Wooden church to be erected at Russian Antarctic research station

The frame of a wooden church is being loaded onto the research ship Academic Sergei Vavilov in the port of Kaliningrad. As a Rosbalt correspondent was informed at the port, the church was sent to Kaliningrad in non-assembled form by the Russian Orthodox patriarchy in Altai and is now being sent on to the Russian Antarctic station of Bellingshausen where it will be reassembled.

The ship is also carrying equipment necessary for erecting the church in conditions of permafrost. The unusual cargo is not only being accompanied by its constructor but also by two priests who will lead a service in the new church for members of the polar research mission. The small cathedral is also dedicated to those Russians who have died in the Antarctic over years of polar research.

The ship will set off on its unique mission on October 1. For the crew of researchers onboard, however, this is not their ultimate mission. They are from the Shirshov institute of oceanology and their aim is to study the state of the ocean and its effects on the earth's climate.