The geographical point “The Extreme eastern point of Europe on the continent” invites to the Polar Urals

In the past year the long-awaited symbolic opening of “The Extreme eastern point of Europe on the continent” was one of the most notable events in the sphere of tourism in Russia. This information was given to a correspondent of the news agency “Sever-Press” by the author of the project “The Extreme eastern point of Europe” Ivan Popov.

Hoisting of the flag on the Nogodoyakha Mountain (793 m) in the Polar Urals completed the 18-year stage of search for the location of its “own” all-Russian and European brand object by the Russian tourist community. A significant role at the important stage of the work was played by enthusiasts and the government of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Earlier “Sever-Press” wrote about it https://sever-press.ru/2018/11/21/the-flag-of-russia-was-hoisted-on-the-extreme-eastern-point-of-europe-on-the-polar-urals/.  

The work being conducted in Yamal was evaluated and supported at the highest level by professionals of the Federal Agency for tourism:

 — the Federal Agency for tourism considers the project of definition and designation of the Extreme eastern point of Europe in the Polar Urals as relevant from the point of view of development of domestic and inbound tourism in the Russian Federation and promotion of national tourist products on the world market;

 — the Federal Agency for tourism believes that implementation of the project on definition of the Extreme eastern point of Europe and its promotion as a Russian tourist brand will act not only as a powerful stimulus for comprehensive development of the Polar Urals, but also will serve as a good example of professional marketing of territories for other regions of Russia;

 — the Federal Agency for tourism supports actions on definition of the Russian geographical point “The Extreme eastern point of Europe”, which in addition to recreational opportunities of the Polar Urals undoubtedly will become a place of attraction for tourists, researchers and outdoor enthusiasts from the whole world. 

From the point of view of specialists of tourist industry, opening of the brand geographical point in the Polar Urals is considered not only as appearing of a new independent tourist object at the all-Russian and European levels, but also as “switching on” the symbolic beacon attracting attention to the region of the Russian Arctic with great opportunities for tourism development.

The foundation of the region’s attractiveness lies in the unique set of factors concentrated here, including natural objects (geological structure, landscape, glaciers, lakes and rivers), the ethnographic component, location in the arctic zone and favorable logistics.

The main moments of the Polar Urals attractive for tourism are clearly presented on the map of the modern basic tourist resource of the region compiled in parallel with the work on formation of the Extreme eastern point of Europe. 

Seeing the map, the majority of users with astonishment find a lot of things previously unknown to them, including availability of the large Kara astrobleme (crypto-explosion structure, a crater) in the area of the coast of Baydaratskaya Bay; location behind the Polar Circle of the beautifully expressed  coral reef – “a messenger” of the ancient Devonian paleo-ocean (the natural monument “Yangana-Pe”); here there is the Earth’s largest outputs of the upper mantle rocks — peridotites to the surface (massifs: Voykar-Syninsky, Rai-Iz, Syum-Keu), objects of the cadastre “World geological heritage”.   

According to geologists, it is more convenient and accessible to observe the very moment of appearing of the Urals in the result of collision of lithospheric plates of the Earth exactly on the Polar Urals. The area of the northern contact of the massif Rai-Iz in the district of the widely known Russian geological brand — the geological monument of nature “Nyrdvomen-Shor — the Valley of Greenstones” is recognized as the best place for observation.

The opportunity to visit two eastern borders of Europe will be the revelation for those, who will arrive in the Polar Urals. The geological border established by science in the 70-s of the last century was added to the conditional geographical border recognized by the world community and drawn by the Russian geographer Vasily Tatishchev in 1704 along the main Ural watershed. It is expressed physically in the form of the Main Uralian Fault and detects the contact area of the ancient paleo-Europe with the younger Western- Siberian lithospheric plate.  

It is obvious that a cognitive side of tourism in the Polar Urals is also interesting and significant. Unfortunately, in majority of cases it is unknown to modern tour operators or their tour guides and, ultimately, does not reach tourist groups. Removal of this problem is possible in the course of creation and implementation of the regional innovative project on popularization of scientific and educational information connected with unique natural objects of the Polar Urals. The project will include the tasks of creation of the cadastre of unique objects, their description, creation of maps and diagrams, guidebooks.

The fact that a considerable part of unique natural objects is included to the contours of four areas of the Polar-Ural Natural Park created in 2014 is a favorable moment for development of modern servicing tourism in the region.

Availability of the natural park considerably simplifies opportunities of creation of tourist infrastructure that includes equipped camps, warming centers, mountain shelters, developed routes and ecological paths.

The fact that the switched-on beacon – “The Extreme eastern point of Europe on the continent” – lights the territory there is something interesting to see does not arouse any doubts.