The Lame Dog Hut (, ) is a building in

St. Kliment Ohridski Base St. Kliment Ohridski Base (, ) is a Bulgarian Antarctic base on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands. The base, originally known as ''Sofia University Refuge'' or ''Hemus Base'', was named in 1993 for medieval Bulgarian scholar St. ...

Livingston Island Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetland Islands, South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands north of the ...

in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands located in the Drake Passage with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the n ...

, Antarctica. Presently the oldest preserved building on the island, since October 2012 the hut has been hosting the ''Livingston Island Museum'', a branch of the National Museum of History in Sofia. It was the first permanent building established by Bulgaria in Antarctica, which laid the foundations for Bulgaria's systematic scientific research in the Livingston Island area under the

Antarctic Treaty System The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements, collectively known as the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica, Earth's only continent without a native human population. It was the first arms ...

. The building is a designated Historic Site or Monument of Antarctica.

Location

The hut is located at , which is 70 m south by east of the main building of St. Kliment Ohridski base and 200 m from the coast of South Bay, at elevation 15.5 m. It stands between two branches of the melt-water

Rezovski Creek Rezovski Creek ( \'re-zov-ski po-'tok\) is a meltwater stream located on Livingston Island, Antarctica. The stream drains that portion of the northwestern slope of the Balkan Snowfield between Hesperides Hill, Atlantic Club Ridge, Krum Rock ...

, surmounted by

Pesyakov Hill Pesyakov Hill (, ‘Pesyakov Halm’ \pe-sya-'kov 'h&lm\) is the ice-free hill rising to 36 m next south-southwest of the 1988 buildings of St. Kliment Ohridski Base on Bulgarian Beach, Hurd Peninsula on Livingston Island in the South Shetland I ...

and

Sinemorets Hill Sinemorets Hill (Halm Sinemorets \'h&lm si-ne-'mo-rets\) is the second most prominent (after Hesperides Hill) in the chain of hills surmounting Bulgarian Beach in eastern Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Sinemore ...

, and overlooking

Grand Lagoon Grand Lagoon (, ) is a freshwater lagoon of elevation on Bulgarian Beach, Hurd Peninsula in eastern Livingston Island, in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Formed by Rezovski Creek and separated from sea by a moraine of elevation near ...

The structure

The Lame Dog Hut is a Bulgarian-made 6 by 3.5 m

sandwich panel A sandwich panel is any structure made of three layers: a low-density core ( PIR, mineral wool, XPS), and a thin skin-layer bonded to each side. Sandwich panels are used in applications where a combination of high structural rigidity and low ...

structure (metal face sheets,

polyurethane foam Polyurethane foam is a solid polymeric foam based on polyurethane chemistry. As a specialist synthetic fibre, synthetic material with highly diverse applications, polyurethane foams are primarily used for thermal insulation and as a cushioning mat ...

core) with a mess area and accommodation capacity for 6 persons. It has a particular technical and architectural value in its materials, design and method of construction, namely in the ingenuity and skills demonstrated by the Bulgarian scientists and technical personnel who, by using material at hand, converted what was, basically, a standard dwelling container designed for use in the then Bulgarian

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucksnorthern Russia The Russian North () is an ethnocultural region situated in the Northwest Russia, northwestern part of Russia. It spans the regions of Arkhangelsk Oblast (including Nenets Autonomous Okrug), Murmansk Oblast, the Republic of Karelia, Komi Republi ...

, into a cozy and hospitable Antarctic facility much favoured by people from various nations visiting or working at the Bulgarian base. The experience gained during the construction and maintenance of the Lame Dog Hut was instrumental in the subsequent expansion of the Bulgarian base.Proposal to add the Lame Dog Hut at the Bulgarian base St. Kliment Ohridski on Livingston Island to the List of Historic Sites and Monuments.
Working Paper CEP WP017. ATCM Sofia, 1–10 June 2015

The name

The name ''Lame Dog Hut'' dates to around 1999, when the hut was found bouncing in the wind with its support legs damaged during the winter. This somewhat peculiar name became established both in common usage and also in the

Bulgarian Antarctic Institute Bulgarian Antarctic Institute is the national Antarctic operator of Bulgaria, organizing annual Antarctic campaigns and maintaining the Bulgarian Antarctic base of St. Kliment Ohridski on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands. Histo ...

’s official documentation.Ivanov, L
General Geography and History of Livingston Island.
In: ''Bulgarian Antarctic Research: A Synthesis''. Eds. C. Pimpirev and N. Chipev. Sofia: St. Kliment Ohridski University Press, 2015. pp. 17-28.

History

The prefabricated hut made in

Pazardzhik Pazardzhik ( ) is a city situated along the banks of the Maritsa river, southern Bulgaria. It is the centre of Pazardzhik Province and Pazardzhik Municipality. It is located in the Upper Thracian Plain and in the Pazardzhik-Plovdiv Field, a ...

was assembled on Livingston Island during the First Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition by the team of Zlatil Vergilov, Asen Chakarov, Stefan Kaloyanov and Nikolay Mihnevski from 26 to 28 April 1988, with the logistic support of the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Research Ship ''

Mikhail Somov Mikhail Mikhailovich Somov (; , in Moscow – 30 December 1973, in Leningrad) was a Soviet oceanologist, polar explorer, Doctor of Geographical Sciences (1954). Somov graduated from the Moscow Hydrometeorological Institute in 1937. In 1939, h ...

'' under Captain Feliks Pesyakov. It was renovated and, together with the adjacent Russian Hut, a small storehouse, commissioned as Antarctic base St. Kliment Ohridski (often shortened by non-Bulgarians to ''Ohridski base'') on 11 December 1993. It remained the base's only dwelling facility (with tents used when additional accommodation was necessary) until a new main building was completed in 1998. Occupied during all summer seasons since 1993, the hut has proved most suitable under local conditions. It has also been used as a

radio shack RadioShack (formerly written as Radio Shack) is an American electronics retailer that was established in 1921 as an amateur radio mail-order business. Its parent company was purchased by Tandy Corporation in 1962, which shifted its focus from ma ...

and

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

(Post Office ''Antarctica 1090'' maintained by Bulgarian Posts Plc) since 1994.

Livingston Island Museum

Since October 2012 the Lame Dog Hut has been hosting a museum exhibition of associated artefacts from the early Bulgarian science and logistic operations in Antarctica, designated as ''Livingston Island Museum'' – a branch of the National Museum of History in Sofia. Certificate of the Livingston Island Museum. National Museum of History, Sofia, October 2012

Historic Site

Since June 2015 the hut has been designated a Historic Site or Monument of Antarctica ( HSM 91, effective 31 October 2015).Revised List of Antarctic Historic Sites and Monuments: Lame Dog Hut and Oversnow heavy tractor “Kharkovchanka”.
Measure 19 (2015) – ATCM XXXVIII – CEP XVIII, Sofia, 1–10 June 2015 As the oldest preserved building on Livingston Island (since 2009, when the old buildings of the nearby Spanish base

Juan Carlos I Juan Carlos I (; Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 November 1975 until Abdication of Juan Carlos I, his abdic ...

were removed and replaced by new ones), the hut and its associated artefacts are considered part of the cultural and historic heritage of the island and Antarctica.Bulgaria successfully completed the Chairmanship of the XXXVIII Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria website, 10 June 2015 Another Historic Site or Monument on Livingston Island is the San Telmo Cairn ( HSM 59) at

Cape Shirreff Cape Shirreff is a prominent cape at the north end of the rocky peninsula which separates Hero Bay and Barclay Bay on the north coast of Livingston Island, in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. The cape was named by Edward Bransfield ...

, which commemorates the 644 officers, soldiers and seamen lost when the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

warship ''

San Telmo San Telmo ("Saint Pedro González Telmo") is the oldest ''Barrios of Buenos Aires, barrio'' (neighborhood) of Buenos Aires, Argentina. A well-preserved area of the Argentine metropolis, it hosts some of its oldest buildings. One of the birthplace ...

'' sank nearby in September 1819.

Maps

Isla Livingston: Península Hurd.
Mapa topográfico de escala 1:25000. Madrid: Servicio Geográfico del Ejército, 1991. (Map reproduced on p. 16 of the linked work) * L.L. Ivanov. St. Kliment Ohridski Base, Livingston Island. Scale 1:1000 topographic map. Sofia: Antarctic Place-names Commission of Bulgaria, 1996. (The first Bulgarian Antarctic topographic map, in Bulgarian) * L.L. Ivanov et al. Antarctica: Livingston Island and Greenwich Island, South Shetland Islands (from English Strait to Morton Strait, with illustrations and ice-cover distribution). Scale 1:100000 topographic map. Sofia: Antarctic Place-names Commission of Bulgaria, 2005. * L.L. Ivanov. Antarctica: Livingston Island and Greenwich, Robert, Snow and Smith Islands. Scale 1:120000 topographic map. Troyan: Manfred Wörner Foundation, 2010. (First edition 2009. ) * Antarctica, South Shetland Islands, Livingston Island: Bulgarian Antarctic Base. Sheets 1 and 2. Scale 1:2000 topographic map. Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre Agency, 2016. (in Bulgarian)
Antarctic Digital Database (ADD).
Scale 1:250000 topographic map of Antarctica. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). Since 1993, regularly upgraded and updated. * L.L. Ivanov. Antarctica: Livingston Island and Smith Island. Scale 1:100000 topographic map. Manfred Wörner Foundation, 2017.

References

{{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in 1988 Museums established in 2012 Museums in Antarctica Local museums History of Antarctica Historic buildings and structures in Antarctica Bulgaria and the Antarctic Geography of Livingston Island Outposts of Antarctica Outposts of the South Shetland Islands 1988 establishments in Antarctica