Vorkuta, the world’s capital.

-1934 – Article 58 was added to the Soviet penal code to counter “anti-revolutionary activities”. Massive arrests soon followed supplying workers for Stalin’s Great Construction Projects. Vorkuta’s camp is built in the Russian arctic zone, where thousands of prisoners dig for coal.

-1943 – The town is officially founded. The mine and the labor camps merge, creating an urban and industrial complex in the middle of the tundra, linked with the south by a single railroad.

-2014 – A deliquescent city arisen from the Gulag system, its inhabitants call it ‘The world’s capital’ reflecting the various origins of the deportees who built it. Along frozen streets one can meet native nomads, migrant workers and the descendants of former prisoners.

Gallery