Lenin to become Arctic Expo Centre

Lead partner is Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland with partners Atomflot in Murmansk and Polaria in Tromsø. Kolarctic cross-border financial mechanism has granted €1,2 million to the project.

The project also aims at implementing activities related to education and tourism development in the exhibitions in each partner’s region.

The aim of the project is to develop new exhibitions and innovative communication tools as a means to improve the information on local and cross-borders concerns. This will help to facilitate a mutual understanding among neighboring people about common issues and the Arctic.

“The goal is to raise awareness on topics related to the Arctic marine environment, climate change, and globalization,” says chief executive producer Nicolas Gunslay from Arctic Centre.

“Lenin” was the Soviet Union’s first nuclear powered icebreaker and the first civilian nuclear powered vessels. Commissioned in 1959, the icebreaker served the ice-covered waters along the Northern Sea Route until 1989. Today, “Lenin” is laidup in the central harbor of Murmansk and serves as a museum of the nuclear icebreaker fleet.

The Norwegian Polaria centre in Tromsø and Arctic Centre in Rovaniemi are already well-established exhibition centres while Arctic Expo Centre in Murmansk is in its initial stages to develop into a science and exhibition centre. The project will enable the project-partners to share expertise and thereby to build a new science exhibition centre focusing on the Arctic. The project also facilitates the creation of an Arctic exhibition centre network in the concerned regions, enhancing future opportunities for development of tourism and education related activities.

“Through exchange of expertise and share of experiences each member will increase the opportunities to develop its own exhibition and activities such as education package for teachers and pupils on certain issues, special tours for tourists”, says Nicolas Gunslay.

As the new exhibition centre is planned on board Icebreaker Lenin, the goal is also to tell about the technology and history of icebreaking. These goals will be achieved through the planning and implementation of a science and historical exhibition and the development of common education and edutainment activities. Each centre will get identical exhibition elements that enable the sharing of important and up to date Arctic issues among the visitors in the different countries.

“The project provides a unique opportunity to support and develop joint education activities and to have a tool to disseminate important issues regarding the Arctic and its vulnerable environment,” says Nicolas Gunslay.