Everything is on the map: Putin proposed declaring 2027 the Year of Geography

2027 may be declared the Year of Geography: Vladimir Putin on October 23 at the XVII Congress of the Russian Geographical Society (RGS) invited the government to explore this possibility. The main event of this Year may be the consolidation of new maps of the Russian Federation and the opening of the Museum of geography. Among other topics of the congress is the re—confirmation of Sergei Shoigu as chairman of the society. He announced new projects of the Russian Geographical Society, in particular, the reconstruction of the lost tsarist map of Russia from the time of Boris Godunov and the search for "ideal lands" for the settlement of people in the regions of the Russian Federation for the next five years. Which monument will appear in St. Petersburg and who will take up the new geography textbook is in the Izvestia article.

Shoigu re-elected Chairman of the Russian Geographical Society

The two-day XVII Congress of the Russian Geographical Society (RGS), which this year was held at the State Kremlin Palace, ended in Moscow on October 23. Here, the participants assessed the work of the society over the past five years and outlined further development vectors until 2030.

Important personnel decisions were also made: the XVII Congress re-elected Sergei Shoigu as chairman of the society and approved a new version of the charter. Vladimir Putin is also actively involved in the life of this association, and he has been chairman of the Board of Trustees since 2010. Moreover, the head of state was on expeditions of the society. For example, in 2015, he took part in one of the expeditions to survey ancient ships sunk in the Black Sea. The President plunged to a depth of 82 m and examined, in particular, the remains of a Byzantine ship that sank near the entrance to the Balaklava Bay of Sevastopol.

At the beginning of the congress, the Head of state congratulated the members of the Russian Geographical Society on the 180th anniversary of the founding of the organization. The society was founded in 1845 by order of Emperor Nicholas I and now remains the oldest and largest geographical organization in Russia. It has more than 29.7 thousand members in Russia and abroad. Regional offices are open in all 89 regions of the country.

— Let me remind you that the main goal of the founders of the Geographical Society in 1845 was to "gather and direct the best young forces of Russia to a comprehensive study of their native land." This goal is still relevant today. After all, patriotism, a sense of belonging to the fate of the Motherland, responsibility for its future are born from knowledge about its history and geography, about the cultural and natural heritage of the Fatherland," the head of state said.

The President, in particular, recalled the great contribution of scientists, geographers, topographers and meteorologists to the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, stressing that many large operations could not do without the participation of these specialists. It should be recalled that during the years of the siege of Leningrad, the Russian Geographical Society prepared materials on Lake Ladoga: further, they were used during the construction of the road of life, since they contained accurate data on the depths, relief and features of the coastline. The activities of modern members of the Russian Geographical Society in many areas are comparable to the achievements of their predecessors.

For the development of the Russian Geographical Society, it is necessary to continue helping it implement promising projects, such as the Artur Chilingarov Ice Base or the Arctic Exploration Park Museum in Krasnoyarsk on Molokov Island, Putin believes.

New initiatives of the Russian Geographical Society

One of the main proposals of the head of state at the congress was to declare 2027 the Year of Geography. The President recalled that 2027 will mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding scientist Pyotr Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, and the whole country will celebrate this event. However, this year there are other significant anniversaries, in particular, the 200th anniversary of the birth of the first chairman of the Russian Geographical Society, Prince Konstantin Nikolaevich, and the 330th anniversary of the discovery of Kamchatka by Russian pioneers.

"Taking into account the contribution of our geographers from different eras to the strengthening of the state and the highest importance of geographical science, I ask the government to consider the possibility of declaring 2027 the Year of Geography," he said.

The main event of this year may be the consolidation of new maps of the Russian Federation and the opening of the Museum of geography. The President recalled that the museum was conceived from the very beginning of the work of the Russian Geographical Society, but unique artifacts from the expeditions of great Russian scientists "had to be distributed to other people's collections."

"There are few specialized geographical museums in the world, but our museum must necessarily be created in Russia, and it must be the largest, most beautiful, diverse and, of course, must meet all the requirements of today," he said.

The head of state discussed this topic in more detail at a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Geographical Society. There he explained that the new geography museum would feature artifacts collected throughout the history of the Russian Geographical Society. Among other things, the president proposed to involve the society in the implementation of business and charitable initiatives. At the congress, the head of the Russian Geographical Society, Sergei Shoigu, just spoke about his readiness in the next five years to find ideal lands for human settlement in the regions of Russia.

— The expeditionary activities of the Russian Geographical Society should become more practical in the next five years. This requires a global idea. I propose to launch a project with the working title "Places to live". It will make it possible, based on new evidence, to show ideal locations for human settlement in the regions of Russia," he said.

Together with this project, work can begin on the voluntary certification of hotels, campgrounds and camp sites. In addition, Sergei Shoigu proposed the creation of the Siberian Regional Geographical Society Commission to update the region's data and a specialized database, the Great Siberian Library, which will combine books, maps, biographies, films, as well as projects of completed and remaining paper construction and architectural solutions, the results of geographical and geological research in the region. "We plan to recreate the lost tsarist map of Russia from the time of Boris Godunov," said the chairman of the Russian Geographical Society.

Vladimir Putin also supported the involvement of society in the preparation of a unified geography textbook.

Memorial in memory of the fallen sailors may appear in Kronstadt

The Head of State toured the exhibition of RGS projects, which features archival documents, maps, photographs, and exhibits found during the expeditions. Vladimir Putin was shown maps of Novorossiya from the time of the Russian Empire. Exhibits found during the underwater search expedition "Voices of the Lost Ships" of the Russian Geographical Society were also shown, for example, the Soviet coat of arms from the stern of the submarine Shch-302. The President saw the compass from a crewless boat built in the USSR in the mid-1930s. It was found during an expedition to the Gulf of Finland. An important exhibit was the collection of bells found on sunken ships and submarines.

— This bell is more than 1,000 dead, this one is 800, this one is 200, and can you imagine when people will approach the monument and ring the bells in memory of the fallen? After 80 years, they will sound. And if the idea is approved, and it will be where we expect it to be — in Kronstadt, then there can be such a wind that the bells can ring by themselves. According to the dead," Konstantin Bogdanov, the head of the expedition, told Izvestia.

Vladimir Putin was impressed by this idea: at the exhibition he struck the ship's bell, which was installed on the steamer Alev, lost during the Tallinn crossing in the Gulf of Finland in 1941. The Head of State appreciated the proposal to create a memorial in memory of the fallen sailors in Kronstadt.