Yakutsk — Yakutsk Map Poster & Print

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Yakutsk Map Poster & Print

Yakutsk lies on the left bank of the Lena River in the Tuymaada valley. It is one of the largest cities in the world built on continuous permafrost. On a map the city stretches along the river in a long band of rectangular blocks, with small lakes dotted between the districts. Beyond the embankment the Lena spreads into several channels and sandy islands, and it is so wide that there is still no permanent bridge.

Yakutsk was founded as a Cossack fort in 1632 and grew into the administrative centre of the Sakha Republic. It is often called the coldest major city on Earth, and winter temperatures regularly fall below minus forty. Because the ground stays frozen, most buildings stand on piles and many pipes run above ground. From street level this is a striking detail, but on the map the plan still reads as a calm and regular city.

A Yakutsk map poster turns this unusual city into a clean graphic, with the ordered blocks of the centre, the scattered lakes and the broad river filling one side of the frame. In black and white the Lena's channels look almost like brushstrokes. The contrast between the dense town and the open water carries the whole composition, and it is easy to read from across a room.