Igarka (Russian: Ига́рка ee-GAHR-kuh) is a city in the extreme north of the Krasnoyarsk Region, 163 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle.

Understand

Igarka was founded in 1931. The city got its name from the channel on which it was located, which was in turn named after a local fisherman, Yegor Shiryaev.

Igarka is infamous as the starting point for Stalin's railway to nowhere, constructed between 1949 and Stalin's death in 1953. The project failed and thousands of the gulag laborers died in the process.

It is the main port via which the timber harvested in the Yenisei River basin is shipped to Europe.

It has a population of approximately 6,000 people and has been in decline.

Get in

By plane

• 1 Igarka Airport (IAA  ^IATA) (is 3km from the city center. The airport is on Polar Island; an ice-bridge or a ferry ride is required to get into the city.). has flights to/from Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Svetlogorsk, and Norilsk. Charter flights are available to remote parts of Taymyria and Evenkia.  

By boat

PassengerRechTrans operates boats in the summer on the Yenisey River to/from Krasnoyarsk. The journey takes 3 days.

See

Recreation of a convict barrack at the Gulag Museum in Igarka

The Museum of Permafrost

• Museum of Permafrost, St. Bolshoi Theatre 15, mvm_igarka@mail.ru. Open 9AM-17PM, closed Saturdays. This museum shows geological features and is mostly 7-14 meters underground. 45 руб for Russian citizens, 130 руб for foreigners. 

Go next

• Taymyria - adventurous expeditions in northern Siberia