The Permafrost Museum in Igarka is a unique complex located in the north of the Krasnoyarsk region. It includes the only room in the world situated within the thickness of permafrost, which reaches a depth of 14 meters. The museum is visited by about 7,000 people annually.

The total area of the museum is approximately 700 square meters, of which 150 square meters are occupied by underground rooms in the ice. The museum maintains a temperature of -6°C.

The Permafrost Museum is located on Bolshoi Theater Street in Igarka, with the Yenisei River flowing south of it. Krasnoyarsk, the regional capital, is located about 1,700 kilometers to the south of Igarka.

In 1930, a scientific laboratory was opened in Igarka to study permafrost, and in 1931, a research station (INIMS) was established based on it. The laboratory studied the characteristics of permafrost, and for this purpose, an underground excavation was organized where experiments and monitoring were conducted.

In 1936, INIMS specialists began creating a large underground chamber in the permafrost for conducting various experiments related to the exploitation of such soils. The construction of the underground facility lasted several years, starting with the creation of shaft wells and the development of underground drifts to the tunneling of the mine chambers, completed by the autumn of 1941. From that time, INIMS began studying the layers of permafrost, becoming one of the first laboratories in the north of the country.

In 1942, chamber No. 5 of the station became a biopark, where excursions for schoolchildren and lectures for leaders were held. Here, frozen insects, fish, and reptiles were stored.

In 1950, INIMS scientists buried newspapers to test the theory of document preservation in cold conditions. A box with newspapers was placed in the center of chamber No. 5 at a depth of 2 meters, and it is planned to be opened in May 2045.

The creation of the Permafrost Museum in Igarka began in 1965. The first exhibition included 34 exhibits, and the main part of the materials was placed in ice from the Yenisei. In 1978, a decree was issued for the reconstruction of the museum, and in 1982 it was opened in an updated form.

In 1991, the underground facility became a local history museum, and in 1995 it received the status of a nature monument of regional significance. By 2010, 470 square meters of the complex were allocated for exhibitions, 150 square meters for temporary exhibitions, and 45 square meters for the storage facility.

The museum fund contains 6,500 materials, and visitors have access to an archive and library. Today, the museum includes departments of nature, history, and funds, the underground part, 'Construction No. 503,' and an exhibition and display center.

The main attraction of the underground part is chamber No. 5, which showcases examples of natural ice, crystals, plants, fungi, soil from the Ice Mountain, and other items used in scientific experiments.

The nature department includes a small above-ground exhibition that tells about the geological history of the region. Here, there are bones and a tusk of a mammoth, a skull of a wild bison, as well as an exhibition about the life of the peoples of the Far North.

In 1997, an exhibition dedicated to the construction of the Salekhard-Igarka railway, where GULAG prisoners worked, was opened. The hall presents materials about the construction of object No. 503.

The history department's exhibition is located in the exhibition and display center, where documents and maps related to the history of Igarka are also presented. In 2014, an exhibition on the history of Zapolyarnaya Igarka was opened here, and the art department features works by local artists.