Murmansk is a unique city. See if you can find it on the globe. It is on the top of Europe.
For centuries it was believed that it would be impossible to live here because of the severe climate. But it took a mere 80 years for the biggest city on the planet situated North to the Arctic Circle to be built on the shore of the Kola bay.
For many years this ice-free port was a leading Soviet freight port, a base for fishing fleets, a major naval base, and the main home port of the Russian nuclear submarine fleet.
During World War II (known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War), Murmansk served as a port for the arctic convoys, and after the war became the Soviet Union's most important submarine base.
With the development of Murmansk Transport Hub until the year 2010, the port will be capable of handling 28,5 million tons of goods. By the year 2020, 52 million tons of goods can be transported instead of the current 14 million.
The climate here is fairly moderate due to the warm Atlantic Gulf Stream( In winter the average temperature is -10 C) Murmansk is a city of contrasts. From the 1st of December and till the 13th of January we have the so called "polar night" The hours of darkness grow longer and longer until the longest night which is on December 22 nd
Murmansk has 131 days of rain, 168 days of snow - more days of precipitation than any city in Europe
The weather in Murmansk is formed by cyclones and anticyclones from the Barents Sea and the Golf stream. In Murmansk they say: June – no summer yet, July – no summer already.
Day and night electric lights are shining instead of the Sun During this period you may witness the unusual natural phenomenon of the Northern Lights. And in summer comes"polar day" when the sun doesn't set at all. It lasts from the 23 -rd of May till the 22 -nd of July There is never any need to switch on a light between May and August.
Murmansk was founded during the reign of the Nicholas II Romanov , on