The central square of Yakutsk, with the inevitable Lenin statue at one end and the regional government building at the other. It is broad, flat, and treeless — a typical post-Soviet civic space — but it is the heart of the city and the place where festivals, military parades, and the winter ice sculpture exhibition take place.
In the depths of January, the square fills with intricate ice carvings and a small fairground. The temperature outside might be minus 45, and yet the place is busy with families taking pictures.