Posted on 06/23/2010 1:51:54 AM PDT by kronos77
Head of Russia's Skolkovo research hub Viktor Vekselberg signed an agreement on Tuesday with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on the maintenance and protection of the U.S. Fort Ross national park.
Fort Ross is a former Russian settlement with a wooden fortress on the Pacific Coast, 80 km (50 miles) north of San Francisco. It is a U.S. National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. California cut funding to its national landmarks in 2008 because of the financial downturn.
"The fact that such an exceptional historic object like Fort Ross is located here interested me," Viktor Vekselberg said. "The arrival of Russians on the west coast of the United States as early as the beginning of the 18th century...is significant, interesting and symptomatic."
The tycoon did not say how much money he was prepared to put aside for the protection of the site but said he hoped other Russian companies, including those operating in the United States, would support the preservation of the national legacy.
Vekselberg is best known outside Russia for returning a Faberge jeweled egg collection to the country in 2004.
He is currently on a five-day visit to the United States as part of a Russian delegation headed by President Dmitry Medvedev. The Russian leader began his tour in California, where he is visiting Silicon Valley to get ideas for the creation of Russia's own hi-tech research hub in Skolkovo, near Moscow.
(Excerpt) Read more at en.rian.ru ...
the Russians were in California before anyone and that fort is just beautiful and the location is spectacular.
Wish it was my private property.
It’s one nice piece of real estate.
Just cool to think they lived in those tiny little shacks, with the cold coming off the ocean.
Love to walk down by the shore and there is a large rock, maybe 30 feet high and climb up to to survey all I can see.
Just beautiful.
My BIL had planned to be married there but, logistics were a problem. (lots of very old folks)
We arrive fairly late when we were out there and didn’t get the full tour of the place. I really like the California coast though.
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