Sidebar

Navigation

Using the left and right buttons beside the place name, you can navigate to the previous or next point along the expedition route.

Accuracy

This icon indicates the location accuracy on a four-point scale, similar to mobile signal strength. Accuracy levels::

• 4 points – The location is known with high precision (e.g., a specific house in a city or accurate (< 100 m) coordinates outside populated areas).

• 3 points – The settlement where the expedition stopped is known, or accuracy is within 5 km outside populated areas.

• 2 points – Accuracy ranges from 5 to 10 km.

• 1 point – Accuracy exceeds 10 km; the camp location is determined with very low precision.

Additional Place Names

• Other Name – Used when Nicholas. Roerich’s and George Roerich’s diaries record different spellings of the same place.

• Modern Name – The current name of the settlement. Displayed in Cyrillic within the former USSR and Mongolia; in English elsewhere along the route.

Distance Traveled and Means of Transport

• Displays the distance covered since the previous camp. To see which points this distance covers, click on the distance value.

• The means of transport is shown as an icon with a tooltip. Five types are used:

  • By Car

  • By Steamboat

  • By Train

  • Mounted (horses, yaks, camels)

  • In a Carriage (Altai ride)

Overnight stop

Conditions and location of the expedition’s overnight stop (tents, bungalows, hotel, etc.)

Traveler ToDo

Tasks for the researcher at this point on the route — what can be done or clarified to aid the project’s development.

Location reference

Details the data used to place the marker at this location and the sources we relied on.

Diary Excerpts

To facilitate studying the expedition route, excerpts from the diaries of Nicholas Roerich, George Roerich, and Zinaida Fosdik are displayed for most locations. Text from George Roerich’s book On the Trails to Inmost Asia (the primary source for this map) is divided by date based on text analysis, comparison with other diaries, distance measurements, and terrain features.

By default, only the first few lines of the entry for that date are shown. In some cases, if multiple settlements are mentioned before the night camp, the fragment related to those settlements is displayed (e.g., Dongga).

Photos and paintings

Scroll the sidebar downward to reveal the photo gallery (note: not every waypoint has images).

Photos are grouped into three categories:

• Expedition Photos taken during the 1925–1928 journey;

• Paintings by Nicholas Roerich associated with the site;

• Modern Photos

Click an image to enlarge it to full screen.

Use the location icon in the photo’s lower-right corner to center the map on the spot where the picture was captured.