Around Vorkuta

The next day, a small group of us went by car along the Big Vorkuta Ring. This ring consists of a ring road and railway, as well as a number of urban-type settlements. Some settlements were abandoned by their inhabitants and, in official language – permanently closed and resettled. There is still life in some settlements. Most of the coalpits I saw were active, even though the nearby settlements were abandoned or had very few inhabitants.

On the way to the first settlement, Zapolyarny, we saw several smoking coal mines. A passing bus also proved the presence of life in these places. But the road was in terrible condition and appeared to have not been repaired since it was built. As you can see from my photo, there will be no self-grown trees – welcome to the tundra.

The first thing people see when arriving in Zapolyarny are abandoned houses like these. Children walk past these houses to and from school. During my entire stay in this settlement, I counted literally four children. The school is still functioning, but there seem to be barely enough students for one class.

The main street is literally deserted, the stores are closed and the wind is blowing through in the cultural center. The top photo shows two still-inhabited houses and a functioning post office. The presence of pigeons is the first sign that people still live here, I think.

The only working store with a blue porch is visible from the window of the empty the cultural center.

Following the instructions of the curators of the photo expedition, I needed to create something and take a photo of this. The task was to photograph my intervention in the environment. In the former cultural center on the former stage there were remains of garbage and something strange. I transformed this strange thing into a biblical scene – Christ on the cross with a metal wreath made of wire. After taking the photo, I destroyed it as much as possible. The motive was the reluctance to have a similar picture from anyone else who visited the site, as well as the seeming absurdity of displaying religious symbols in an abandoned cultural center.

This is an abandoned sports complex, and judging by the stickers, it was abandoned not so long ago. The last photo was taken from the window of an apartment that is unlikely to ever be lived in.

It’s sad to wander around a five-story building and pass by every apartment like this. This building was resettled about two years ago and there are many things left here that no one needs anymore.

Sunny and sad shots on film (here & next Kodak Ektachrome 100D).

Leaving Zapolyarny, I saw a more or less cheerful picture of life: a man walking along a well-trodden road to a smoking coal mine, and behind him – warm houses. And, as it seemed to me, the clouds resembled a mountain range in the distance.

Next we drove towards the relatively well-known Vorgashor. Residents of this settlement still resist resettlement and insist on living there.

On the way we noticed another settlement – Komsomolsky. Next to it was a working coal mine of the same name. Formally, a hundred residents are registered in the settlement, but in reality no one lives there.

At the entrance to Komsomolsky we were met by an unusual building with an even more unusual inscription – Siloam. At first I thought it was a bathhouse (from the Hebrew language siloam means “conducting / trough for water”), but as it turned out it was an abandoned Protestant church.

Inside we were greeted by an even more unusual sight – a corridor with mirrors leading to a mirror room with a pentagram on the floor. This strange “pagan temple” was made of mirrors and jugs, in the middle of which was a burnt mask or some kind of ceramic face. I’ll leave all this without comments.

Unexpected interference.

“Blossom, Komi region!” – I think only the pumping of money and migration of people can blossom in these regions.

Signs on the only house that remained intact indicate that people still live there. My “investigation” says that the residents are registered here, but most likely the apartments are used only as storage places for personal stuff and furniture. The only visitors to the village, besides us, were people on a homemade ATV adapted for the tundra. I think they came to “hunt” for the remains of something valuable. It seems they are used to tourists and completely ignored us.

A few traces of life on film.

After the terrifying and strange Komsomolsky we finally reached Vorgashor. As I wrote earlier, the residents are resisting their resettlement. Unfortunately, the city does not look positive. Abandoned houses are not torn down, and they stand like the skeletons of giants in a huge cemetery. I could not live here. On one part of the street people live and shops are open, and the other part is completely dead.

I captured the main views of Vorgashor on film. The Coal Monument is its main attraction.

People with sleds are hunters for valuables in abandoned houses. And the first photo is a famous local cafe with free arcade machine from the past.

The cultural center has moved from the building in the middle of the photo to a completely unsightly building that looks like a former warehouse. The old cultural center is slowly falling apart, and the mask on its roof directly hints at the emotions of this place.

Let’s move on to the one of our last destination – Severny without adhering to the chronology of the expedition. In my opinion, it is the most populated settlement around Vorkuta and the most positive as far as possible.

The first photos are not entirely optimistic, but at least they show some new buildings. Even if it is not my favorite place of worship (church).

The cultural center is still open in Severny, and it is in the original building, even though almost all the two-story houses around it are abandoned. The pigeons here, as always, are a sign of life.

The last photo shows a still-living two-story Stalin style building. The building is located directly opposite the cultural center.

That building similar to a Protestant church in Komsomolsky. (Photos on film)

An unexpected coffee shop like in Moscow, a grocery supermarket “Magnit” and “Fixprice” – all this seems to be happening in an ordinary town in the center of Russia in winter.

After Severny we visited the last two settlements for us – Yurshor and Promyshlenny. Both of them have long been abandoned and partially demolished. A sad end to the journey along the Big Vorkuta Ring.

Ruins of Yurshor. We just stopped on the side of the road near it.

Apart from the school building, here are only the last remaining buildings of the Promyshlenniy settlement: a college building at the top and a former cultural centre at the bottom.

The history of Promyshlenniy is sadder than other settlements. In 1998, an accident occurred at the Tsentralnaya coal mine, resulting in the death of 27 people. The bodies of 17 people were never brought to the surface. Since then, the mine has been closed, and all the above-ground buildings have been completely demolished. In 2007, the last residents left Promyshlenniy forever.

Inside the partially destroyed cultural center. This settlement and the remaining buildings reminded me of the ruins of Ancient Rome. Here are the remains of an ancient bas-relief, and here are the remains of decoration. It seems like Rome fell just a couple of decades ago. By the way, this is not far from the truth.