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Arctic, Antarctica Museum to create Polar Media Library

The access will be free for all

ST. PETERSBURG, December 11. /TASS/. The Museum of Arctic and Antarctica will create in St. Petersburg the Polar Media Library, the museum's Director Natalia Petrova told the Arctic: Present and Future international forum, adding the library would be available for all.

"The museum is about to launch an online space for researchers - the Polar Media Library, which will unite the knowledge of the Arctic and Antarctica development. The access will be free for all. We will also update the museum's permanent exposition - surely, we will use interactive and multimedia technologies, though we plan to implement them most accurately into our very academic exposition space," she said.

Museum plans

The museum will present plans to update the museum space in the coming year, she continued. A special focus in it will be made on the promotion of modern polar expeditions, and one of the first due projects would be an exhibition dedicated to results of the North Pole - 41 expedition. This exhibition project is planned for 2024. It will be shown in St. Petersburg as well as in other Russian cities, including Donetsk.

"We have an idea, and it is already being prepared for implementation, to launch a large exhibition project dedicated to results of the North Pole-41 expedition. We plan to present the exhibition in other cities - in Moscow, Sochi, Arkhangelsk, Murmansk and Donetsk. As for the Donets Republic, we are anxious to bring a peaceful agenda there," she said.

Amid the upgrade, the museum observes old traditions - on January 27, on the 80th anniversary of the complete lifting of the siege of Leningrad, the museum will open an exhibition about how its staff worked in the harsh blockade years.

About museum

The Russian State Museum of the Arctic opened on January 8, 1937. As the Antarctica development continued actively, it changed the name to the Museum of the Arctic and Antarctica. The museum exposition's topics are: "The Nature of the Arctic", "The history of exploration and development of the Northern Sea Route" and "The Antarctica." The collection has more than 60,000 items.

About forum

The 13th international forum Arctic: Today and the Future took place in St. Petersburg on December 7 and 8. The forum was organized by the interregional non-governmental organization Association of Polar Explorers with the support and participation of the Federation Council, State Duma, and the Ministry for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other relevant ministries and agencies. The MMC Norilsk Nickel was the forum’s general partner, and the VTB Bank was the event's official sponsor. TASS was the forum's general information partner.

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