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Chapter 7

Franz Josef Land: the Pristine Russian Arctic

2013 Pristine Seas expedition with Blancpain

Chapter authors

DR. ENRIC SALA

Chapter authors

DR. ENRIC SALA
Franz Josef Land: the Pristine Russian Arctic
Franz Josef Land: the Pristine Russian Arctic
Issue 14 Chapter 7

In the late 1800s, the North Pole was still a mystery. No one knew if there was land beneath the ice.

Many launched expeditions to reach the pole, but no one succeeded. Then, in 1873, the Tegetthoff expedition from Austria found previously unknown islands covered with glaciers and inhabited by polar bears. They named the archipelago Franz Josef Land,
in honor of the Austrian emperor. In 1926, the Soviet Union claimed the islands and closed access to foreign vessels.

In the summer of 2013, almost a century later, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Enric Sala led a National Geographic Pristine Seas Expedition with Blancpain to Franz Josef Land, where he and an international team of scientists and filmmakers explored the land and the underwater Arctic world.

Sala will narrate the story of this epic expedition and his work with Russian agencies to protect this unique ecosystem, in the next issue of Lettres du Brassus.

Franz Josef Land: the Pristine Russian Arctic
Franz Josef Land: the Pristine Russian Arctic

PUBLISHER
Blancpain SA
Le Rocher 12
1348 Le Brassus, Switzerland
Tel.: +41 21 796 36 36
www.blancpain.com
pr@blancpain.com


PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Christel Räber Beccia


EDITORS IN CHIEF
Christel Räber Beccia
Jeffrey S. Kingston


CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE 
Laurent Ballesta
Jeffrey S. Kingston
Enric Sala


TRANSLATION
Susan Jacquet

 

CONCEPT, GRAPHIC DESIGN, REALISATION
TATIN Design Studio Basel GmbH
www.tatin.info


ART DIRECTION
Marie-Anne Räber
Oliver Mayer


PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY
Sturm AG, Muttenz, Switzerland


PHOTOGRAPHERS
Laurent Ballesta
Lisa Besset
Blancpain
Barbara Brou
François Golay SA
Claude Joray
Alban Kakulya
Jeffrey S. Kingston
Petrus
Rostang
Enric Sala / National Geographic
Manu San Felix / National Geographic
Philippe Vaurès Santamaria
Joël von Allmen

Release date: January 2014

 

 

Franz Josef Land: the Pristine Russian Arctic

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