On November 15, a postcard with a commemorative stamp dedicated to the 150th Birth Anniversary of Arctic explorer Vladimir Rusanov was put into postal circulation in the Geographical Projects of Russia series

Vladimir Rusanov (1875–1913) was a Russian Arctic explorer.

Vladimir Rusanov was born on November 3 (15) of 1875, in the city of Orel. From 1887 to 1889, he studied at the Orel Gymnasium. In 1897, he graduated from the Orel Theological Seminary. In 1903, he emigrated to France (Paris), where he graduated from the natural sciences department of the University of Paris with a degree in geology. In 1907, he visited Novaya Zemlya and explored the Matochkin Shar Strait on foot. In 1908, he participated in a French scientific expedition to Novaya Zemlya under the command of Charles Benard; he for the first time crossed the Severny Island on foot.

In 1909, 1910, and 1911, he headed Russian scientific expeditions. He circumnavigated Novaya Zemlya on motor-sail vessels.

In 1912, he led an expedition onboard the Hercules boat to survey the coal-bearing areas of Spitsbergen; afterwards, he set sail east around Cape Zhelaniya and was gone missing with his crew near the Mikhailov Peninsula (the time and circumstances of the expedition's loss remained unclear). In 1934, a wooden pole with the inscription “Hercules. 1913” and some belongings of the expedition members were found on the islands off the western coast of Taimyr.

The name of V. Rusanov was given to a bay and a peninsula on Novaya Zemlya, a glacier on Severnaya Zemlya, a mountain in Antarctica, streets in Arkhangelsk and Murmansk, etc.

The main illustration shows a portrait of V. Rusanov against a Guba Mashigina map compiled during researches in 1909 and the RGO logo; the commemorative stamp features images symbolically reflecting geographical projects.

In addition to the issue of the postcard with a commemorative stamp, JSC Marka produced special cancels for Moscow, St. Petersburg, Arkhangelsk, Orel and Penza.


Design Artists: S. Kapranov and R. Komsa
Quantity: 6 thousand postcards.

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