were the sporting successes of the Yakuts and
the International Sports Games “Children
of Asia” that are regularly held in Yakutsk
under the aegis of the International Olympic
Committee. The ceremony of signing the
twinning agreement in May of 2012 between
us and Mayor of Olympia Mr. Efthymios
Kotzas was covered in special issues of the
local newspapers, and it was attended by
mayors of the other sister cities of Olympia
and by the province’s governor. In a few
days there was the ceremony of lighting the
flame for the London Olympics, which the
Yakut delegation attended as a sister city. The
torch was then carried by a group of children
from a Japanese sister city. Theoretically,
the Germans came after, and Yakutia, the
ninth sister city of Olympia, could only count
on participating in the relay somewhere in
2020. But, since the next Olympics are being
held in Russia, the authorities of Olympia
decided to grant the honor of participating
in the relay Sochi-2014 to Yakuts, and the
other sister cities were kind enough to wait.
Thus, on September 29 of 2013, on the
day of lighting the Olympic flame, ten Yakut
schoolchildren participated in the start of
the torch relay Sochi-2014. The children
were chosen through an open citywide contest in the newspaper “Yakutsk Vecherniy”.
Children were to write an essay about
themselves, about their accomplishments
and why they wanted to participate in this
historic occasion. The authors of the best
compositions, as selected by the press and
the public, became the delegates. They were
five boys and five girls, the pupils of different
city schools. They conducted a presentation
of the national games as part of Yakutsk
Days in the city square, and organized a
whole concert for their peers in Olympia’s
junior school – they sang, danced, played
the khomus (the Yakut jaw harp) and drums.
They were also very confident in front of TV
cameras – films with them were broadcast
by the channel “My Planet” several times.
These children truly made the Yakutsk Days,
held in Olympia during the lighting of the
Sochi-2014 flame, unforgettable. But the
highlight, of course, was them carrying the
torch in the relay. The Greek sportsman,
who received the flame from the priestess,
handed it to the famed Russian hockey player
Alexander Ovechkin, and the next stage of
the relay was reserved for our kids. It was a
very stirring moment for us all. The torch
turned out to be quite heavy, but it did not
stop or hamper the children. I am sure they
will remember it for the rest of their lives.
During the globalization age international ties are playing an increasingly
integral part in all the activity spheres,
from small companies and to large cities
and countries. What are the plans for
INTERVIEW
developing the international relations of
Yakutsk, and what will be their role in the
development of the capital?
- That is right, in our times it is impossible to live and develop in your own little
closed-off world, which is especially true
of the cities. There is “people’s diplomacy”,
which connects the city citizens with almost the whole world, there are business,
academic, cultural links. Inter-municipal
cooperation affords huge communication
opportunities. As it has been mentioned,
Yakutsk upholds ties with the sister cities,
and we make a point of making sure this
cooperation has practical value. The nature
of events can be completely different, but
they all serve a common purpose – benefitting out city. This year, aside from the project
of lighting the Olympic fire, participation in
the Harbin international trade fair, where
Yakutsk for the first time represented the
whole republic, proved to be quite effective.
The business circles of our sister cities Harbin
and Heihe were interested both in investment projects and in the production of the
city’s enterprises; a number of agreements
were signed. The Yakutsk’s pavilion was
deemed the best of the foreign pavilions by
the fair organizers.
Cities of the world are organized into
unions, associations, and Yakutsk is an active member of this global community. In
September Yakutsk hosted a conference
of the International Assembly of Capitals
and Cities, devoted to the issues of developing the municipal infrastructure of the
northern territories. At the beginning of
October I participated in the summit of the
global organization “United Cities and Local
Governments”, that comprises more than
a thousand cities, which amounts to more
than a half of the planet’s population. We
participated in developing a comprehensive
cooperation strategy for the cities of the
world, as well as working out the agenda for
the “UN Millennium Development Goals”.
The most discussed issues were innovations
in the sphere of healthcare, education,
transport, road and house construction, and
in the sphere of collecting and recycling garbage. Such local government forums serve
as a great way to exchange experience and
afford extensive marketing opportunities
for promoting Yakutsk on the international
investment market.
Here is another example of effective
inter-municipal cooperation and of implementing global standards into the city’s policies. Since 2011 Yakutsk has been participating in the international project “City Health”,
which operates in the municipalities of 30
countries. Acting on the recommendations of
the WHO, we are realizing the city program
“Youth. Family. Sport. – Healthy City for
2013-2017” – a check-up of the population,
creating the health passport for the city,
preventing the socially significant diseases
and so on.
International cooperation should be
Yakut students with the major of Yakutsk - Aysen Nikolaev,
Alexander Zhukov - the president of Russian Olympic Committee,
Dmitriy Glushko - vice- president of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
mutually interesting and beneficial. For Yakutsk that means attracting investments and
technologies, developing inbound tourism.
We offer services and production: tourism
objects, cultural events, unique crafts, various goods. Cooperation can even be based
upon the climate conditions: for instance,
BMW is considering building a test site for
its cars in the city. We have a lot to offer the
world, while the world has a lot of things
that can be implemented in Yakutsk for the
benefit of its residents, both now and in the
future.
Yakutsk is a major sports center of Russia’s Far East. For instance, in 2012 the city
hosted the 5th International Sports Games
“Children of Asia”. But these Games, for
the most part, promote summer sports
disciplines. What does Yakutsk have to offer
in terms of winter disciplines?
I would go as far as to say that Yakutsk
is one of the global centers of junior sports.
I am hard pressed to name another city that
would initiate and become the regular host
of such a large-scale event as the “Children
of Asia” games under the auspices of the
International Olympic Committee! The
Games greatly helped in the development of
Yakutsk, primarily by improving the sports
infrastructure. Due to our climate we need
indoor sports facilities – that is just the way
it is. Just before the latest Games “Children
of Asia”, the city got three outstanding, even
by the global standards, facilities: center
“Triumph”, swimming pool “Cholbon” and
football arena “Dokhsun”. This is a true
breakthrough, and there soon will be tangible results in many sports disciplines! Right
now the republic’s authorities are developing
the biathlon and world-class skiing centers in
Southern Yakutia, which will definitely provide a new impetus for the capital’s winter
sports. North-Eastern Federal University of
Yakutsk graduates trainers, there are strong
traditions of cross-country skiing, and there
are skiing departments in the city’s sports
schools. Ice Palace “Elley Bootur” that was
built for the 1st International Sports Games
“Children of Asia” provided the opportunity
to develop winter disciplines that were very
new for Yakutia: young figure skaters of
Yakutsk are already winning competitions in
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INTERVIEW
Georgiy Balakshin is a boxer, a bronze
medalist at the Olympic Games 2008, a
bronze medalist at the World championship 2001
Russia, and the team “Polar Wolves” is one
of the junior hockey leaders in the Far East.
At the beginning of November the
Olympic flame came to Yakutsk. The relay
was one of the brightest cultural and sporting events. How did it go, and what was its
influence on promoting sports in Yakutsk?
- It was the very first time that Yakutsk
received the Olympic flame. The relay truly
was a very exciting event, especially given
the fact that our schoolchildren participated
in it. The relay covered almost all of the
main streets of the capital – 82 torchbearers negotiated the distance of 20.2 km,
and the flame was also carried on a Yakut
horse, on dogsleds and on deer sledges. The
administration of the International Sports
Games “Children of Asia” was responsible
for organizing the event. The honor of carrying the Olympic flame through the city
streets was granted to professional and
amateur sportsmen, Paralympians, sports
veterans, students, doctors, and teachers.
The prize-winner of the Beijing Olympics in
boxing, knight of the order of the Polar Star,
torchbearer Georgy Balakshin delivered the
symbol of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics to
the statue of the Honored Trainer, the founder of the Yakut freestyle wrestling school,
Dmitry Korkin. In the ethnographic complex
“Chochur Muran” the relay was continued
by the Honored Master of Sports Alexander
Ivanov, freestyle wrestling silver medalist of
the Montreal 1976 Summer Olympics, who
rode his distance on a deer sledge. Famous
Yakut wrestler Leonid Spiridonov carried
the torch on a Yakut horse, accompanied by
two horsemen in the traditional costumes.
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He delivered the Flame to Komsomolskaya
Square, where thousands of spectators were
greeting the Sochi 2014 relay.
The Olympic flame also went through
the Permafrost Kingdom, where it was received by the Lord of Cold Chiskhaan. On
the last stages of the relay in Yakutia the
torch was carried by Vladimir Balynec – the
power lifting silver medalist of the London
2012 Paralympic Games, Maria Pinigina –
the athletics champion of the Seoul 1988
Summer Olympics, along with her husband
Pavel Pinigin – the freestyle wrestling gold
medalist of the Montreal 1976 Summer
Olympics. The torch was brought to the
arena of the “Triuph” sports complex by
the biathlon champion of Russia Nadezhda
Eliseeva. Along with the republic’s President
Egor Borisov, she lit the Bowl of Olympic
Flame, which will forever remain in the city.
The entrance was free – 7,400 spectators
witnessed the bowl being lit in “Triumph”,
and it would be an insurmountable task to
count how many people were able to join
the spirit of the Olympics by seeing the relay in the city streets during the day. I think
everyone interested was able to attend the
event, which, undoubtedly, helped to further
promote sports and the Olympic movement
among the citizens, especially among kids
and young people. The best proof of this
is the fact that Yakut sports complexes are
never empty.
During the last years the city’s administration has been paying much attention
to forming a positive image of the capital.
There is an annual increase in the tourist
inflow to the republic. What will the city of
Yakutsk look like in 5-10 years?
- The image must always be built on
something, in our case – on real improvements. It is no secret that in today’s Yakutsk
there are a number of systemic issues – poor
state of transport infrastructure, poor services, many dangerous structures, bad state
of repair of the housing and municipal infrastructure, problems with the environment
due to the constant population growth as a
result of migration.
In November the republic government’s
economic council approved the program
for the socio-economic development of Yakutsk until 2017. It covers the whole range
of economic and social spheres of Yakutsk,
including large-scale federal and republican
projects – building a bridge across the Lena,
building a new water intake, reconstructing
the runway of the airport and so on. The
program requires 263bn rubles of capital
investments. It is quite ambitious, and essentially represents the first step in realizing
the Strategy for developing the urban region
“Yakutsk City” until 2032.
Our purpose is to create a truly comfortable environment in Yakutsk – affordable,
healthy and safe, with good ecology and
many public spaces. Long-term goals include
expanding city blocks, at the same time
eliminating dangerous structures, streets
renovation, building a recycling complex,
creating various public spaces, starting with
pedestrian zones and ending with cultural
and sports facilities.
So, as for me, in the future I see Yakutsk
as a beautiful, comfortable and modern city,
and one of the best cities in Russia, not to
mention the Far East.
Are there any events and complex
programs planned for attracting tourists?
- Within the republican project for developing the tourism industry we will definitely
continue developing the event tourism.
Ysyakh Tuymaada, which is currently the
most visited national celebration in Russia,
attracts more and more guests each year.
Ysyakh-2013 was visited by more than 165
thousand people, and more than a hundred
mass media representatives received accreditation. Another event that is quite promising
in terms of attracting tourists is “Winter
Starts in Yakutia”, which has recently been
held for a third time. And yet another event
that holds a lot of potential for tourism is the
“Week of Brilliants” that was held in Yakutsk
in autumn.
It does not mean, however, that we are
going to limit ourselves to these events only
– each year Yakutsk hosts a large number of
cultural events, forums, Russian and international conferences, all of which attract
guests to the city and each of which in time
can become a tourism brand, for instance,
the film festival.
Your wishes to our readers.
- I wish health, happiness and well-being
to you and your relatives in the coming year!
And also I wish you all enough strength and
determination to change your life for the better, and much luck and success on this path!
Best regards,
Editor-in-chief
Nikolay Kychkin
SPORTS
Yakutian figures in visual image of
Olympic Games
Patchwork quilt as a reflection of modern Russia
Every Olympic Games has its own symbols and visual images. The main
symbol of the 1980 Moscow Olympics was the Olympic Bear. In the
Olympic Games in Sochi, several animals became a reflection of the
Russian image. This time we will talk not about symbols but instead a
visual image which was design by the BOSCO team.
Designers faced a real challenge to reflect the entirety of Russian culture in just
one symbol. They had to reflect a diverse
range of feelings and emotions connected
to notions such as Motherland, Family,
Culture, Time, The Olympics, Peace, Nobility, Friendship, Memory, Honor, Dreams,
Beauty, Freedom, Pride, Warmth, Happiness, Greatness, Reliability, Victory, Art,
Hospitality, Creation, The Future, Russia
and Earth.
Truly loving, knowing and appreciating their country, these people represent
a multicultural society – united, beautiful
and strong in its variety. In Russia, as well
as in the whole world, every region is proud
of its originality. That’s why there’s such a
variety of traditions, songs and crafts, which
underline the originality of its creators.
Each of them is all-sufficient. In order to
reflect all this variety, BOSCO offered this
well-known, kind, warm, rich idea of a
patchwork quilt. Indeed this is the most
understandable and pleasant idea, because
it’s just as natural for Suzdal, Ivanovo,
Kostroma, as it is for Scotland, Sardinia,
Morocco, Guatemala, Portugal, Japan,
Australia, Canada, Austria and Mongolia.
Developing this concept the designers put
a traditional figure of the different Russian
regions on each patch. This is the how the
most suitable symbol for the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi was
created. This blanket keeps the warmth
of human hands as well as hearts. Such a
thing does not go out of fashion as easily as
simple national figures. Now, because of the
Olympic and Paralympic Games they will
become world known.
Of the traditional Russian crafts known
worldwide, outside of the country, BOSCO
designers chose 28 figures. These figures
became the basis of the Olympic patchwork
quilt.
Gzel, Khokhloma, Pavloposadskie
kerchief, Severodvinskaya, Rakulskaya,
Uftyujskaya fresco, palekh, Volgorodskoe
lace, Yakutskiye and Kubachunskie figures,
Ivanovskie chintz and triangular carving –
each Olympic figure fragment presented is
an original work of our painters. A modern
approach, using SPADE algorithms, was
used to development an “Individual net.”
This net helped add the perfect finishing
touches to the visual image of the Olympics.
The Olympics figure is united in a general
palette. Every palette is split on 50 variants.
The results show variety on top of variety,
but in a way which is perfectly harmonizing with ice, sun, and sea themes in Sochi.
Made of many traditional figures, the
Olympic patchwork quilt reflects modern
Russia very precisely and creates a new image for the rest of the world – The “Great
Empire of Good and Evil” is now gone. We
are open, friendly, sensitive. We appreciate
traditions but live at a modern tempo. We
are very different, but we all anxiously await
these Olympics very much.
Yakutian figure
In the history of every nation, figures
have a mystical meaning. For the Yakutians
they are not only talismans, but, in a way,
a window into a person’s life. By having
a quick glance at a woman’s clothes and
jewelry you can quite easily determine her
age, social position and even number of
children. All the figures are strictly symmetrical and form a straight line, noting
that her family line should be continued.
The more branches there are the more
children the person wearing this amulet
has. Color also has a significant meaning:
black – earth and spring, green – summer,
red or brown – fall, silver jewelry – stars,
snow and winter.
11
SPORTS
Olympic Athletes in golden Aldan
For the last two years the Skiers’ training center has been
working in Yakutia
Training center for skiers
Last year the newly renovated Skiers’ training center was opened in the
southern Yakutia city of Aldan. Skiers like Aldan because of its unique
natural climate conditions. It isn’t as cold, compared to the rest of Yakutia,
and yet the purest mountain air can still be found there. The most
important aspect of the region is its natural snowfall, which appears way
earlier than other regions of Russia. There is enough snow already laying
on the ground in October that all the tracks are ready to accept skiers.
About the ski lodge
Because of the early appearance of snow,
comfortable autumn temperatures, favorable
landscapes and optimal height (600-800
meters above the sea level), Aldan has always
been a very attractive place for the best skiers
of the country, even in a Soviet times. During
the 1980s and 90s, even without a ski lodge
present at that time, the greatest sportsmen
were already training here, for example
Libov Egorove, Paisa Smetanina, Larisa
Lazutina, Anfisa Rezcova, Mikhail Botvinov,
Mikhail Devyatyarov, Aleksey Prokurorov,
Vladimir Smirnov and others. Almost all of
12
them achieved amazing results, won world
championships and some even medaled in
the Olympic games.
Due to the demise of the Soviet Union
and a series of crises, this native sport has
received a colossal shock in recent times,
one that it is just now has starting to recover
from. Ski racing and biathlon are the main
disciplines in which people see the biggest
opportunities at the Olympic Games in Sochi,
since historically in these medal-rich disciplines our sportsmen have shown a relative
stability. During the last Winter Olympics in
Vancouver in 2010 all the gold medals were
taken by Russia skiers and biathlonists. It
isn’t not hard to imagine the burden of responsibility our sportsmen will bear in the
coming three months. Their future salaries
and sponsorship deals will be decided by the
outcome of these Olympic games.
During the Olympic preparations of
the last 3 seasons, the coaches of the men’s
national biathlon and ski teams tested out
various training bases in Finland and in
several central European countries before
eventually settling on Yakutia. There is no
doubt that the 2012 opening of the skiers’
training center Aldan played a great role in
this decision.
The best recommendations come from
the opinions of professionals who are training hard before the start of the season. According to the words these team members
and coaches, this center deserves nothing
but praise. It is situated in a very picturesque
locale, overlooking the city of Aldan. It’s
equipped with 5 km ski track with a modern
training facility capable of housing up to
1500 people. Here you can also find a gym,
an indoor firing range and an indoor track
and field area. In the hotel complex you can
find all the things necessary for rest and
recovery – more than 80 comfortable rooms
available, a cafe and procedural rooms.
There are 52 people on staff, including
22 coaches. Available within this center
many different sport clubs are organized,
SPORTS
including ski racing, biathlon, basketball,
karate, wushu, track and field athletics, pinpong and others. More than 600 children
are training in this center and its branches.
That means that the skiers’ training
center in Aldan has the opportunity to earn
sport academy status. With this distinction,
considering the positive experience of our
training facilities, Aldan has the possibility
to become a strategically important camp
for the Russian national team’s preparation
for winter sports.
Mikhail Devyatyarov coach of the Russian nation ski team.
The greatest advantage of Aldan is its
early snow. Here’s you can find very good
conditions, an excellent complex and perfect tracks. It’s really important. I’ve known
Aldan since the 80s. The Olympic games in
Calgary 1988 were taken mostly because of
our preparations in Aldan. In 2002 the very
same preparations helped Mikhail Ivanov
take a golden medal at the Olympics in Salt
Lake City. Last year, for the first time, the
national team came here to begin training
right after the first snow. Due to this preparation, this year the World championship was
perfect for our sprinters. we won the gold in
two out of two possibilities. Our main coach,
Elena Valerevna Vyalbe, is eager to see our
sportsmen taking home as much gold as
possible. We are going to live up to all the
expectations and win golden medals and
bring joy to our fans.
In the summer we were training in Finland. There the have this so called “tube” – a
2km circle. We were training in such a “tube”.
Another option was Ramzau-am-Dakhstein,
Gletcher (Austria), but they are very high
(2700) above the sea level. The only place
where the natural snow, forest and track
correspond to the necessary requirements
is the city Aldan, and we are glad to be here
for our training.
Nikita Krukov Olypmics champion
We are very glad that we are met with
snow here in Yakutia. For us it’s the most
important thing. The temperature is about
0+3. That means we have to adapt to that
climate. I see all the changes made in this
sport complex; last year during my trainings
here it was very good, this year just amazing. All the conditions were created for our
training and winning, even the atmosphere
has changed. I’m really glad to see the snow,
I do like winter. After “green” Moscow I came
to heaven. We were met with a national ceremony, it was amazing. I hope we will have
a great time here and spend it profitably.
From here we will go to Finland for gathering, and after preparations we’ll train for
the World Cup.
Yuriy Kaminskiy; senior coach of Rus-
sian national ski team.
It’s our second time here in Aldan. Last
year we had a really good gathering here. We
won two golden medals at the World cup.
We hope this year we will have even greater
gatherings and they will end with fantastic
results at the Olympic Games in Sochi.
Here we will start our winter season.
The first preparatory stage, which is very
important, will have certain speed-power
training. This will be our base for the successful performance at the World Cup and
Olympics.
It’s a huge difference that we are training
in the natural snow in natural conditions,
not in a “tube”. It’s really important. I want
to underline that the best conditions were
created here, conditions which are very difficult to create in other regions of Russia or
even other countries. In Sochi we will try to
show our best.
13
IN FOCUS
Diamond Yakutia
14
IN FOCUS
Joint Stock Company ALROSA is one of the biggest
diamond-mining companies in the world. According to the
production value our share of global diamond production is 30%.
The company extracts 94% of all the diamonds mined in Russia and
is one of the country’s most effective manufacturers. The expected
diamond reserves in Russia are about one third of global ones.
In 2012 all the manufacturers of the ALROSA Group
extracted 34.5 million ct. of rough diamond production, which were
sold for the price of about 4.5 billion USD. Brilliants were produced
and sold for 160 million USD.
The history of ALROSA and diamond mining in Yakutia
dates back to 1954, when the first diamond pipe, Zarnitsa (‘Summer
Lightning’), was discovered. This was the first primary diamond
deposit in the USSR.
Historically ALROSA represents almost the whole diamond
mining industry of Russia. Its production and investment activities
are within strategic interests of the Russian Federation.
In Russia the company carries out production in 9 primary
and 10 placer deposits. The technological basis of production is
based on the world’s best scientific and technical breakthroughs and
unique experience in working with the tough climate conditions
of the Russia’s north. All the processes, such as rough diamond
production, its grading, evaluation, distribution and brilliant
production, are centered within the company.
ALROSA is a group of enterprises united into a complex of
diamond mining, supporting and accompanying manufactures in
23 branches. The whole economic and social complex of the group
employs about 30 000 people.
The ALROSA Group is carrying out its activities in the
territories of 8 areas of Russian Federation and 8 foreign countries.
Main manufactures of the company are in Western Yakutia.
Today ALROSA is a multi-profile, diversified company with
such clients as Russian and foreign companies and the private
sector.
Where the diamonds are extracted
The heart of the diamond industry is the
underground mine. These high-tech enterprises are the first stage of the “diamond pipes,”
which allows these precious crystals to find
their way to millions of customers.
Today ALROSA Group’s manufactures
are based on 19 primary and placer deposits.
They are grouped on an area basis in a few
ore-dressing and processing enterprises and
affiliates. Total power capacity of ore mining
complex ALROSA reaches about 39 million
tons of ore and alluvial a year.
The underground mine ALROSA is a real
town with dozens of kilometers of horizontal
excavations, shaft insets, compressor stations
(to pump air underground) and refrigerating
stations (to increase ore strength), powerful
ore mining equipment.
For example at the underground mine
“Mir” a freight stem drop tower with a construction height of 52m (comparable to a
17 story apartment building) and weight of
more than 800 tons. The onshore complex of
any mine consists of dozens of constructions.
The main difficulties at the underground
mines “ALROSA” are hundreds of meters of
ever frost, powerful water horizons with aggressive water pressure , salt beds, ingresses of
oil, methane and hydrogen disulphide.
Today ALROSA builds 3 underground
mines in Yakutiya simultaneously – the “MIR”,
“Aykhal”, “Udachnaya” deposits. Their construction became necessary due to the cessation of open-pit mining techniques.
Geologists proved long time ago that
the due to the remaining stocks of diamonds
in these deposits reachable through underground mining techniques, the company and
Russia itself will maintain their positions on
the natural diamond market.
15
IN FOCUS
Where diamonds got sorted, evaluated
and sold
“ALROSA” extracts more than 34 million
carats to the value of 2.7 billion USD.
There are no ideal or identical crystals.
For this reason the decision to evaluate each
crystal separately at 20000 positions was
taken. Every crystal is described by 4 aspects:
weight, form of a crystal, quality, color.
The assortment and evaluation of diamonds quality is a very important trade
characteristic.
Perfect assortment gives 10% of product
value, what corresponds to 300 million USD
per year.
ALROSA’s assortment system is certified
by the State Committee for the Russian Federation for Standardization and Metrology
and meets all the Russian and international
requirements.
Realization of rough diamonds is conducted at domestic and foreign markets in
comparable extents. The main consumer of
rough diamonds at the domestic market is
the State Repository for Precious Metals, represented by the government fund and Russian
lapidary companies. The main consumer of
technical rough diamonds in Russia are companies working in the toolmaking industry,
engineering, optics.
Early on, only Russian diamond manufacturers could participate in the bidding of
special sized diamonds. In 2002 ALROSA
received the right to sells such diamonds to
foreign buyers.
Diamonds with the weight of 10.8 carat,
including more than 50 carats each, which do
not belong to the “unique” category, according
to the expert commission of Finance ministry,
as well as indivisible plumbs which consist of
several diamonds with a weight of 50 carat,
are put out to tender.
ALROSA actively opens its affiliates
around the world during last years. Today
there are six of them in UK, Belgium, Israel,
Udachny quarry
Hong-Kong, USA, and UAE.
These affiliates create new markets for
ALROSA through public relations.
tions during auctions, for example in Tokyo
and Hong Kong. During all these years of work
the company formed a base of standing clients.
Where the diamonds are faceted and
brilliants are sold
How and where the diamonds are being found
Brilliant (from French brilliant - shiny) – a
diamond which has a special form after some
manipulations what underlines its natural brilliance. Brilliants are estimated by 4C system.
Cut
Clarity
Color
Carat
Today ALROSA’s lapidary companies are,
in the whole, in the second place in Russia.
ALROSA is successfully competing with about
100 lapidary companies in Russia, which are
usually small enterprises.
The company “Brillianty ALROSA” was
created in 2000. The Annual extent of production and diamond realization is about 140-150
million USD.
ALROSA affects the sale of brilliants in
Moscow – on the “Brillianty ALROSA” basis as
well as through foreign companies. Other than
just the realization of brilliants, “Brillianty
ALROSA” also conducts international exhibi-
The difficulty of searching for diamond
deposits depends on two factors.
First, the content of diamonds in ore and
sand is extremely low (less than 5 carat per
ton or one part per million).
Second, primary diamond deposits are
covered by mantle rocks with a width of up to
100 meters and more, which is necessary for
mass drilling operation searching.
ALROSA looks positively on the prospect
of diamond location at the Yakutiya territory till 2015. The detailed searching of this
area takes place within well-known diamond
volcanic fields, such as Narinskiy, AlakitMarkhinskiy, Mirninskiy.
Geologists are very creative people. For
example, in Mirniy they calculated that:
-
In 40 years 3000km of cracks/
chinks were bored by personal of the Botuobinskiy expedition.
-
Pedestrian routes of geoscientists
circled Earth’s equator more than 2.5 times.
-
Mechanic-geoscientists spent more
than 8 months in the air and relatively crossed
the distance to the moon and back to the earth.
Aikhal mine
Environment
We cannot imagine a sustainable development of the company without environmental
friendliness, especially in regions where ALROSA operates. Annual expenditure for environment protection amounts to more than 3.2
billion rubles, which includes 1.1 billion rubles
for the building of environmental facilities.
Environmental friendliness is one of the
main priorities of the company and is an
inalienable part of the effective management
of the production strategy.
The main manufactures which provide
a negative effect on environment are mining
and concentration complexes and upstream
players.
ALROSA helps the Ministry of environment conservation in the Sakha republic (Yakutiya) to increase the biological diversity of
16
IN FOCUS
wild animals at the republic’s territory. For this
mining and concentration complex Aykhalskiy
strengthened materials and technical facilities
of the park “Terpey-Tumus” at the territory of
the Anarab settlement. In Mirniy the company
took the initiative to finance and create the
unique park “Jivie almazi Yakutii.” There are
many roe deer, musk oxen, moose and other
rare mammals and birds on our planet.
People and diamonds
Popular education, healthcare, culture
and sport are the most important parts of
our social commitments. The company builds
new schools, supports sport teams, provides
musicians and theaters with charitable money,
supports veterans and disabled persons as well
as orphan children.
The most important projects of the last
years was the participation in 3rd International sport games “Deti Azii”, building of
museums and churches in Yakutia, donation of
two pictures of Repin ”Portrait of Nikolay the
II” to the state museum Hermitage, participation in reconstruction of presidential residential Constantinovskiy palace in St.Petersburg,
donation of jewelry made by “Brilliant in
Russian avangard” to the memorial-estate
“Moscow Kremlin”, financial support for the
reconstruction of the theater of drama in
Arkhangelsk and support of massive initiatives
of “Sportivnaya Rossia.”
Our company is a sponsor of a few traditional singing festivals in Yakutiya, supporting
the creativity of young people, and also a
well-known children ballet theater “Almazi
Yakutii”, which has won many competitions.
The most distinctive events are the special
ALROSA’s festivals “Tuyo-Haya”, “Mirniy poyot
o mire”, “Leninskie prostori”. “Duhovnie grani
ALROSA”.
Great attention is paid to mass cultural
and sport activities, since many employees,
as well as members of the younger generation, are involved in it. Annually our company
donates more than 200 million rubles to such
an events.
ALROSA supports clubs and sport buildings, where more than 13,000 people spend
their time.
ALROSA was a sponsor of Futsal World
Championship in Mirniy, Yakutsk, Leninsk in
2007. Futsal Sport Club ALROSA ALMAZ is a
prize winner of many Russian and international competitions.
Sportsmen who are exercising in sport
clubs of ALROSA and who are also financially
supported by the company win many prizes
at Russian and International championships.
ALROSA is realizing a massive and diverse
regional policy. The basic principles of it are
high levels of responsibility for the social and
economic situation and development of the living standards in the Sakha republic (Yakutiya).
ALROSA is one of the biggest tax payers in
the Sakha republic. In 2013 the company paid
almost 30 billion rubles.
In 2012 ALROSA signed a deal with Yakutia according to which the company
is obligated to donate money to “Trust fund of future generations of the Sakha
republic” for carrying out its charity activities as well as for the construction,
repairs, education, art, science, healthcare, social protection and sports at the
territory of the Sakha republic (Yakutia). The total sum of donation is 521
million rubles.
17
IN FOCUS
Facets of perfection
The Sakha (Yakutia) Republic is one
regions of Russia developing most
dynamically. It supplies one third of
the world’s diamond stock, the region
is rich with oil, gold, natural gas and
fur. The economy of the Republic
is developing rapidly, however the
most outstanding growth can be
seen in diamond-cutting and jewelry
industries.
The leader of this industry is Yakutian
Diamond Company which can be
righteously called an economic wonder
of the North. In only six years of its
activities the company turned from
a small jewelry store into the largest
producer of diamonds in Yakutia. What
is the secret of success of this company?
Year 2007, Yakutsk. A jewelry store was
opened in a big mall, and its English name
- Yakutian Diamond Company - attracted
everyone’s attention. From the very start
the company’s intention was to make the
whole world talk about Yakutian diamonds,
and up to now this policy is pursued successfully.
By 2013 the company opened its jewelry
stores in Yakutsk, Moscow, Astana and Almaty (Kazakhstan). Here every person can
find a gemstone which suits his/her taste
and wallet. Thus, the price for small size
diamonds starts from RUB 903.
The company’s strategy relies on several
whales, which are its own production, direct
selling without middlemen in YDC jewelry
stores and unique design of the products.
YDC diamond-cutting and jewelr y
factories
Yakutian Diamond Company is an absolute leader in Yakutia for the quantity of
produced diamonds. Each third or fourth
diamond of Yakutia was cut at the YDC
diamond-cutting factory.
The company is one of the top three
clients of AK ALROSA, one of the world
leaders for the volume of diamonds recovery. Using just Yakutian diamond rough
the company selects the clearest samples
for its factories.
Few people have an idea how exactly a
diamond is created. How of a dull stone – a
rough diamond - do we get the most beautiful and valuable treasure in the world? YDC
lifts the veil and invites us on an exciting
tour of the company’s diamond-cutting
factory.
Transforming a rough diamond into
a polished gemstone.
Diamond is the hardest mineral in the
world, its production is very hard and requires utmost precision and patience. The
stone undergoes many stages of production,
the main ones are marking the rough diamond, sawing, polishing, bruting, faceting,
evaluation and sorting.
The first stage is pre-production analysis made to determine on the technology of
diamond cutting. In fact, it is at this stage
that the estimate is made of the weight of
the final diamond, its main geometric parameters, value characteristics and the cost
18
IN FOCUS
of the future diamond. Computer programs
Advizor and DiaVision make instant analysis
of rough diamond and show how to get the
best polished gemstone of it.
Next the stone goes to the marking
stage – the diamond is marked with lines by
which it will be sawn. A planner must have
special professional instinct and spatial
reasoning to see the future shining diamond
in a dull stone.
The third stage, sawing of a diamond,
can take from a few hours to a few days.
Sawing can be of two kinds – done mechanically and by laser. Mechanical sawing by
diamond-coated rotary disks is normally for
small and not complex gems. For the rough
of a more complex structure and larger sizes
a laser method is used – a laser installation
allows technologist to model the stone and
give it fancy shapes.
The next stage is polishing, which takes
the unnecessary mass off the diamond. It is
shaped as the future article, natural flaws
of the stone are eliminated, and it is sent
for blocking, to get the shape of the future
round diamond.
The last stage of production is faceting
the diamond. Apart from the classical round
cut with 57 facets the company factory produces a broad range of fancy shapes, such
as princess, oval, pear, marquise, cushion,
radiant. The faceting process is one of the
most laborious and responsible steps in
making a diamond. Just one wrong move
can kill all the previous work. During the
faceting stage facets are applied on the
stone in certain sequence –culette, facets,
triangular and kite facets of the upper part
of the gemstone (crown) and the bottom
part (pavilion), form the girdle (a belt,
the broadest part of a gemstone). For cutting small gems normally machines with 4
cutters are used. One control operator can
operate 4 machines simultaneously, which
means the output of 16 ready diamonds.
After faceting the diamond goes to
polishing which ensures high clarity of the
diamond surface, and consequently high
brilliance. It remains just to clean the stone
of production dirt and oils – diamonds
are boiled in a washing solution and then
multiply rinsed in distilled water and dried
with alcohol.
We have a ready gemstone in front of
us, and sunshine reflects in its facets with
iridescent light.
How YDC jewelry is created
From olden times the art of jewelry was
considered one of the main crafts in Yakutia. The ancient goldsmiths made pieces of
jewelry of silver which had a ritual function
as well. Traditional jewelry is still popular
today, in the century of information technologies and internet.
The Yakutian Diamond Company
proudly continued the traditions of excellence laid by the Yakut ancestors, and today
perfect balance of technology and tradition
is kept in each piece of jewelry. The YDC
jewelry factory was modernized only a year
ago – new equipment was purchased from
Israel and Germany, which allowed multiple
increase of production capacities.
The YDC pieces of jewelry inimitable in
their beauty and complexity also go through
several stages in their creation.
An idea of each piece of jewelry comes
from the department of design – it is here
that they draw sketches and on their basis
make prototype models of the future jewelry – master models. The master model
can either be made manually or modeled
on a 3D printer. The received model goes to
the rubber jeweler whose task is to make a
rubber press form for wax copies of jewelry
pieces.
The next stage is waxing. The waxing
man pours jewelry wax in the rubber form
to make the copy of the future piece. The
wax copies are carefully attached to the
base and make a kind of Christmas tree.
One of the most interesting stages is
casting. Here a casting master pours the
Christmas tree with plaster. Afterwards the
solid plaster becomes a form for casting the
melted precious alloy of gold or silver. The
result is a golden or silver copy of a wax
Christmas tree.
But this is just a half of it – future pieces
are thoroughly polished on a turbo tumbler
or manually, to achieve perfect shine and
smooth surface.
Since one piece of jewelry can have
many details, their assembly is the job of a
mounting jeweler. Next the jewelry setter
sets precious inserts onto a piece. The last
steps are passing quality control, hallmarking, and the piece is ready to be sent to YDC
jewelry store.
19
IN FOCUS
of sun, Galanthus opens its precious petals
to a person.
The central diamond weighing 2.72 carats is surrounded with a spread of classically
YDC chain of jewelry stores and Service
center
Jewelry stores of YDC chain are located
not only in the territory of Yakutia but also
outside. The company products are sold in
more than 20 stores across Russia. Thus,
the residents of Moscow, Blagoveshchensk,
Khabarovsk and Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, have the possibility to buy Yakutian top quality diamonds of various price
range. YDC always pleases its clients with
quality and beautiful products, favorable
offers and professional service.
Today the Yakutian Diamond Company
is holding the leading position in volumes
of sales in the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic,
and actively strenghtens its presence in
the Central Russia and in Kazakhstan. The
company plans to extend significantly the
chain of YDC jewelry stores and bring the
number of points of sale to 48 units.
Today in Yakutia great emphasis is
made on the sector of raw materials. It
is due to own production and selling of
diamonds and jewelry that the situation
will be steady and the selling market will
develop. For the beauty and fineness of
diamonds and jewelry pieces produced by
YDC are on a level with the best jewelry
houses of Europe and Asia, whilst their price
category is two-three, and sometimes even
ten times less.
The Service center of the Yakutian
Diamond Company provides to its clients
a whole range of services, from cleaning
of silver and gold pieces of jewelry to a
proposal which is unique in the territory
of the Republic – buying up certified diamonds. The center specialists can make an
exclusive piece of jewelry tailor-made by
the sketch provided by the client, or make
a rough design of the future piece together
with the client.
One of the orders executed by the
Service Center is making a medal for the
annual Republican Premium “Yakutian of
20
the Year’, encrusted by seven diamonds,
and making a logo of the international
sports forum “Russia is a Sports Power”,
45cm in diameter. The cost of the jewelry
original of the logo is more than $ 100,000.
The logo weighing almost 15 kilos is made
entirely by hand from silver and gold. The
logo is decorated with 83 diamonds, by the
number of constituent parts of the Russian
Federation.
Philosophy of YDC brand
The creativity line reflects the YDC
brand philosophy – it’s harmony of human
and nature, quest for the perfect inside
oneself and in the world around us. In
the jewelry pieces made by the company
one can see the lines of nature, outlines of
mountains, rivers, wide open snow valleys
of Yakutia.
The pride of the company is a transformer ring Galanthus. The work on its
creation lasted for almost half a year, special
mechanism was designed to open precious
petals of the unique ring. For the creation of
Galanthus jewelers drew inspiration from a
small but surprisingly daring flower – snowdrop. In every country where it grows it is
considered to be a symbol of hope, victory
of warmth over cold, love of life. Similar
to that flower, awaken under the beams
cut diamonds, the outer side of the petals
are sapphires, and the stalk is emeralds.
The ring was honored a title of The Best
Piece of Jewelry in original design at the
Altyn Bars contest in June, and it also won
the 1st place at the international exhibition
JUNWEX New Russian Style 2013.
Among special works of the company’s
cutting factory there is a unique diamond
of the first water, with ideal 1/1 clarity
and color characteristics. Such stones very
rarely occur in nature – flawless stones with
no defect or color make just 1% of overall
volume. The best company’s specialists
worked on faceting of this diamond. The
diamond assumed pear type of cutting,
which allowed for the most advantageous
display of the play of light in the gemstone.
The diamond has 77 facets, its weight is
3.09 carats.
The Lena Pillars collection is also considered to be one of the most beautiful and
sophisticated in its execution. The Lena
Pillars are one of the greatest wonders of
nature, it’s a stone forest which spreads
over the waters of the Lena river for almost
80 km. The natural monument is included
by UNESCO in the World Heritage Fund.
Back in his time the exile Decembrist A.A.
Bestuzhev-Marlinsky described them in
glowing terms: “Some sacred silence rests
on the whole creation, and soul blends into
wild yet magnificent nature”.
Pieces from the collection, necklace,
ring and earrings symbolize the fragile
beauty of Yakutia’s nature and call on everyone to treat it with greater care.
The collection was made with the use
of non-standard materials – pieces of the
mammoth tusk and uncut diamonds, as
well as spread of classically cut diamonds
and white gold of 750 hallmark.
The ring from the collection won a
diploma and a medal “For exquisite design
and unmatched author’s execution” at the
VII exhibition Jewelry Salon of Siberia 2013
in Krasnoyarsk.
IN FOCUS
YDC social and cultural activities
The scope of activities of Yakutian
Diamond Company is not limited to just
diamonds and jewelry. The company is always in the thick of events of the Republic
and Russia. With the support of YDC events
are carried out in Yakutsk which have high
significance for cultural life of the city and
the Republic.
In 2013 several big events were held
under the auspices of YDC:
Opening a Museum of the History
of Cutting and Jewelry Work in Yakutia,
which became significant for the industry.
Mission of the new Museum is to evoke
interest to the production side of the world
of jewelry. In the Museum you can learn
about development, evolvement and the
present of the diamond cutting and jewelry
industries in Yakutia. Among the exponents
there are copies of the world’s biggest diamonds, unique logo of the forum “Russia
is a Sports Power”, the first diamond cut in
Yakutia and exclusive jewelry pieces by YDC
which attract special interest. The Museum
exposition will make it possible to show the
history of diamond and jewelry industry in
a more vivid and more comprehensive way.
Year 2013 was marked for the company
by joining the ALROSA ALLIANCE – a privileged circle of reliable partners of ALROSA
joint stock company, the biggest diamondproducing company in the world. With the
agreement signed with ALROSA ALLIANCE
the Yakutian Diamond Company will be
able to continue the policy of intensive
increase of production output.
This step became one more confirmation of non-conflict and clean origin of YDC
products, its compliance with the highest
quality standards. Trust of the clients is
the priority for the company, and its entering the Alliance certainly provides still
another prove.
Presently the ALROSA ALLIANCE includes 36 companies, each of them selling
its products in the world level.
Main trends of jewelry fashion in 2014
One of the most fashionable trends of 2014 can
be considered going back to basics, dominance of the
ethnic style in jewelry design. Plant motives, intriguing
interlace of gold look very mystifying and feminine.
Miss Virtual Russia 2013 is a beauty
contest of all-Russian scale, the main prize
to which were exclusive earrings “Diva”
from YDC, made of pure gold, diamonds
and “Yakutian emeralds” – chrome-diopsides which are mined only in the Yakutian
territory.
Diamond Week of Yakutia 2013 is a
major image event of the year which included whole scope of information about
the process of diamond mining, cutting and
selling of gemstones. Besides, the guests of
the Diamond Week could visit a Diamond
Vernissage fair where the products of local
producers were offered at big discounts.
The top of the week was the Brilliant ball
dance – a high society charity evening at
which Lyubov Kazarnovskaya, a worldfamous opera diva, sang her songs;
“Diamonds are the girl’s best friends”. This phrase is
always up-to-date, and 2014 is not an exception. Rings
with big diamonds are always in trend, and every stylish
woman must have them in her jewelry box.
Earrings from the Diva collection
Yakutian Diamond Company
Rings. From left
to right:
Giselle,
Josephine,
Elisabeth
Yakutian Diamond
Company
Yasmina ring
Yakutian Diamond
Company
Scarabaeus pendant
Yakutian Diamond
Company
Global awareness of the state of environment
brought to the top of 2014 trends the theme of flora and
faunae: brooches, rings and pendants styled as insects,
feathers and leaves are at the height of popularity.
YDC continues the line of transformer pieces which
have remained popular for several years. Due to several
possibilities of wearing them, these pieces are very
practical, which will help to better control own budget.
Bentos transformer ring (Depth
from Latin)
Three ways to wear
Yakutian Diamond Company
Apart from being made with the observance of all
canons of jewelry traditions, the jewelry pieces of Yakutian Diamond Company fulfill their main function – to
bring out the internal glowing of your soul.
Thus, the Yakutian Diamond Company is developing dynamically and increases volumes
of production and selling of jewelry products. Beneficial geographic location provides
direct access to the dynamically developing markets of Asia-Pacific region and opens
up new prospects. And unique character of the Yakutian diamonds brand will foster
successful positioning of YDC in the world market. The company plans to extend the
geographic scope of its operations, improve brand recognition and increase the number
of jewelry stores to 48 units.
But the most important thing about YDC products remains unchanged: it’s the joy of
a gift in a white YDC box. Diamonds are forever, and with them our memories of the
happiest moments of our lives last forever as well.
21
ECONOMICS
Investment Development
Agency of the
Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
Key element in the development of the
investment potential of the Republic of Sakha
One of prospective ways to
consolidate powers which
are interested in promoting
the region and increasing the
flow of investment is to set
up specialized organizations
in all constituent parts of
the Russian Federation –
investment development
agencies.
Activities of the Investment Development Agency of the Republic of Sakha
(Yakutia) is an essential element of investment marketing of the territory, a factor
of bringing Russian and foreign investors
in the region and raising its overall investment appeal.
One of the main conditions for intensive development of the Republic is
boosting up investment activities, which
includes creation of favorable conditions
for investment in the Republic by way of
forming an up-to-date investment infra“Chulmakanskaya” mine
22
structure, improvement of investment
legislation and promotion of attractive
image of the Republic, both in Russia
and abroad.
A few years ago all investment projects of the Republic were maintained by
different agencies according to the type
of industry, due to which the projects
could not unlock their full potential for
an investor. As experience showed, the
main factors restraining the increase of
the investment flow into the Republic are
the lack of direct investment marketing of
the region and absence of an established
system of preparation and support of investment projects. It is proven in practice
that the best solution to this task can be
provided by an independent specialized
organization which works professionally
in management of the process of attracting investment and improvement of the
investment climate.
At the moment as a part of consolidation of all projects the Agency relies in
its work on the “One Window” principle,
which makes it possible to fulfill the set
goal successfully.
The “One window” principle is a
system of organizing work of executive
and local self-regulating bodies, as well
as development institutions and other
organizations of the Republic of Sakha
(Yakutia) for working with investors,
which assumes the creation of simplified
mechanism of centralized governance,
necessary initial permit documentation
for the purpose of reducing administrative barriers on the way of realization of
investment projects.
If we take a look at the experience of
other countries, the agencies for regional
development became very wide-spread in
the developed countries in the 1980ies
being an important tool of PPP in the realization of programs for development of
local economy. They can exist in different
organizational forms, such as joint stock
companies, limited liability companies,
non-commercial partnerships.
ECONOMICS
In our work we are guided by successful experience of setting up and functioning of other agencies which participate,
directly or indirectly, in the creation and
promotion of hospitable regional image
for the purposes of attracting investment
in the Republic.
One of the key objectives of the
Investment Development Agency of the
Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) is marketing
of the region with the goal of finding and
attracting investors. The agency has in
its structure the Center of expertise and
promotion of investment projects whose
function is collecting information, analysis, promotion and investment consulting.
By now this made possible to create a
database of the existing opportunities
for investment across industries and territories, to provide legal and commercial
consultations to investors on-the-spot,
to make ties between enterprises and
regional authorities.
On the whole the Agency activities
comprise the following:
•
realization of the One Window
function;
•
attracting investment;
•
support and realization of investment projects;
•
participation in forming hospitable investment climate;
•
raising investment attractiveness of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia);
•
realization of PPP projects;
•
organization of talks and visits;
To learn about investment projects
and ideas generated in the Republic you
can visit a web portal investyakutia.com.
Niobium - rare deposit “Tomtor”
The portal was created especially for these
purposes, and as time showed, this instrument is very convenient for working with
investors and project initiators, it allows
tracking and monitoring a project’s movement at every stage. For example, today
over 200 projects are being implemented
in Yakutia across different industries.
Every change of status of those projects
can be seen through personal account at
our portal.
Top priorities are the projects on the
development of mineral deposits. It is
well-known that the territory of Yakutia
could comprise up to five territories of
France, but only in recent years those
huge lands have seen active development.
The establishing of ground infrastructure provided access to many previously
unattainable places, some of which had
been reached only by local hunters and
geologic parties back in Soviet times. Arrival to Yakutia of such big enterprises as
Surgutneftegas, Mechel only opened the
way to other investors.
In Yakutia all conditions for making
business are formed, both for local entrepreneurs and potential investors who
are especially welcomed by authorities.
Because everyone understands that in
today’s world steady development is not
possible without attracting investment.
Presently the Republic of Sakha is practically a white spot on the world map. And
this can be said not only of its recognition
abroad, tourist attractiveness, but also of
investing.
Most convenient conditions for all
categories of investors are created in our
Republic.
“Upper Menkechensk” silver deposit
23
CULTURE
Projects of the mediagroup SITIM
Revive titans of the past
This fall in France, a book about little mammoth’s adventures in
Yakutia was published. This book was written by French elementary
school teacher, musician and writer Jean-Michel Chevry, who’s been
in love with Yakutia since his first visit. He has already visited Yakutia
10 times, where he played with local musicians, gave lectures at the
Federal University and also built very good relationships with the
French Department in University of Foreign Languages. Many bands
from Yakutia, as well as students, stayed at his place during their trips
to France.
This fall in France, a book about
little mammoth’s adventures in Yakutia
was published. This book was written
by French elementary school teacher,
musician and writer Jean-Michel Chevry,
who’s been in love with Yakutia since his
first visit. He has already visited Yakutia
10 times, where he played with local musicians, gave lectures at the Federal University and also built very good relationships
with the French Department in University
of Foreign Languages. Many bands from
Yakutia, as well as students, stayed at his
place during their trips to France.
The idea of writing a book wasn’t
spontaneous. There has been a lot of
talks about mammoths recently. A real
mammoth cloning program is in its final
stage. The NEFU’s (North-East Federal
University) World Mammoth Museum is
working together with a South Korean
biotechnological research fund in order to
build a laboratory for researching the cell
structures and genomes of Yakutian zoo
life. The recent discovery of an extremely
well-preserved mammoth spurred cloning research. Liquid blood and red meat
found on the body of the mammoth excited
scientists, whose dream is to see this real
giant of the past.
The name of the main hero of the book
is Kiim. In this context it doesn’t seem to
Magazine “Belem Buol+”
Will teach children English
A new upcoming project of
SITIM-Media, the publication
of a new children’s newspaper
“Belem Buol+,” will soon be
underway. The publication of
this new newspaper will start
in January 2014. The main
goal is to educate children.
There will be informational,
developmental and cognitive
materials.
During the planning for this publication we asked children which language
they would want to read it in. The majority
said it should be in the Yakutskiy and English languages. English is an international
language. These days children participate
in different international competitions
and travel abroad more often than their
parents. Children said that because of lack
English knowledge and skills they are unable to get acquainted and communicate
with their peers, express their thoughts or
even buy something in the shop. Because
24
of these difficulties, as well as taking into
account the children’s wishes, we decided
to publish the newspaper in 3 languages:
Russian, Yakutskiy and English.
The format of the newspaper is as fol-
be random. It means spark. A spark gives
birth to a new life of fire. Here it can give
new birth to mammoths. The Media group
SITIM decided to conduct a campaign
together with NEFU. They are going to
collect mammoth origami from the entire
world in order to support the future revival
of tundra. 1000 origami will be collected
from South Korea, China, Japan, France
and Russia and will be displayed in the
mammoth museum in the city of Yakutsk.
During this initiative, this fall the book
“Little Mammoth Kiim” was presented in
Yakutsk, what started the origami collection from around the world.
lows: A4 format with 24 pages. In every
edition there will be 4 pages in English “Be
ready”, 2 in Russian “Bud’ gotov” and all
others in Yakutskiy.
With the help of annexes in English,
children will be able to study English by
themselves by reading topics about Yakutia
and its features and sights, in order to improve their skills. There will also be developmental crosswords, word find puzzles
and other games included in each edition.
CULTURE
How to protect oneself
from Yakutian frost
Real fur mukluks – how and what they are made of
Temperatures reaching -50 degrees
Celsius are quite normal in Yakutia.
At such weather life in the republic
does not stop, people still go to
work, cars drive, children go to
schools and kindergartens. What is
the reason? Whilst in other parts of
the world with resident population
such low temperatures would be an
extraordinary situation, in Yakutia
few people pay attention to this.
The secret is in proper clothing .As
Yakutians say, the main thing in
freezing weathers is to be dressed
warm.
In the cities most people wear modern
clothes – down coats, winter boots, but in
the high north regions fashion remained the
same for the last few centuries. Despite all
technologies of the 21st century, natural fur
remains the best thermal insulating material.
In particular, the fur of caribous. Its hairs are
hollow for better thermal insulation, and even
help to stay afloat in case of fording rivers.
The love of all Yakutians to fur clothes
remains unchangeable, because those are the
only things which can save you even in hardest
cold. The most wide-spread among fur garments in Yakutia are the mukluks (“oonty”)
which translates from the language of the
Evenkis as “footwear”. Mukluks are footwear
of reindeer skin, made of lining, sole, decorative pattern (petersham), high to the knee,
with fur on the outside.
The know-how of making the mukluks
came to us from the depth of ages, almost
unchanged. We met with the traditional
craftsmen to learn the secrets of making such
footwear.
Albina Ushnitskaya, craftswoman:
- The main thing about making the
mukluks is the quality of material. To make
mukluks the fur of a caribous should be used
who was killed in winter, because during
cold season its fur assumes the best thermal
insulating qualities. On average it takes 8 to
12 skins to make one pair of mukluks. We use
the skins sent to us by the Evenkis of Aldansky
Ulus (a region in south Yakutia), it is larger
and no chemicals are used during its currying. Everything is done manually, in the way
of our ancestors.
After the skin is taken off it must be dried
at room temperature, then cleaned from all
unnecessary parts (tendons, fat). It should be
moisturized with laundry soap, folded several
times and processed with a special wooden
device with teeth. The processing may take
whole day, and it should be kept in mind that
his must not be done in the sunshine, the material will get dry too quickly and later will not
be strong enough. Next the dressed skins are
straightened out, longer hairs are cut off and
the skins are dried again. And only after all
these processes we get from the skin a material
ready for sewing.
First the upper part of the future mukluks
is made (without sole), seamed together and
moisturized skins are put on special wooden
lasts to give them the right shape. Meanwhile
the sole is made, mainly of hard felt. Later,
when the top and the bottom parts are ready,
they are connected with glue made of animal
fats, and threads.
I told this to you in brief. If we go deep
in detail my story would make a whole book.
Each year there is less and less of the true masters, who sew mukluks in the ancestors’ way.
But still, I think, our skill will be demanded
for many years more, because untill now no
such materials were invented which might
keep the warmth at Yakutian frost the same
way natural fur does.
Let’s hope that it will be this way. The skills
will not be forgotten, passed from father to
son, and for long time the Yakutians will wear
the warmest footwear in the world.
25
TOURISM
Tourist products of Yakutia
Taking Diamond Path to the Pole of Cold
Yakutia is a white spot for those who love travelling. The vast territory is so
sparsely populated that there are still places where no human has ever set
foot. The forest reserves are full of animals, crystal clear lakes and rivers are
rich with fish. You can find only a few Yakutians who visited all areas of the
republic and saw the beauties of own nature. For this reason in recent years the
government has persistently promoted the concepts of internal and inbound
tourism. Because in many countries these kinds of tourism provide up to 80%
revenue from the tourist business.
Themed web-sites on tourism were launched, the number of different kinds of
tours grows every year, as well as event tourism actions. In this article we will
tell you about seven tourist products which in our view are the most attractive
ones.
Oimyakon valley
Feel the breath of the Arctic. Pole of
Cold
There are two settlements in Yakutia
contesting the name of the Cold Pole.
Verkhoyansk and Oymyakon are the coldest places on the globe with permanent
population. Oymyakon is a more famous
one with some tourist infrastructure, and
particularly the township of Tomtor where
the lowest temperature indicator was set,
that is -71.2 degrees Celsius. The average
monthly temperature of January is minus
61degrees Celsius, which can get to minus
68 on the coldest days.
Every year a tourist festival Pole of
Cold is carried out in Tomtor, traditionally visited by Santa Claus from Lapland.
In March 2004 a residence of Santa Claus
was opened here. A car tour traditionally
takes place as a part of the festival, many
events are organized in the village of Tom26
tor and township of Oymyakon: a fair of
folk garments, applied art and national
cuisine of the North peoples, feast of the
deer farmers on the pole of cold, reindeer
team racing, jumping over dog-sledge,
sports competitions and under-ice fishing.
Hunting a “river tiger”. A tour for
taimen
The northern rivers have one of the biggest freshwater predatory fish, called “river
tiger” for its temper. Some species of taimen
can be over one meter long and weigh over
60 kilos.
It is believed that the biggest catch is in
the northern rivers of Olenyok, Kelimyar,
Besyuke, Khorbusounka, Sakhanja.
It likes clean and cold water, fast stream,
thresholds and hard ground.
Taimen is a dream of any professional
fisherman, particularly because such fish
cannot be caught without preparation and
experience. The fish itself can dip an unlucky
fisherman into the water.
Rafting
Yakutia boasts a great number of big and
small rivers. Many of the big rivers are suitable for navigation, and each year goods are
delivered on them to remote northern settlements. Smaller rivers perfectly suit those
who love fishing and rafting. There is many
kinds of rafting tours divided by complexity
of areas and objectives set by tourists as they
go on a tour. We will tell about rafting down
the Vostochnaya Khandyga river.
The mountain river has the 3rd category
of complexity and is recommended for tourists who are physically prepared. The river
flows across the reserve places of Tomponsky
area. In some parts the river flows in narrow
canyons between sheer cliffs. Over the river
there is a federal highway which connects
Magadan with the rest of the world. The
river can be divided into two parts – mountain and valley. The mountain part starts
from the spur of the ridge Suntar Khayata
and passes through the ridges of Skalnye
Gory, Sette Daban, Tomporuksky. In the surroundings or the river one can come across
a moufflon, mouse, wild reindeer, bear, rare
type of swallowtail butterflies (Parnassius
Arcticus) and a multitude of other species
of flora and faunae.
Lena pillars, the Lena river
Lena, the river on which the city of Yakutsk stands, is the fourth in the world for
its length and the second in the world for the
size of its delta. An icebreaker on the Lena is
an unforgettable and magnificent view, and
one of the most significant annual events in
the life of local people. The water reservoirs
give home to 50 kinds of fish, including
famous sturgeons and salmons.
The greatest beauty of the Lena river
banks is the Lena Pillars – a magnificent
monument, a unique creation of nature
with the broadest spectrum of different
landscapes of stunning beauty and world
scientific value. The pillars are steep and
sheer, very thin for their relative height (4070 m), hence they are very beautiful rocky
TOURISM
people come from all over the republic. In
two days Ysyakh is visited by hundreds of
thousands of people to go through the custom of purification, meet with their relatives,
take part in the holy round dance Osuokhay,
receive blessing of the higher deities, who
come closer to people on that particular day,
and watch the sports competitions.
One of the main customs of Ysyakh is
meeting the Sun. On the first day of the
festivity nobody goes to bed, because it is
when you meet the sun you get the charge
of energy for the whole year.
Lena Pillars, a view from the ship
cliffs which stretch as a whole wall on the
right bank of the river for more than 40 km
forming magnificent colonnades, towers,
arches, domes and other peculiar figures.
Water, summer heat and winter frost
made up a true work of art, a jewel of the
great river Lena. The pillars are especially
picturesque in the mornings, lit by the rising
sun. At that moment they turn into magic
statues suggestive of medieval castles or
oriental palaces glowing with gold
The Lena pillars are on UNESCO list of
the world natural heritage.
United with nature
Indigenous minorities of the North are
peoples who have kept their lifestyle living
in harmony with nature and respecting the
legacy of their ancestors. There is an interesting tour to Iengru, a village where the
Evenkis reside, the people of reindeer farmers. The past of the people is also its future.
In today’s life the Evenkis have learnt to use
all the preserved values and build their life
in harmony. It is the severe northern nature
that has hammered out the character of
people, and their customs are as simple as the
nature itself. Tourists get a unique opportunity to be away from civilization and forget
about themselves and their problems and get
a feel of simple power and beauty of real life,
get a sense of its wonderful manifestations.
Ysyakh
The New Year is celebrated twice in
Yakutia. The first time is on January 1, marking the new calendar year, with the Father
Frost and green Christmas tree. The second
one is a spring and summer celebration to
honor the heavenly deities and resurrection
of nature, called Yysakh, marked on June
21 on the day of summer solstice. As a rule,
for the main Ysyakh of Yakutia which is held
around the city of Yakutsk in the holy area of
Us Khatyn, where Elley, the first predecessor
of the Yakutians made the first celebration,
To Yakutia for diamonds
The main wealth of the republic is diamonds, “the magic gems of fire”. It is for a
reason that it is called a “Diamond Yakutia”
– one third of its territory is diamond, which
is around 980 thousand km2. According to
experts, raw diamond here is one of the best
in the world and costs more than in other
countries.
The gem diamonds of Yakutian deposits
are normally quite clear, with good preservation of crystals, completely colorless or
with a slight brownish, lemon or yellowish
color. From the plain diamond crystals the
masters create shining diamonds playing all
colors of life, which amaze with their glow
and splendor.
The tourist product “Diamond week of
Yakitia” made especially for the lovers of
those eternal gems is an exciting program.
The tourists get an opportunity to see the
whole way from recovery, cutting, sorting
of diamonds to their transformation into a
shining gem as a part of jewels. They can take
part in the international diamonds auction
AK ALROSA and visit the Diamond Vernissage with the faerie ball dance, presentation
of exclusive diamonds and jewels with the
opportunity to purchase the products with
an unprecedented discount.
27
TOURISM
Where does winter start in Russia?
The third international festival “Winter starts
from Yakutia” took place
On December 1st the festival “Winter starts from Yakutia” takes place in
Yakutsk. The festival comprises several events taking place in and around the
city. This year’s program turned out to be more intense. It included beauty and
talent contest “Kharchaana Quo”, a republican contest of soloists and art of
declaration “Brilliant notes”, city junior tournament on figure skating, festival
of winter sports in the Tekhtur township, festive program in the ethnography
center Chochur Muran, ice museum “Breath of the Olympics”, dog sledding.
And, of course, a feast of Stroganina (sliced frozen meat/fish), visiting the Ice
City, lighting a Christmas tree, and the main part of the festival – passing the
symbol of cold to Ded Moroz (Father Frost) from Veliky Ustug.
The ice sculpture presented in
the Ice competition on the Sochi Olympics,
held in Yakutsk in December 2013
But let us tell about it in proper order.
This is already the third time that the festival
“Winter starts from Yakutia” takes place. Its
main goal is popularization of Yakutia as a
tourist Mecca for those who like extreme
tourism. Our republic is one of the coldest
spots on the globe with permanent population. Yakutsk is the biggest city built on
permafrost. Yakutia has two villages in its
territory contesting the right to be named
the Cold Pole – Oymyakon and Verkhoyansk.
Chyskhaan and Ded Moroz
28
Stroganina feast
Stroganina (sliced frozen meat/fish)
is a national dish of many peoples of the
north, where in crystal clear rivers and lakes
precious kinds of fish can be found, such
as broad whitefish, omul, nelma, muksun.
But it is in Yakutsk that this dish has been
celebrated for several years.
“Stroganina is an integral part of life of
all peoples living in our big republic. It is not
just a dish of northern cuisine, it is a product
which helped our ancestors survive here. I
am confident that thanks to this festival and
celebration the culture of making stroganina
and the keeping it will be passed on from
one generation to another”, said the head of
TOURISM
winter sports.
“Extreme tourism in Yakutia is one of
the directions with the potential which can
probably be compared with the area of our
republic. We hope that with such events as
the festival “Winter starts from Yakutia” our
undertaking will find supporters not only in
Yakutsk and its neighborhood, but in the rest
of Russia and even the rest of the world”, said
the head of the center Ilya Kondratyev.
Yakutsk Aisen Nikolayev.
17 teams contested the title of the best.
A team has two people, a man who slices fish
and a woman who puts it on a dish. There
are certain rules for slicing fish to make the
dish especially tasty. First, this must be an
under-ice fish, i.e. caught under the ice and
instantly frozen by natural cold. Secondly, it
shouldn’t be thawed, so that no pieces of ice
were formed inside the fish during its second
freezing. Thirdly, thin and even slices must
be cut with a sharp knife from top to bottom,
the fish being held with its head down, so that
the tail bore against the stomach.
Guided by such simple rules the 17 teams
started to find out who of them is more masterful. By results of the contest the winners
were the team of an up-town village Magan.
The light of the Olympics in Yakutsk
After the feast of Stroganina the festival
participants arrived at the Ice City situated on
the frozen arm of the Lena river. In summer
a city beach is located on this spot. The Ice
city, which started its work this spring, by
the beginning of the festival commenced its
second season. The freezing weather which
stays in Yakutia for most part of the year allows functioning of the Ice city for half a year.
In winter 2012 the city administration
of Yakutsk together with the Nordic Light
Park built up the concept of development of
culture and parks area of Yakutsk city during winter period. Visitors of the park could
enjoy the skating rink, ice hills, big ice cups
for the smallest ones, attractions like zorb,
tubing, Skidoo and quad bike riding, an ice
cafе. The park was decorated with the works
of the best masters of Yakutia made of ice and
snow. In addition, city and republican events
and festivities were held in the park territory,
such as the Day of Sun (the festivity of indig-
enous minorities of the North), Hunter’s Day,
Farewell to winter.
Guests of the festival took part in awarding the winners of the ice sculptures contest
dedicated to the theme of Sochi Olympics.
Yakutian ice sculptors have been known
outside the republic for long time, as ones of
the best. One of them, Alexander Shadrin,
throughout his career became the winner of
many prestigious international contests held
in Harbin, Sapporo, Alaska etc. Alexander
must also be a head of the national team of
ice sculptors of Russia at the contest which
will be held in Sochi before the Olympics.
But at the Yakutian contest his work won the
second prize. The winner of the contest was
the work Gravity by masters Ivan Rumyantsev
and Roman Petrov.
The park is open for visitors on all days till
spring, when all the ice and snow splendour
adorning the city will start to melt.
Presently in order to encourage popularity of inbound tourism in Yakutia several
actions of the event tourism are carried out.
These are Ysyakh Tuymaady which reveals
to every of its visitors the whole many-sided
and ancient culture of the sakha people, The
Diamond Week which shows the Republic
in the light of diamond glow, and the recent
festival aimed at forming the brand of Yakutia as a motherland of winter and cold,
a pristine land, Mecca for those who love
extreme tourism.
Start of the winter
One of the main events during the festival
was lighting the first Christmas tree in Russia and passing the Symbol of Cold from the
hands of the Cold Keeper Chyskhaan into the
hands of Father Frost. The goal of the visit of
Father Frost is to bring real northern winter
to Russia. The symbol of cold is magnificent:
it is a silver sphere decorated with the drusen
of crystal and diamonds; iridescent in the
sunlight, it fascinates you.
The trip of Father Frost across Russia
started on November 23 in Kazan. The tour
program included visiting many Russian
cities as well as Germany, Latvia and the Republic of Belarus. The most important one on
this list is of course our Yakutia –he takes the
Symbol of Cold from the hands of Chyskhaan
and carries it with him to bring real Siberian
frost to other cities and towns of Russia.
Trumpets blared on the main square of
Yakutsk, and Chyskhaan, Yakutian Winter,
Father Frost rose on the podium, and on his
command the first Christmas tree in Russia lit
up as a forerunner of the beginning of winter.
Extreme at minus 40
One day earlier, on November 30, the
first stage of the “Dear Winter” annual city
competition on snowboarding and alpine
skiing kicked off as a part of the festival. The
place of the competition is a country sports
and leisure center Tekhtur, which despite
Yakutian frost is always full of amateurs of
Harchaana Kuo - Karina Ivanova
29
WONDERLAND
30
WONDERLAND
31
WONDERLAND
32
WONDERLAND
33
KITCHEN
Children’s entertainment
center Octem Park offers the
following attractions:
Tourism is one of the leading and most dynamic
branches of global economy. It was recognized an
economic phenomenon of the century for its fast
pace of growth. Tourism greatly impacts such key
spheres of economy as transports and communication, construction, agriculture, manufacturing of
consumer goods and other products, i.e. it works as a
certain catalyst of social and economic development.
Our main goal is to create tourism industry in
Khangalassky Ulus and in the rest of the republic.
Children’s and tourist center Octem Park was set up
in January 2012. During the first and the second seasons of its work it was visited by a lot of tourists. It is
located in Khangalassky Ulus, at the 49th kilometer
of Pokrovsky highway, in the area of Orto-Doydu (in
front of the Orto-Doydu zoo), on the bank of the
Uulaakh river, Oktemsky agricultural community.
Presently a construction of a big tourist center is to
be started.
Big ice hills for children and grown-ups;
Scoop-slopes for children;
Children’s ice dish;
Skating rink with skates for rent;
Carousel on the ice;
Banana riding pulled by a skidoo;
Quad bike riding;
Horse riding and horse sledging;
Motoplan riding;
Shooting gallery;
Renting of ice huts;
Cafе;
Barbecue spots and a lot more.

18 - Yakutia Today

Transcription

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