An incredible maze of ice tunnels built in the Russian Arctic during the Cold War is melting. Incredible footage shows the structure, dubbed 'Stalin's Ice Palace', a building larger than the White House, is in danger of collapsing as warm Arctic waters erode its entrance.
Funds to save the monument are now 'urgent' as some walkways have been severely weakened. But authorities in northern Siberia have no funds to save the icy labyrinth, although it is listed as a regional monument, tch reports.
"Stalin's Palace" is the creation of a German engineer deported to Siberia by Stalin during the Second World War. Gustav Backmann and other expatriate workers spent years digging through the solid earth in Novy Port to create a large natural freezer, completing their work in 1956.
Its purpose was to preserve tons of Arctic fish before processing and exporting to Europe. The labyrinths and rooms in the 7,000 m² space maintain a constant temperature of -14°C to -12°C throughout the year. Still in use today, it remains the world's largest temporary storage facility built by manual labor.
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