Hermit Moves Into Home Built By Billionaire On Remote Mountainside

A hermit has moved into a house built for her by a billionaire on a remote mountainside in Siberia. Watch here:

Agafya Lykova is the sole survivor from a family that fled into the Siberian wilderness - where she was born - 1936, to avoid religious persecution under Stalin.

She has since refused to leave the mountainside where she lives, despite it being 150 miles from civilisation and prone to inhospitable temperatures as low as -50C.

However, there were fears the 76-year-old wouldn't be able to survive out there much longer on her own, so aluminium tycoon Oleg Deripaska funded her new home.

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It had to be flown in piece by piece and was erected near the tumbledown shelter constructed by Agafya's dad and brother when they first went into hiding.

Members of her Orthodox church also flew in to bless the new wooden home, where she has now spent her first night.

Speaking in outdated Russian, she said: "Words of gratitude are addressed to Oleg Deripaska for his charitable help and to all those who worked on the construction.

"Such a beauty was built.

"God grant everyone good health, especially spiritual salvation."

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The director of Khakassky Nature Reserve, Viktor Nepomnyashchiy, said: "The new house is solid, with a warm veranda and lots of natural light coming through its four windows....

"She liked the new house, and to thank everyone who helped build it, she baked some bread, and served it with homemade drinks."

Efforts were also made to ensure that Agafya didn't contract Covid-19.

Local official Alexander - who has made occasional trips to check on her wellbeing for years - said: "We all take extreme care when visiting Agafya.

"Virus or no virus - she is like a Mowgli who has never come across modern day infections and diseases.

"We know how disciplined and cautious we must be in making sure she stays safe."

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Agafya was the fourth child of Karp and Akulina Lykov, and for the first 35 years of her life she had no contact at all with anyone outside her family.

They were first discovered in 1978 when they were spotted from the air by a group of geologists.

Agafya's mother died in 1961 and her father passed away in 1988.

Topics: Billionaire, World News, Russia

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey