A view of the tent encampment where young people of Norilsk have pitched up to celebrate the coming of summer. The people of Norilsk celebrate the arrival of summer with a three day meeting organised in the tundra near the city. Various activities are organised including canoeing and climbing and young people are grouped into teams, each with their own colours, anthem and outfits.


The city of Norilsk, in the far north of Russia's Krasnoyarsk region, was founded in the 1920s and today has a population of just over 175,000. In its early years it served as the centre of Norillag (or the Norilsk Corrective Labour Camp) but was given town status in 1953 as the Gulag system was slowly winding down. Today the city is largely dependent on MMC Norilsk Nickel, the world's leading producer of Nickel and palladium and Norilsk's main employer. In 2001, the city was closed to all non-Russians, except for citizens of Belarus.