Fort Ross Windmill

Viktor Vekselberg and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a memorandum on June 23, 2010 to provide charitable help to save Fort Ross - a historic park of Russian settlement in the United States The signing ceremony took place in the presence of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. A special fund named the Renova Fort Ross Foundation was founded in the United States in order to implement charitable projects for conserving Fort Ross State Historic Park. The foundation has already implemented a number of large-scale projects including the restoration of historic buildings, restoration of the historic park, digitization of the library of archival documents at the Fort Ross Museum, improving the the museum's exhibition and visit capabilities, and holding cultural, scientific, and events. 

During the existence of a settlement at Fort Ross, the fort's windmills were iconic landmarks. For travellers, these windmills became a symbol of progress that Russian settlers brought with them to California.
 
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger visited Moscow in October, 2010, and Viktor Vekselberg briefed the governor on the plans to restore the mill at Fort Ross, receiving enthusiastic support from the governor. From that point on the Link of Times foundation has done a tremendous amount of work to implement the project.
 
The main difficulties appeared at the design stage of the project. Windmills, once ubiquitous in the Russian north, have not been preserved to our days. Furthermore, the design projects for wooden windmills have not survived either. The problem is that windmills were made by masters who passed down their secrets from generation to generation.
 
The search for intact windmills in Russia's far north brought the Link of Times foundation to the Malye Korely Museum, where a windmill remains intact that was from from the village of Azapole in the Mezensky District of the Arkhangelsk Region.
 
Design work was conducted by specialists of the restoration company "Restoration Center - Architecture, Manufacturing, Training" located in the city of Kirillov, of the Vologda Region. The same company did the work for reconstructing the windmill.
 
The staff of Page & Turnbull architectural bureau of San Francisco also did a huge amount of work. Thanks to their help, it became possible to adapt the design decisions and organize work in Fort Ross State Historical Park.
 
The California State Park Service also provided its full support to the project. Research conducted by archaeologists and historians of the California State Park Service formed the basis of decisions for selecting the type of windmill and positioning of the new monument.
 
The Link of Times foundation thanks all of the specialists and enthusiasts thanks to which this project became possible to implement.

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