In 1986, ethnographer Ismail Nukhovich Gemuyev arrived in Varyegan. He needed a guide and translator, and Yuri Vella offered his help. Together they set off to the camps. One day, finding themselves at one of the abandoned sites, Gemuyev asked: "When you come here, what do you feel?" Yuri replied: "Of course, I imagine the people who lived here, I hear their voices, both living and dead. I know them all. Here, at the camp, they seem to come to me." Gemuyev noted: "You see, this is already a ready-made museum." Training at the Literary Institute, perestroika, and communication with Gemuyev significantly influenced Yuri Vella's worldview.

Following Gemuyev, Emilii Ivanovich Kospolov from the House of Folk Art of Khanty-Mansiysk arrived. Yuri shared with him the idea of creating a museum, to which Kospolov replied: "Let's start right now."

Enthusiasts from the village, geologists, and road workers helped with transportation and a bulldozer to move the house of Andrei Antonovich Kazamkin, which Yuri had already noticed.

Thus, the ethnographic park-museum in the village of Varyegan was born, the first museum in the district and one of the first national museums in the region, founded in 1987. The museum collection tells about the indigenous people of Yugra, their fates, and the land they live on. The creation of the museum, as a symbol of hope for national revival, inspired residents of other settlements in the district to undertake similar initiatives.