"Expedition" opens Cultural Navigation Contest
06.12.2005
“If someone thinks, that our huge country
secures and maintains its present state
borders through nuclear might, they are mistaken.
This surprising land is secured only through love....
Love of many people, capable of expressing,
with heart and soul, the word Rodina.”
|
Expedition has announced a new project, Cultural Navigation, which is based on the organizers love of their native land and a sincere desire to open up this great Euro-Asian country. Our land is famous for the wonders of nature within its borders and a host of unique historical monuments. For the Russian organizers, this is a source of great pride. On the vast open spaces of Russia were born and raised many great people. Our grand fathers and great grand fathers waged war, and gained immortality through their amazing feats of valor, endurance and innovation. Scattered across all Russia there are sites relating to the life and activity of those people who brought worldwide glory to our country. Many of these sites cannot be found on maps. They are simply not recorded and their location is known only by local residents. These sites are very different. Near Engels, in the Saratov area, is the spot where Yuri Gagarin landed after his pioneering space flight. In the Ural mountains the collective farmers of Kosulina captured American U2 spy plane pilot Gary Powers after he crashed. In a forest near Novgorod a cross marks the site where the Tatar-Mongol forces of Batiya were halted. The people of Toliatti raised a monument to loyalty, in honour of a dog which waited for six years on the spot for its owners, who had been lost in an accident. In Izhevsk there is a statue honouring pelmeni, and in Chelyabinsk another to a beggar. The last surviving wooden yolk-carver lives in Tomsk while in Bashkitria, they are still maintaining the culture of wild honey cultivation. The Expedition team set themselves the goal of collecting as many as possible of these significant sites to open this unknown Russia to the whole world. Throughout August 2005 the team has roamed 60 regions of Russia in search of these forgotten and half-forgotten landmarks and surprising places of our native land. Orange jeeps and campers traveled the highways and by ways of Moscow, Novgorod, Pskov, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, and Tyumen. The team bacme familiar with the territories of Tatarstan, Bashkiria and Perm. Cultural Navigation searches have opened up Omsk, Barnaul, Tomsk and Novosibirsk. The result, to date, is the selection of over 500 points in 60 regions. The team plans to locate significant sites in all 89 regions of Russia and publish an encyclopedia of unknown Russia. Those points across the country have become control points for the protagonists in the longest winter race in off-road cars. Through locating them, the path to victory will be laid for the teams competing in the Murmansk Vladivostok Expedition Trophy 2006. To discover historic sites anew, to take pride in the historic and cultural heritage of Russia and to plan new expeditions in the vast hinterland of Russia is open to all. Come and join! Do not be indifferent to the challenge. Come and penetrate the vast spaces of Russia, experience its awesome landscapes and unearth fresh gems in our Cultural Navigation project. Details on a site: http://www.navigatory.ru/.
Tatyana Stepanuk, PR-director
|
           |
