The project is dedicated to the 500th anniversary of the first mention of the idea of sailing across the Arctic Ocean to the borders of China

The Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic and the Arctic Initiatives Centre have agreed to launch the international educational project "Great Northern Expedition: The Arctic as Art."

The project is aimed at activating the cultural potential of the Arctic, integrating the regions of the Far East, and promoting the historical and cultural heritage of the Northern Sea Route as a unifying force that binds Russia together from Murmansk to Vladivostok.

The project will demonstrate to Russian citizens and to the international community the scale of the idea of developing the Northern Sea Route as an integral part of Russian history through art, according to the Deputy Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic.

The project will start with exhibitions and expositions in Arctic museums about the role of cities in the development of the Arctic and the Northern Sea Route. It will continue with an Arctic creative expedition on an icebreaker to Franz Josef Land and the North Pole during which the participants will place a time capsule containing a message to the world. The project will end with a large-scale semi-annual exhibition in Moscow in 2025 and educational expositions about Russia's role in the development of the Northern Sea Route that will be conducted in China, India and the Middle East, the Deputy Minister added.

The Deputy Director General of the Arctic Initiatives Centre noted that modern achievements in the Arctic were preceded by a 500-year history of the Northern Sea Route development.

At all stages of this history, artists and cartographers have contributed to this great endeavour. And today these testimonies should be made available to the general public, Deputy Director General emphasised.

The project is dedicated to the 500th anniversary of the first mention of the idea of sailing across the Arctic Ocean to the borders of China. For the first time, this idea was voiced in the book “Muscovy Map, compiled according to the story of Ambassador Dimitrios,” published in Venice in October 1525.

Source: Arctic Russia

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