Everything in this monument is symbolic: the base is made of polished black stone that symbolizes the icy waters of the northern seas, the pedestal is made of whitish-grey granite – a frozen ice hummock on which a true-to-life sized seal figure is sculpted in bronze.
During the Great Patriotic War years, in addition to military cargoes, thousand of tons of foodstuffs provisions were delivered through Arkhangelsk to the front, but the people in Arkhangelsk themselves were starving. Some days the bread ration allowed was a mere 150 gr. which hardly exceeded the same norm in blockaded Leningrad. Over the period of 1941-1944, 38 thousand residents died of hunger and diseases in the city, in other words, every seventh person died of starvation and diseases (according to official data, in 1939 there were 281 thousand inhabitants in Arkhangelsk). In terms of the death rate, it turns out that Arkhangelsk was second, just behind blockaded Leningrad.
In the spring of 1943 seal meat and lard obtained in hunting expeditions was immediately sent to Arkhangelsk and the town of Molotovsk. More than a thousand tons of food and medical fat from seal lard were sent to Leningrad. Thanks to seal meat and lard thousands of northern people’s lives were saved, that is why people who survived the War consider the seal to be their savior.
Address: Northern Dvina embankment, 95