ARKHANGELSK, July 4. /TASS/. Experts plan to make an inspection of the oldest building in the high-latitude Arctic - the Eira Lodge (also known as Camp Eira) on the Bell Island, the Franz Josef Land Archipelago. According to the Russian Arctic National Park’s Head of the Historic and Cultural Heritage Department Evgeny Yermolov, scientists will make the inspection, which is due in July, in order to decide how to preserve this first building on the island.
"Architects and restoration experts from the Arctic Museum and Exhibition Center (St. Petersburg) this year will visit the Bell Island to see the present conditions of the Eira Lodge," he said. "We need a thorough analysis of this building to plan what to do about it."
"This is the oldest building in the high-latitude Arctic, which has survived fully," the expert continued. "A few buildings are on Spitsbergen or in Greenland, they are older, but they are all ruins now."
A house, which keeps signatures
The Eira Lodge is the first building, which appeared on Franz Josef Land. In 1881, an expedition, led by an English yachtsman and explorer Benjamin Leigh Smith, built the house on the Bell Island. "They brought a Norwegian panel house," the historian said. "It was light, in parts, it took little space and they put it up as a construction toy."
"They planned to have their base there, but a few days later Leigh Smith’s ship crashed in the ice at Cape Flora," he continued. "Of course, they visited the Eira Lodge afterwards, though they’ve never used it as a base."
The Eira was how the expedition’s barquentine was named. Smith’s expedition survived the crash and spent that winter at Cape Flora, and in 1882 by boats they reached Novaya Zemlya.
Later expeditions never stayed at the Eira Lodge, but practically all polar explorers after 1881 left their signatures on its walls inside. Those signatures make the building especially valuable, the expert said.
"The joke is, the house keeps signatures of practically all expeditions to Franz Josef Land, even those left by Soviet explorers," he continued. "They put their signatures and dates, thus making a sort of Franz Josef Land’s guestbook. It is very valuable. Not the house, but rather the signatures on the walls inside it."
Urgent inspection and renovation
Tourists make a stop on the Bell Island - it is a scenic place with a bell-shaped mountain - the Bell Mountain. The island’s name comes from the mountain. Tourists are not allowed inside the Eira Lodge, as nobody may be sure about the building’s conditions. "We are not sure, whether the condition is poor and the house should be demounted, or it is fine and the thing to do is just to hang up doors and close some holes to stop off the snow - opinions may differ."
The experts will analyze the wood panels’ conditions for the first time ever, the historian said, adding they would try making certain renovations if they can. "We are aware, that all crossbars are missing on three A-shaped rafters, and thus the roof is sliding down," he said. "It is most important to reconstruct those crossbars, especially since we often have the winds and snowstorms here."
Participants in the expedition to the Bell Island will try putting up the front door. "The building now has only an inner door, and we need the front door to stop the damp air or snow."
The Eira Lodge’s wooden basement is surrounded by layers of stones. Those stones need to be sorted out.
"Architects say the stones are covered with some scrap, and there is no ventilation: thus the basement is rotting, while the idea was to use the stones to have air circulation there," the history expert said. "The stones now are pushing the walls, thus they should be sorted out, cleaned and put back."
The group plans to manage all the works within three days, however - if the weather allows, he said, adding "in reality, nobody knows how long it may take."
The Russian Arctic National Park is Russia’s northernmost and biggest nature reserve, which unites the Franz Josef Land Archipelago and the northern part of the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago.