ST. PETERSBURG, February 26. /TASS/. A full-size replica of a 17th-century Pomors boat found on the Oran Islands, the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago, will be built at the Russian Arctic National Park in 2026, the park's Director Alexander Kirilov said at a news conference at TASS press center in St. Petersburg.
This is the only find of the kind in Russia, he added.
"We have reconstructed it, and we know its geometric dimensions, and we hope that next year we will build a complete replica of this vessel, a completely unique vessel," he said.
The boat was found in 2016. For several years, specialists had to wait for the artifact to be transported from Novaya Zemlya, and finally the Arctic Floating University expedition delivered the boat in 2022. A total of 76 fragments have remained. During the research, scientists determined that the boat was built around 1691 on the Karelian coast of the White Sea. It was sewn with twisted wooden rope, without a single nail. "This is the only find in Russia that shows a complete ship's set. The Pomors vessels have not been preserved, or they have been preserved in the form of a plank or some part of the vessel," the director said. "This find is the level of the Hermitage, or the Russian Museum. In accordance with advice from the Hermitage specialists, we arrange its storage and drying very carefully, so that not to lose this boat."
About the national park
The Russian Arctic National Park is Russia's northernmost and largest protected natural area that unites the Franz Josef Land Archipelago and the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago's northern part. The national park is a most inaccessible territory in Russia and in the world.