RIA Novosti invites its readers on a photo tour of Russia. Today's city is Salekhard.
Salekhard is the administrative center of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. In the Nenets language "Salekhard" means "city on the peninsula". Salekhard lies on the Ob River.
The city was founded in 1595 by Russian Cossacks under the name Obdorsky Fortress or Prison ("Obdorsky" in the Komi language means "on the River Ob"). It was the northernmost fort in Siberia. Photo: Obdorsky Town.
Salekhard is the only city in the world that lies at the exact latitude of the Arctic Circle. Its unique location is commemorated in the symbolic steel "66th Parallel" - a double pyramid several meters tall with a semicircle through its center.
Visitors can cross over into the Arctic and receive a personalized certificate of the fact.
5/8
© Photo : Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District press service
The polar night in Salekhard lasts 150 days on average. (Copyright: the Press Service of the Government of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District)
Salekhard
In 2007 a mammoth, dubbed Lyuba, was found near Salekhard. What makes the baby mammoth unique is the fact that it is far better preserved than any previously discovered mammoth fossils: except for the hair and hooves the body is completely intact.
8/8
© Photo : Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District press service
Permafrost prevents any large-scale farming in the region. This year, however, cultivation of the cloudberry began in Yamalo-Nenets. These berries are now harvested in the tundra in the fall, and grown all year long in greenhouses. (Copyright: the Press Service of the Government of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District)
