Norilsk

In the Bronze Age, people already knew about minerals in the area of modern Norilsk - near Lake Pyasino, a site with primitive equipment for smelting and casting was found, as well as raw materials (nugget copper balls)..

In the 16th-17th centuries, copper from Norilsk deposits was used by the inhabitants of Mangazei (a town located above the Arctic Circle on the Taz River), which was a trade and craft center. During excavations of Mangazei in 1972-1975, Professor M. I. Belov discovered an extensive foundry yard. Platinoids were present in the remains of the copper items found.

Further study of the Norilsk region is connected with the expeditions of N. N. Urvantsev in 1919-1926, which confirmed the presence of rich deposits of coal and polymetallic ores in the western spurs of the Putorana plateau.

In 1921, during Urvantsev's expedition, a wooden hut was built at the northern foot of Mount Shmidtikha, which is considered to be the first house of Norilsk (Zero Picket). Then it was moved, and now the hut is located near the Norilsk Museum and has the status of a historical site. In 1935 the construction of the Zavenyagin Norilsk Mining and Metallurgical Combine was started by Norillag inmates.

Until 1951, the settlement of Norilsk and the industrial site of the Norilsk Combine were located near the Zero Picket; nowadays it is the so-called "old" town, there are no residential buildings there.

In the late 1940s, the design began, and in 1951 the construction of a "new" town on the eastern shore of Lake Dolgoye began. The construction of the city was also started by Gulag (Norillag) prisoners. In the summer of 1953, the Norilsk Uprising took place - an uprising of Gorlag prisoners.

By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR of July 15, 1953, the settlement of Norilsk received the status of a city.

By the order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs № 0348 of August 22, 1956 the existence of Norillag was terminated.

In memory of the "camp" period of Norilsk's history, memorial structures have been erected in the city. Here is how Boris Ivanov writes about the most famous of them in his book "Paying for Platinum": "In the center of Norilsk, on Gvardeyskaya Square, "in an atmosphere of solemnity" even a foundation stone was set up, promising to erect a monument in this place to those who created the basis of the combine and the miracle city. This basalt block weighing 100 poods was delivered from Rudnaya Mountain. The plate attached to it reads as follows: "An obelisk will be erected here, which will always remind of the feat of Norilsk people who conquered the tundra and created our city and the combine". By historical standards, the foundation stone was laid recently, on June 26, 1966...".

On July 17, 2020, the monument "Metallurgists of Norilsk" was unveiled on the site of the Bookmark Stone. The foundation stone itself is part of a sculptural composition.

For the truly first in Norilsk, mass graves were arranged on the slopes of Mount Shmidtikha. Poles and former Soviet Baltic states erected monuments in the Norilsk Golgotha memorial complex specially organized in the 1980s on the slope of Shmidtikha. The lamps are also burning in the Orthodox chapel on the slope.

A milestone in the further development of the Norilsk District was the discovery in 1966 of the Oktyabrskoye copper-nickel ore deposit, located 40 kilometers northeast of Norilsk^[22]. The mining town of Talnakh was founded at the same time. To process raw materials from new deposits, the Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant was founded 15 km west of Norilsk in 1971 and built by 1981.

Since 2014, the city has been the center of the newly formed Norilsk Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church.