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Sunday, January 21, 2018

Stalin's 'ice palace' built during Cold War is Melting


The extraordinary labyrinth of ice tunnels - which for decades acted as a ginormous freezer - under Stalin's 'ice palace' are in danger of destruction.

That is because the warming Arctic waters are beginning to erode the entrances and thaw the structure.

Stalin's incredible 'ice palace' was built in the Russian Arctic during the Cold War - and is bigger in size than the White House in Washington.

It has been hailed as the creation of a forcibly exiled German genius, Gustav Backmann, who the dictator banished to Siberia during the Second World War.

Together with other labourers he spent years digging the rock-solid soil in Novy Port to build the natural freezer - bigger than the White House - to store Arctic fish.

It is reported their ice picks went blunt from constantly hammering at the rock but the work was finally completed in 1956.

As people walk through the tunnels, there is plenty of head space above and there are even lights hanging from the ceiling.

It is still the largest permafrost storage built by manual labour in the world and needs to remain a constant temperature of -12C to -14C all year round.

But with icicles dangling down and internal support in place, the magnificent creation is at risk of being destroyed.

Passageways have already started to collapse but cash-strapped authorities in northern Siberia do not have the funds to save it - even though it is listed as a regional monument.

The Ice Palace is still the largest manually built permafrost storage facility in the world

 

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