"Do you have a crowbar?" - asks Viktor Boyarsky, an honorary polar explorer of Russia. Fomka is needed to remove the sign "Sorry, Director at the North Pole" from the office door in the St. Petersburg Museum of the Arctic and Antarctic - the only one in the country. Since February Boyarsky is no longer the director of the museum: Roshydromet has not renewed his contract; according to the polar explorer himself - out of revenge. A confrontation between him and the new leadership of the structure lasted for a couple of years. Roshydromet advocated the relocation of the museum to Vasilievsky Island- and, accordingly, the liberation of the building on Marat, the former Nikolskaya church of the same faith, in favor of the Russian Orthodox Church. Boyarsky resisted.

The Village met with the former director of the Arctic and Antarctic Museum to find out how the story developed with his dismissal, what will happen to the stuffed polar bears Masha and Arthur, and when a modern branch will open on the icebreaker in Kronstadt.

Photos

Vasily Ionga

- Let's first clarify what is happening now. As far as I understand, on January 31st was your last working day at the museum?

There is a routine procedure associated with the non-renewal of the contract by the founder - according to the law, he has the right to do this without explaining the reasons. However, they are obvious. For the last two years, Roshydromet and I have had a discrepancy in positions regarding the fate of the museum. Roshydromet believes that the museum should be relocated to Vasilyevsky Island - under the pretext of vacating the building on Marata for the church. And we stand on the fact that the building must not be touched.

- Do you continue to go to work?

I am now the deputy director of the museum for public relations, I will continue to go to work.

- Is this an official position?

Yes. And even if there was no vacancy for a deputy, I would still go to the museum. Nobody forbids me to be here - to do the same work, only without a salary and a contract.

The non-extension of my contract will not affect the activities of the museum in any way: in any case, the plans to move will not be realized. Roshydromet is now even more far from this than when the story began, there is simply no money to move. As for everything else ... in the course of the confrontation, Roshydromet filed several lawsuits against me. As a result, the Vyborg District Court is considering a civil case on my causing damage - in the form of lost profits - to the museum. One million two hundred thousand rubles.

- How was this amount calculated?

You have to go back 20 years to understand what this is about. To begin with, I will explain that I, like many other employees, come from the Arctic Institute. (Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, the oldest research institution in Russia, conducting a comprehensive study of the polar regions of the Earth. - Ed.)... In 1991, my colleagues and I created a company for organizing tourist expeditions to the North Pole. And we decided to support the Arctic Museum at the expense of this company. The museum was then in a pen, there was no money. For seven years we actually kept the museum and at the same time strove for it to receive the status of a state one (at that time it was just a department of the Arctic Institute). In 1998 the museum became state-owned.

Our company continued cooperation with the museum until recent years(now funding has more or less started). There would be no this company, and the museum would not exist now - we would all sit in another place, and here we would sing songs in chorus.

I found this a successful combination - in fact, a public-private partnership: if the museum did not have enough funds, I could write a letter conditionally to myself with a request to transfer money to the museum. The company paid for the purchase of new exhibits, equipment, communications - everything.

All this was known to the founder (Roshydromet. - Ed.)... But when in 2014 the fuss with this building began for the first time and at the meeting I immediately announced that the museum would not go anywhere, some processes began against the museum. For example, an unscheduled check was carried out: nothing serious was found, but we decided to turn to the topic of registration of our company. The fact is that since 2008 the legal address of the company is here, on Marata. They started asking me on what grounds. The reasons are simple: if the management and employees of the company, who are at the same time employees of the museum, are here - why not give the same address?

In the end, I was charged that I was renting out 19 square meters to my company - instead of renting them out at market prices to some firm that harvests horns and hooves. But the museum, in principle, cannot rent anything, we have no space! If there were, we would use them, for example, for expositions. The same parish was allowed in the end: when they asked us for 300 meters, we refused, because there are no squares.

So, Roshydromet filed a lawsuit, hired some company, which, without going into the museum, virtually calculated its losses for three years - at market prices for rental housing in the Central District ... Hence 1,200,000 rubles. The absurdity of the claim is obvious, but since May 2015 - the moment of filing - the case has never been heard on its merits. And nevertheless, the new deputy head of Roshydromet, Mr. Yakovenko - with whom we have never even met - gives interviews in which he states that I have two criminal cases. This is not a criminal, but a civil case, and not two, but one. If the case had been heard on the merits, it would have been closed long ago, since, according to our legislation, the employer is not entitled to recover lost profit from the employee. Only direct damage is claimed. This is the main position of our defense.

To say that we have caused damage to the museum by our actions is absurd. All our activities were dedicated to preserving the museum. We are at our best in terms of production indicators, we are overfulfilling everything: in the top thirty best museums cities, the attendance is growing every year by 5-6 thousand.

- Will there be a competition for the vacancy of a new director of the museum?

Not. Roshydromet was so eager to receive budget money for the relocation of the museum that in its zeal it was ahead of even the Russian Orthodox Church. But now Yakovenko began to say that there were no plans to move the museum - he got his bearings in the situation and realized that it was unrealistic.

I was offered to quit back in the 14th year, I refused. They made it to the end of the contract and did not renew it with great pleasure. But since it rose a big wave in support - and there were also quite high-ranking people ... I do not know how it will end. All my efforts are now aimed at transferring the museum from the jurisdiction of Roshydromet to the Ministry of Culture - as a profile one.

- Are there any progress?

Almost everything was ready, and even the head of Roshydromet promised that he would give the museum to the Ministry of Culture. And on January 15, Roshydromet suddenly flared up with love for the museum, said that they needed it, they were going to reform and develop it, so they would not transfer it to the Ministry of Culture. But I really hope that, taking into account the difficult situation with the budget, they will still be handed over.

- In 2008, Sobaka magazine published an interview with you - about your travel company ...

Yes, we are talking about the Vikaar company - it was it that appeared in 1991, and it supported the museum.

- Does it exist now?

Yes, but I am no longer a director or an owner. Since Roshydromet so wanted to bring its business to the end, it issued an order to equate directors with civil servants who are prohibited from engaging in commercial activities.

- I mean that from the interview it follows: among the clients of "Vikaar" were serious people - the Duma elite, Vekselberg and others. They couldn't influence the situation?

As I said, high-ranking officials have spoken out in our support. But the presence of a civil case, which Mr. Yakovenko considers criminal, allows great manipulation. Imagine: people are told that I have two criminal cases. They start to think.

- Do I understand correctly that the co-religion community is no longer interested in the museum building?

They were given 160 square meters - and it was the museum that helped solve this problem. In 2013, the Federal Property Management Agency rejected the first application of the Russian Orthodox Church, stating that there was no other suitable building for the museum in the city. I said: “For the museum, no - but for these 30 people (of the community of the same faith. - Ed.) find at least 100 meters non-residential fund". They are within their power to maintain and conduct services. As a result, the premises were vacated nearby - there was a Medtekhnika store, by the way, quite nice. We gave these guys 160 meters. They equipped it in two years. The abbot came and complained that the communal apartment was not able to pay. I say: "But how are you, Pyotr Alexandrovich, going to pay the communal apartment by occupying this building?"

- And you communicate with him, it turns out?

Of course, already 20 years old.

- Unlike Roshydromet.

About Roshydromet, you need to understand that new people have come there. They don't know where the Arctic and Antarctica are. We have never been to the museum, they call it "the warehouse of dusty penguins." They have been to St. Petersburg many times - but they cannot enter the museum. All meetings about the museum are held in the diocese. I am not invited. And after that they say that they need a museum. Guys! Don't be hypocritical. We are not asking for anything, we will deal with the Church ourselves - I have been dealing with this problem for 20 years.

Until 2014, the leadership of Roshydromet and I lived in perfect harmony: a normal secular organization that understands that the museum is unique, the only one in the country. And these same ones came, immediately - bang: "Oh, believers, 30 people, how are they, poor." The fact that we have 70 thousand people a year walk, 40% of them are children, they do not care. Some nasty bigotry.

Museum relocation is not possible. For example, dioramas are not transportable. The exposition has existed here for 80 years. I will not say that it is modern - and it is not necessary. This museum has the right to be what it is. He conveys the aura of those years - the 1950s – 1960s, when we were really present in the Arctic. We carefully, evolutionarily change something, without introducing dissonances. The main thing that the people like is not only us. I have not seen a single negative review.

- But is it not strange for you to be in such - after all, obviously church - walls?

It’s strange. But this is how history ordered it. In the 1930s, when the building was empty, at the request of the Arctic Institute, it was transferred to a museum. It was overhauled, the stairs were covered. We are satisfied with the size and location: the fact that the museum is located within walking distance of three metro lines is a big plus. I am not saying that there is no need to develop, it is necessary - at the expense of branches. And this site must be preserved and left.

- And what about the idea of ​​creating a museum center in Kronstadt - on the basis of the Arktika icebreaker, which is now in Murmansk?

This story developed unexpectedly. We thought that everything would be postponed until 2021, but suddenly we opened funding for the project in 2016, and now we are doing some work with Rosatom.

- When will the branch open?

Hard to say. The dismantling of the reactor alone will take a year and a half. Then there should be a daredevil who will take the maintenance of the museum center under his own responsibility. The point is to deploy an exposition there that meets modern requirements - interactive, multimedia. It will be very cool. There will be no stuffed animals, "dusty penguins". The museum will receive two sites. Here it will be possible to record the period from historical times to the middle of the twentieth century, and in Kronstadt everything is new.

- By the way, about the stuffed animals. I have long been tormented by the question of the origin of polar bears in the museum.

Where the bear Masha comes from, I don't know, she's here before me, about 30-40 years old. Even when Masha was at the Arctic Institute, she was dragged to all demonstrations and parades, in front of the column of polar explorers. And when she appeared - in the rain, in the snow on Palace Square, - the leadership of the party and government understood: worthy people follow Masha. And shouted: "Glory to the Soviet polar explorers!" Then Masha got up here, since 1995 I did not let her out on the street, because she was in poor condition. In the 2000s, I was looking for a partner for her so that Masha would not be bored. And in the end we got a detainee with a skin polar bear poacher in Norilsk. I took it to order, most likely. The poacher was probably planted, and the skin was handed over to us - I named this bear Arthur, in honor of our Artur Nikolayevich Chilingarov.

- What can you say about the story with the bear and the explosives?

(At the end of December 2015, footage appeared on the Internet showing workers on Wrangel Island throwing an explosive package to a polar bear they had previously fed. The animal dies in agony. - Approx. ed.)

There is a lot of talk now about returning to the Arctic. They are returning, yes, but at the same time elementary long-term traditions are violated, which, for example, presupposed very specific instructions on what can and cannot be done. People get there with gadgets-gadgets and a complete lack of idea of ​​where they are. The first commandment is no feeding the bears. As soon as the bear appears, it must be driven away from the station as far as possible. The idiots feed, and then they are offended that the bear has a disposition for them. Approached, ran - they got scared and threw an explosive package. Knowing that the bear will devour him. I was so sorry that there was no bear next to that bear! Unfortunately, bears do not live in pairs - otherwise the “husband” would have come and kicked this brigade.

- Final question. In a recent interview with Meduza, you said that you were getting out of more difficult situations than the whole story of your dismissal. And what were these situations?

In general, I do not see anything complicated in this situation. Stupidity, of course, is disappointing - but it is not fatal. A "difficult situation" is when there is a threat to life. Imagine someone got sick - can you really compare the disease with this garbage? Well, just think - not a director. This is not the end of life. For 20 years, a team of like-minded people has gathered here, even if I am not formally a director, what we were doing and what we were striving for will continue.

Victor Boyarsky loved Jack London's stories as a child, and now he could easily pass for one of his heroes. For several years now Boyarsky has been a co-owner of a unique business. He helps tourists to "conquer" the North Pole. In total, he managed to visit the crown of the Earth more than 60 times, going for the winter 3-4 times a year, and he knows many secrets of this unique place better than others.

- Viktor Ilyich, so what kind of place is the North Pole?

Highly interesting place! On the one hand, just a point on the ice of the ocean, around which 360 degrees is a continuous South. Moreover, the pole is not static, but is constantly moving and is determined only by instruments. Time is losing its meaning here, the sun shines incessantly from March to September. You seem to live in the same dimension with the entire planet.

You've been organizing for a long time tourist excursions... Take tourists to "stand" at the North Pole. How are expeditions going?

Now a year I make 3-4 expeditions with people who dream of visiting the North Pole. For many, it is still something magical. And then suddenly there is an opportunity to be in this place. Of course, there are a lot of impressions. There are ski and icebreaker expeditions. In April, tourists come to us by plane. We organize ski excursions for them - from 250 kilometers to 5-10 kilometers - to the North Pole. The most extreme hike can last more than 2 weeks with all the obligatory delights - spending the night in a tent and making breakfast on a primus stove. And in the summer we remove the icebreaker. You can also jump with a parachute or scuba dive. You will not see any fauna in the Arctic Ocean, but caves and grottoes under the layers of ice are also something fantastic.

- How do newcomers from city apartments feel among ice and snow?

In different ways, although in principle they all have a hard time. When minus 35 is considered the most comfortable temperature here, then one is not ashamed to burst into tears. It is impossible to get used to the cold completely; it discourages a person from thinking or walking. But after all the tests, people experience tremendous satisfaction. You proved to everyone and to yourself that you are not afraid of such difficulties. Rejoice like children! At the same time, we have a real camp there: arrival by helicopter, warm tents, three meals a day. So the question of heroic survival in wildlife not worth it. My 78-year-old grandmothers and I reached the Pole.

- By the way, do women and men endure northern hardships in the same way?

The implication is that the Arctic and Antarctic are still not for women. I once thought so too, and now I think they are much better adapted to such difficult conditions. In 1995, two women were with us on the expedition - an American and a Japanese. So, they passed the route no worse, and in many respects even better than some young men.

- Does the harsh climate change people? What qualities should a real polar explorer have?

The way a person is formed, that is how he comes there. If he's good here, he'll be good there too. If it's bad, then it's even worse. In the same place, everything is on the verge. I believe that a person must have already accumulated a certain life experience. It is even more important than the technical skills that are developed in the process. There, the price of a wrong word or movement is very high, and sometimes it is more important to forgive a comrade for what, perhaps, you would not have endured in ordinary life. To forgive there is the lot of the stronger. In general, the main thing is that a person has a positive attitude towards people and the world around him.

- Is it true that you can't catch a cold at the Pole?

It is impossible to get sick with colds there - there are no those pathogenic bacteria. So you don't sneeze or cough. During the passage through Antarctica, in any weather, I was absolutely calmly wiped myself with snow every morning. The main thing is not to overcool.

Besides hypothermia, what other dangers lie in wait for travelers at the North Pole? Are polar bears dating?

Meet. If they go from the Western Arctic to Canada, they can pass through the pole. They are, of course, dangerous predators, but, like all animals, they attack only when they see an available prey in you. Therefore, simple precautions must be taken. We used to take dogs with us, they barked if a bear approached the camp, and we immediately got out of our tents with guns. The beast immediately judges who is in front of him, and here it all depends on how you behave. The main thing is no panic, no escape - it only provokes them. And ice can also break underfoot. And if at the North Pole you can be pulled out of a crack, where the ice is 2-3 meters thick, then in Antarctica you can die - sometimes the depth can reach 3-4 kilometers.

The cost of such a trip starts from 10 thousand euros ... Surely, there are very wealthy people and celebrities among the clients?

There is. They come to celebrate birthdays. For example, the famous oligarch and collector of eggs Faberge Viktor Vekselberg. There was Prince Albert of Monaco. Prince Harry of England is scheduled to visit next year. State Duma deputies regularly visit.

- Lately there has been a lot of talk about global warming, ice melting and flooding of individual states ...

The very term "global warming" is completely wrong. Certain climate changes are taking place. And while ice is melting in the Arctic, Greenland and Alaska, temperatures in Antarctica are decreasing. Most Russian scientists believe, and I join them, that this is in no way a consequence of the anthropogenic factor. That is, humans and emissions into the atmosphere have absolutely nothing to do with it. By the way, the minimum area of ​​drifting ice was recorded in the Arctic in 2007, and now it is growing again. Millions of years ago, on the site of the Arctic Ocean, there was a warm basin with temperatures above 15 degrees. I think nature will sort it out, and everything will come to balance again.

Several years ago, the topic of mining on the Arctic shelf was discussed. How realistic is such a project?

About a quarter of the world's hydrocarbon reserves are concentrated on the shelves of the Arctic Ocean. The rich Shtokman field has been explored in the Barents Sea. This is our economic zone. But we cannot do this alone. Too expensive, you can't do without partners. So far, all states that have access to the Arctic are only trying to prove their right to these areas, as they say, to stake out for the future.

- Let's go back to Antarctica. Previously, the entire eastern part of the continent was under the control of the USSR.

Now we have five out of eight stations. They are mainly engaged in meteorology. Antarctica is the base for determining the climate of the entire southern hemisphere. It is on the basis of the data that comes in every three hours that synoptic pictures are built. There are stations with a biological, geological, and geophysical bias. They watch the aurora there. At the famous Vostok station they are exploring unique lake... It was discovered in 1994. The thickness of the ice caped over the lake is about 4 kilometers, and the depth of the lake reaches 1200 meters. And what is most surprising, the water temperature there reaches plus 18 degrees! Work is now underway to drill the ice cap, so that soon we may learn something completely new about the past of our planet.

Yaroslavl region. In 1973 he graduated from the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute named after V. I. Ulyanov (Lenin) with a degree in electronic devices. Since 1973, Boyarsky Viktor Ilyich worked at the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute as a scientific and senior employee. In 1998 he became director of the Arctic and Antarctic Museum. Chairman of the Polar Commission; member of the Russian Geographical Society and the Geographical Society of the United States. A full member of the Academy of Tourism, a member of the Writers' Union of Russia.

Expeditions

Greenland expedition

In 1988, Viktor Boyarsky, as part of an international expedition led by Will Steeger, crossed Greenland from south to north, covering more than 2000 km in 65 days. The Greenland Expedition was organized as a training session before the Transantarctic Expedition. The path was covered by dog ​​sledding and skiing.

Expedition members

• Will Steeger (USA)
• Jean-Louis Etienne (France)
• Jeff Somers (UK)
• Keizo Funatsu (Japan)
• Chin Daho (China)
• Victor Boyarsky (USSR)

Transantarctic

In 1989-1990. Viktor Boyarsky was a member of the international expedition "Transantarctic". Not just a participant, but its leader. Passing over them almost every day when flying from st. "Mirny Observatory" to Vostok station and back, from the cockpit of our expeditionary IL-14 we saw that it was Victor (Victor's dimensions and clothes cannot be confused) on skis and with a navigator on his chest, and not in carts, in front of all the participants, including very smart and hardy dogs.

Bibliography

• Seven months of infinity
• Greenland meridian
• Each of us has our own pole
• NWT. Three travels in the Canadian Arctic
• Creation of Ellesmere.

Awards

Links

Notes (edit)

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

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• Greenland meridian, Boyarsky Victor. Viktor Ilyich Boyarsky is a legendary Russian polar explorer. In 1987 he was chosen as the representative of the USSR in the largest international expedition "Transantarctic". This expedition, ...

He, who crossed the Arctic Ocean and Greenland on dog sleds, would live freely in the pages of Jack London's books or among the heroes-polar explorers of the times of Papanin and Chkalov. But Boyarsky is our contemporary: a scientist and traveler, holder of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree, head of the country's only polar museum and owner of a unique tourism business.

How did your business start?

In the early 1990s, I worked at the Research Institute of the Arctic and Antarctic, engaged in radio glaciology, a discipline that studies snow and ice in all its manifestations. This, you know, was an unfavorable time for science. When it became clear that everything was falling apart, my friends and I organized a business in the area that we know and love, to which we dedicated our lives. This is how the Vikaar travel agency appeared, which organizes commercial and scientific tours to the North and South Poles.

What services does your company provide?

Variety. Firstly, ski tours, they can last from several hours to eighteen days - this, of course, for the most hardy, able to live in a tent for a long time, cook their own food on a gasoline stove and endure such a cold that freezes everything, even adrenaline. Secondly, diving in the Arctic Ocean: you will not see any fauna there, but the under-ice world of the ocean with its caves and grottoes is also something fantastic. You can jump with a parachute to the pole. You can just fly there for two hours and see what pole it is - this is the most budgetary tour, it costs about nine thousand euros. And, of course, we help various scientific organizations to conduct polar research.

There are probably many celebrities among your clients.

A lot. The entire Duma elite, the famous oil industrialist and collector of eggs Faberge Viktor Vekselberg, Prince Albert of Monaco ... We then met the latter in Switzerland, I rushed to hug him. “Why,” I say, “didn’t you come to me in Petersburg?” Well, his security quickly reminded me that he is a prince! I forgot, because at the North Pole everyone is equal, just like in the bathhouse, only everyone is dressed.

Are weather conditions interfering with your tour?

They can. This is a great difficulty in our business: due to whims during the years, ice conditions are difficult for us to do tours regularly. Although, on the other hand, some dependence on nature adds extreme to travel.

Does your business activity intersect with that of the museum?

All museum employees are travel agency employees at the same time, this allows you to retain professionals, resolve the issue of salaries and many other problems.

You took over as director of the museum in 1998. Have you changed anything in his work?

I think the main thing that I did was to preserve the museum for the city and the country. Because in the 1990s, there were many hotheads who wanted to take the building away from us. Once it housed the Nikolskaya Church of the Same Faith - for the Old Believers who came under the jurisdiction of the Synod. After the revolution, in 1937, the unparalleled Museum of the Arctic and Antarctic was opened here. With the collapse of the USSR, they wanted to return the building to the churches, but no one was going to provide for the exhibits any other premises adapted for their storage. I had to go through several ships to save our funds. Now we have all the official documents on hand to make us feel confident.

Do you have a favorite exhibit in the museum?

I like objects that read human destinies. For example, we have a small, pencil-drawn map Northern Land, made by the remarkable Soviet geologist Nikolai Nikolaevich Urvantsev. The huge archipelago was quickly mapped by an expedition, where, in addition to Urvantsev, there were only three people! Behind these pencil lines there is such a titanic work that I never dreamed of.

Who should thank you for becoming a traveler?

To my father and Jack London. Dad was a sailor, talked a lot about his service, and, of course, I also wanted to see other countries. And Jack London described dog sledding so contagiously!

During the Transarctic polar expedition, your comrades gave you the nickname Magic Touch. I wonder why?

To be honest, they were amazed at my ability to render very reliable items unusable with a single touch. Knowing this peculiarity behind me, I took seven thermometers on the road so that in the end there would be at least one. The reputation of a general breaker has survived to this day, although, I must say, I repaired what did not work well.

Some philosophers are inclined to believe that the conflicts of the future will arise over Antarctica: there are untouched mineral and water resources, which are lacking in the inhabitants of densely populated continents. Do you think their predictions can come true?

I think no. If the mass of ice in Antarctica remains the same as it is now - and there is reason to believe that it is even growing - then there can be no question of industrial development of fossils, since it will be completely unprofitable, will require colossal costs and revolutionary breakthroughs in technology. Now, as you know, a fifty-year moratorium has been declared on this kind of development, and I think it will be extended.