World History: Celebrations of 200th anniversary of Fort Ross fortress in California

The next year will see 200th anniversary of the historical object – Fort Ross fortress in California. On this occasion it is planned to hold events at least once a month in course of the year 2012.

As for today several projects are already underway. The first project aims to digitize about 500 old books of Fort Ross library and it is now being brought into life. Another one looks forward to building cottage houses for tourists.

On board of “Pallada” Russian sailing vessel, which has arrived to San Francisco port, visitors can see an exhibition, dedicated to 270th anniversary of Russian America’s discovery by Russian sailors and 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s space flight. The exhibition reveals the history of Alaska, appearance of Kodiak and Novo-Arkhangelsk (Sitka) settlements, the chronology of voyages of Bering, Shelikhov, and Baranov. Materials are provided in English and Russian. The second part of the exposition is mainly represented by photographs, which show preparation for the first flight into space and everyday life of the first cosmonaut.

Fort Ross is a former settlement and fortress in the American land, the trading post and the center of furs trade of the Russian-American Company. It was founded on a high steep shore of the Pacific Ocean coast of California 80 km away from San Francisco. At present day Fort Ross revived due to efforts of Russian people living in California and the Russian-American Historical Society in San Francisco, has become the nature reserve of California. Here take place festivals of Russian music and folk art, and theatrical performances.