Murmansk is the Republic of Russia's principal port on the Arctic Ocean, and the world’s largest city above the Arctic Circle. Its 500,000-plus inhabitants endure long, dark winters with sub-zero temperatures in carrying out their daily lives. Murmansk twinned with Jacksonville in 1975.

Business

Commercial fishing, ship building and repair, seafood processing and other maritime activities are the region’s primary industries.

Situated on the Kola Peninsula 30 miles from the Barents Sea, the Murmansk harbor is ice-free all year because of the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, the same Gulf Stream that flows north some 60 miles east of Jacksonville. From December to May, the port of Murmansk replaces the icebound St. Petersburg port, 900 miles to the south, as the major port serving the northwest region of Russia. Nuclear-powered ice-breakers keep a channel open to the Arctic Ocean all winter.

History

Murmansk was founded in 1915 as a World War I supply base and became a major Soviet port in World War II as Allied convoys braved Arctic storms, Nazi submarines and dive bombers to bring war material and food to the embattled Soviet people. Modern Murmansk is the site of a teacher’s institute, a merchant marine training academy, and a research facility of Arctic fisheries and oceanography. Russia’s northern navy fleet is based nearby.

Culture

The Jacksonville-Murmansk relationship began in 1975 as one of the first five formal linkups between U.S. and Soviet cities. Official Jacksonville delegations traveled to Murmansk in 1975 and 1977, and two different mayors of that city brought delegations here in 1976 and 1979.

A six-year hiatus ensued before the relationship took on new life in 1986, and “glasnost” opened a broad spectrum of exchanges for the 1990’s. Jacksonville Mayor Tommy Hazouri visited Murmansk in 1990 and Mayor Ed Austin visited Jacksonville’s northernmost sister city in 1994. Four different Murmansk mayors have come to Jacksonville. A Russian jazz ensemble performed at the Jacksonville Jazz Festival in 1990, and there were exchanges of educators in 1991, 1993 and 1995. Other exchanges have involved students, artwork, photographs and photographers, and television documentaries, and dentists.

The humanitarian medical exchange continues to be the most rewarding aspect of the program with Murmansk. Through the Murmansk Medical Project, tons of medical supplies and equipment have been donated by Jacksonville hospitals and suppliers to the clinics and hospitals in Murmansk. And several dozen doctors from both cities have studied each other’s health care programs. Grant monies totaling over $500,000 were received from The American International Health Alliance and The United States Agency for International Development.

In May 1992, the DuPont Foundation contributed $10,000 for an immunization project for children in Murmansk. In 1994, funding was received from the SOROS Foundation to facilitate a dental exchange program.

These and other programs have resulted in four Reader’s Digest Foundation Awards for Jacksonville, including “Best Single Youth Project” in 1989 for a video production about the daily lives of fifth-graders entitled “From Loretto With Love”; a “Best Single Project” in 1990 for the video documentary “Murmansk: Sister at the Top of the World”, and “Best Single Project” again in 1992 and 1993 for the medical assistance program.

For more information about Nantes, visit http://www.nantes.fr.