A movie “The Baikal crossing” will be screened and discussed in the Presidential Library

On December 4, 2017, at 4 pm in the Presidential Library Cinema Club will meet for premiere screening of the movie directed by Mikhail Chumak entitled “Breaking the ice of oblivion: the Baikal crossing,” after which it will be reviewed.

The documentary tells about the history of the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway and its most important part — the legendary Baikal Railway Ferry Terminal. It was established at the beginning of the XX century and included full-fledged railway terminals, piers, moles, and junction bridges for loading the wagons to the ferry. The organized crossing linked together the Trans-Siberian Railway and ensured that Russia could protect its properties in Eastern Siberia and the Far East. If Russia did not have this crossing in 1900—1905, the geography of the country could be quite different from todays.

During the Civil War in 1918 the crossing ceased to exist. For a hundred years the Baikal ferry remained in the shadow of oblivion. Outstanding individuals, one way or another connected with the Baikal ferry, were forgotten in their native land. The Minister of Railways Prince M. I. Khilkov, the chief ideologist of the project, was expelled from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, the works of the aquarellist artist P. Y. Pyasetsky was not studied in art colleges; Baikal’s researches of A. S. Botkin remained unknown to the specialists, and the port lying in ruins did not even deserve an artless memorial tablet.

In 2017, a historical and memorial complex “Baikal Railway Ferry” was created in Tankhoy settlement. Baikal State National Park came out as an initiator of center’s establishing. Together with the “Russian Railways” Joint Stock Company the military wagons were installed, the station house was reconstructed, and an exposition of historical reconstruction of the port of Tankhoy was created.

In the course of the historical-memorial project “The Baikal Railway Ferry,” to participate in which, among other organizations, the organizers invited the Presidential Library, the film by Mikhail Chumak was also released to tell how the Baikal crossing was constructed, and what physically and emotionally did it take to its builders.

The Cinema Club will meet in the multimedia hall of the Presidential Library at 3 Senatskaya Square, St. Petersburg, RF 190000.

Please confirm your presence over the phone: +7 (812) 305 1635; + 7 (921) 594 1613 or email Elena Viktorovna Smolina at smolina@prlib.ru.

The media representatives’ accreditation is open up to 3 pm on December 1, 2017.

Please, email Alexandra Khudyakova with your application for accreditation in the attached form with the “The media accreditation” note in the subject line: hudjakova@prlib.ru; phone: (812) 305 1621, ext. 167, mobile: +7 (981) 788 2808.

Your application on the attached form must specify a media name, a full name of media representative, a date and a place of the representative’s birth, full passport or picture id details (series, number, when and by what body it was issued, place of residence), a carry-on equipment (including notebooks and tablet computers), and the contact phone numbers.

Please be advised, that the event participants and guests enter the Presidential Library through the entrance № 1, and the media representatives — through the entrance № 2 by appointment only and without any exceptions upon presentment of passport or picture id.