Siberia is an empty land filled with contradictions
Russia’s limitless expanse is home to art, freedom, history and many, many trees
HALFWAY BETWEEN Moscow and the Pacific Ocean sits the city of Krasnoyarsk. At its heart, on the banks of the mighty Yenisei, stands a brutalist building encased in granite. Built in 1987, it was the last of the Lenin Museums that the Soviet Union bestowed on deserving provincial cities to showcase the achievements of socialism. It is now an art museum. And when night falls, giant letters are projected onto one of its stark walls: SVOBODA.
Svoboda, or freedom, is not the first thing which springs to Western minds at the mention of Siberia; the vast region is more readily associated with fetters, exile and suffering. Nor is it a word much associated with present-day Russia. But it is a word that fits.
This article appeared in the Christmas Specials section of the print edition under the headline "The ironies of freedom"
Christmas Specials December 21st 2019
- How the world’s old printing presses are being brought back to life
- What does it take to become a death-row detective?
- A look inside the factory around which the modern world turns
- The mysterious life and times of eels
- How China made the piano its own
- How the planets got their spots
- Can technology plan economies and destroy democracy?
- Hard times and hotplates in the most diverse district in Africa
From the December 21st 2019 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from Christmas Specials
On safari in South Sudan, one of the world’s most dangerous countries
The planet’s biggest conservation project is in its least developed nation
Many Trump supporters believe God has chosen him to rule
The Economist tries to find out why
Wine and climate
Global warming is changing wine (not yet for the worse)
New vineyards are popping up in surprising places; old ones are enduring