G pyramid. One day in the life in the abandoned village of Pyramid (Arctic, Spitsbergen archipelago)

25.11.2023

The Pyramid mine is a structural production unit of the FSUE GT Arktikugol trust, located on state-owned land plots of 73.5 hectares, and is the world’s northernmost village and mine, commissioned in 1956.

At the time of liquidation, the mine’s balance sheet included a mine, a power plant, a seaport, a helipad, a water supply and communications system, including space communications. The total number of employees was almost 550 people.

Houses in the village with a total living area of 3931 sq. m. m, mainly made of brick, cinder blocks, using reinforced concrete, concrete and metal structures. They housed 486 apartments, 56 hotel rooms and a 26-bed dormitory. There was a hospital, a cultural center, a swimming pool, a kindergarten, and other industrial and socio-cultural facilities. At the time of the inspection, most of the buildings and structures were in satisfactory condition, and the existing deformation of the foundations in some of them was local in nature.

All of the above objects turned out to be virtually abandoned. The decision to develop a feasibility study for the liquidation of the Pyramid mine was made at an extended meeting with the First Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Fuel and Energy of the Russian Federation with the participation of the Russian Ministry of Economy, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, JSC Rosugol Company and FSUE GT Arktikugol (minutes dated July 28 .97 No. E-5332 pr). The mine liquidation project was approved by order of the Ministry of Fuel and Energy of Russia dated March 23, 1998 No. 94 “On approval of the Pyramid mine liquidation project of the Arktikugol State Trust” and adjusted on September 3, 1998. Technical work to liquidate this mine began in August 1997, and shipping of commercial coal ceased on December 31 of the same year. Coal mining was completely stopped on April 1, 1998.

Considering that when developing a feasibility study for the liquidation of the Pyramid mine, the possibility of using all buildings and structures in the future was laid down, the decision to liquidate the Pyramid mine and mothball the residential village should be considered premature. This area remains very promising in terms of development of industrial and tourism activities.

As of 04/01/98, the remaining balance reserves of coal amounted to 3343.0 thousand tons, including industrial reserves - 1082.0 thousand tons. In 1990, an oil and gas field with predicted gas reserves of up to 4 billion cubic meters was discovered in the area where the Pyramid mine is located. m and oil - 25 million tons (Petunia Bay).

To this day, the issues of resuming the activities of the preserved infrastructure of a residential village remain relevant. There are also proposals from foreign businessmen on this issue, but they have not been considered by anyone.

(from the report of the Accounts Chamber 2004)

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The pyramid is located 120 km north of Longyearbyen, Norway; it was the world's northernmost coal mine. The prefix “the northernmost” here can be substituted for everything: “the northernmost monument to Lenin” or “the northernmost swimming pool in the world” and so on, whatever your imagination allows. In 1998, coal mining ended and the village was mothballed. In the 1980s, up to 1000 people lived in the village; when Lebedev visited this place in the 2000s, only a crazy German lived here. Due to the special status of Spitsbergen (any state could conduct economic activity there), the Soviet Union tried to make this village a real showcase of communism; the Norwegians were jealous of how luxuriously a citizen of the USSR lived. It was a real paradise, getting here was considered real luck.

The pyramid is located in a picturesque location at the foot of a mountain, similar in shape to a real pyramid overlooking the Nordenskiöld glacier. During the difficult crisis years of the conservation of the village, when no one remained in the Pyramid for the winter, vandals ruled here. The Norwegians came on snowmobiles and took away everything that could be taken away. For example, in the Kroa bar in Longyearbyen there is a bust of Lenin, it is just from the Pyramid. The city could have become another ghost town, like Pripyat in Ukraine, but we came to our senses in time and are now trying to breathe new life into the city through tourism.

Ghost town Pyramid on Spitsbergen // elnarperm.livejournal.com

And now a little history. There is constant debate about who was the first to discover this polar archipelago. The Pomors of Spitsbergen have been known as "Grumant" since the 15th century; at the entrance to the harbors, the Russians left wooden crosses with the names of those who erected them. The Pomors left traces of settlements, there is no doubt - they were the first to engage in fishing on the distant island of Spitsbergen. Radiocarbon dating of the objects shows that they are much earlier in time than the Viking journeys to these lands. The Norwegians, of course, claim the opposite. Allegedly, the Pomors arrived much later and brought with them old utensils and used centuries-old logs in the construction of houses, so radiocarbon analysis does not count :) Ours claim that the Vikings only sailed to Bear Island, which they called “Svalbard,” i.e. cold earth in Norwegian. The question is quite political.

Officially, the island was discovered by the Dutch navigator Barents, who was looking for the shortest route from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. The discovery of new islands led to the fact that whaling companies settled here; what’s more, the bowhead whale produced 1.5 tons of baleen and 30 tons of blubber!

// elnarperm.livejournal.com

The British and Danes were the first to declare their territorial claims to this land. Unlike Western Europeans, our people felt great on Spitsbergen, built camps and spent the winter in harsh conditions. Norwegians actively began to appear at the end of the 19th century, the land was officially recognized as “no man's land” just at this time. The issue of the legal status of the islands was supposed to be resolved in 1914 between Russia, Norway and Sweden, but due to the First World War the issue was returned to only in 1920, the Soviet Union was not invited to the Paris Conference, but the possibility of Russian rights to use natural and other resources before the USSR joined the treaty. The treaty itself recognized sovereignty over the islands for Norway, but the Norwegians pledged not to build military bases and fortifications on the islands, and now the most interesting thing: “citizens of all countries that signed the treaty, along with the Norwegians, have the right of free access to the archipelago for shipping, industrial, and commercial activities.” and commercial transactions on conditions of complete equality.

In other words, the islands actually belong to Norway, but any company or any citizen can live on the island and use its resources. A unique situation!

Ours in 1924, we joined the agreement, bought the land plots managed by the Arktikugol company, its task was simple - to provide the northern part of Russia with coal. Until 1941, two mines operated - in Barentsburg and Grumant, and a third village - Pyramid - was built. Every day the ships departed for Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. During the war, all the workers were evacuated to the north of England, and after the war, in 1946, the first miners and builders arrived, restored two villages in 3 years and completed the Pyramid in 1956.

So, it turns out that we had three settlements, the first is Grumant, which was mothballed in 1961, the miners say that when the coal runs out in other places, they can return here, the proven reserves will last for a long time. The second village is Barentsburg, an active village with the Russian Consulate, a swimming pool, a school and other infrastructure, I will write about it later. The most interesting is the third mine, Pyramid.

My first story will be about him.

And it all started with this issue of the Russian Reporter; in 2009, I read the article “The Archipelago NO WAY” about this place and got excited. I knew I'd get here. Necessarily

// elnarperm.livejournal.com

Our ship is in the port, the Russians call it the “polar girl”, the port of registration is Tromsø, in the winter it takes athletes to the fjord mountains, in the summer it takes tourists to the Pyramid and Barentsburg.

// elnarperm.livejournal.com

The most important thing is to be lucky with the weather, then 3 hours of sailing will seem like a pleasant walk. In total, two ships carry it to the Pyramid in the summer.

// elnarperm.livejournal.com

Barents, the discoverer of the island, wrote this: “The land along which we sailed was hilly and elevated, but they were not mountains, although the hills looked like sharp spiers, so the land was piled on Spitsbergen.”

// elnarperm.livejournal.com

Northern nature is gorgeous, of course

// elnarperm.livejournal.com

Guide Vadim talks in Norwegian and English about the animal world and the history of the island. Basically, half of the tourists are from mainland Norway, the rest are a complete hodgepodge of Germans, French, and Americans.

// elnarperm.livejournal.com

Approaching the Pyramid

// elnarperm.livejournal.com

Buildings, view from the water

// elnarperm.livejournal.com

We are greeted by the bus and the tour guide Sasha from St. Petersburg, a colorful character with a “moose” gun. You can’t go without a gun; polar bears are extremely dangerous animals. Interestingly, the killing of a polar bear is investigated by the police; shooting can only be done in self-defense, which still needs to be proven. The role of the police is performed by the governor from Norway or, as he is called here, the Susselman. The punishments and fines here are severe, they say that in times of famine, our people killed deer, and they were with chips, and the Norgs (that’s what the Norwegians are called) immediately flew in by helicopter and tied everyone up. The fines are scary!

Spitsbergen is a mysterious polar archipelago, shrouded in secrets, around which passions still do not subside regarding the question of who was the first to discover the lands. No less interesting is the village of Pyramid on Spitsbergen. This is exactly what we will talk about in our article.

A little history...

It is known that the Pomors knew of Spitsbergen as “Grumanite” back in the 15th century. It was they who were engaged in fishing on the archipelago. The results prove that the Pomors appeared in the polar lands much earlier than the Vikings. Although the Norwegians have their own opinion on this matter. But this is rather a political question.

According to the official version, the island was discovered by Berents, who was busy searching for the shortest route from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. After the discovery of Spitsbergen, whaling fleets settled there. After all, one whale produced up to 1.5 tons of baleen. The Danes and the British were the first to voice claims to this territory. Unlike Europeans, Russians felt more comfortable on the island. They built camps and spent the winter in extremely harsh conditions. Norwegians began to appear on these lands only at the end of the 19th century. The archipelago, just during this period, was recognized as “nobody’s”. The legal status of the lands was to be decided between Sweden, Norway and Russia in 1914. But the First World War interfered, so this issue was returned to only in 1920.

Construction of a new village

Subsequently, part of the land was nevertheless purchased by Russia. The land plots were in charge of Arktigol, which was tasked with supplying coal in the required quantities to the northern territories of Russia. Thus, until 1941, two mines operated on the island. One of them is in Grumanite, and the second is in Barenburg; construction of the third village has begun - Pyramid (Spitsbergen). Ships departed daily for Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. During the war, all workers had to be transported to the northern regions of England. And in 1946, builders and miners arrived again, and in three years they restored two villages. In 1956, the city of Pyramid on Spitsbergen was completed.

This is how it turned out that Russia has three towns on the island, the first is Grumant, which was mothballed in 1961. According to miners, there are large reserves of coal in its depths. The second town is Barentsburg, which still exists today. On its territory there is a school, a swimming pool, a Russian consulate and other infrastructure facilities. The third village is Pyramid (Spitsbergen). This place is the most interesting, so we will talk about it.

Pyramid City

The Pyramid (Spitsbergen) is located in a very beautiful place at the very foot of the mountain. The village is indeed shaped very much like a pyramid facing the Nordenskiöld glacier. During the crisis years, no one remained on the territory of the village for the winter, so the Norwegians ruled here, who traveled on snowmobiles and took away all the most valuable things. Pos. The Pyramid on Svalbard could have turned into another ghost town, like the Ukrainian Pripyat, but, fortunately, they are currently trying to breathe new life into it using tourism.

The town is located 120 kilometers north of Longyearbyen, Norway. Pyramid once had the status of the northernmost mine. Yes, and in general, the prefix “northernmost” could be added to any object or item in the village. In 1998, coal mining was stopped, and the city of Pyramid on Spitsbergen (photo given in the article) was mothballed. But in the 1980s, about a thousand people lived in it. Since representatives of all states could operate on Spitsbergen, at one time the Pyramid was a kind of indicator of the standard of living of Soviet people. Many people wanted to come here to work. If this succeeded, it was considered a great success.

Abandoned Heritage

The pyramid on Spitsbergen (photo given in the article) was once the most significant village on the island after Barentsburg (now approximately 400 people live in it). Grumanit was closed in the sixties, and its residents were evicted.

After its foundation, highly qualified miners from Donbass and Tula were sent to the Pyramid. During the period of the town's greatest prosperity, more than a thousand people lived in it. The village was considered the hallmark of the country, so residents were offered a fairly high standard of living as compensation for living in the polar night, which lasts here for three months. The town is essentially cut off from the outside world due to the freezing sea; even in summer the temperature here does not rise above +5 degrees.

The bet was made on the Pyramid mine (Spitsbergen), but at the same time the infrastructure of the town was actively developed. Greenhouses and livestock farms were built, a school, a library, a kindergarten, a pharmacy, a hospital, two swimming pools, and a gym were operating. The city also had a concert hall, a cinema, and a music studio. All buildings were built from high quality materials, with great attention paid to even the smallest details. So, the walls were lined with birch boards, mosaics and mirrored ceilings were made. They even brought grass from Murmansk for landscaping. Even now it is noticeable on what scale everything was done here. For example, near the lake from which the city’s water supply came, there are still hydro-needles. With their help, the soil was frozen in the summer so that water from the reservoir did not go into the soil during the thawing of permafrost.

All paths in the town were illuminated with lanterns around the clock during the polar night. In addition, they were all located a meter above ground level, since heating mains were laid under them, which simultaneously heated the roads and did not allow snow and moisture to linger on them.

Reasons for the conservation of the town

Spitsbergen existed on the Archipelago until 1998, after which it was mothballed. After many years of work, due to a coincidence, the mine had to be closed. There was a fire on it that was difficult to put out. Restoration work required significant investments, which simply did not exist due to the 1998 default. And coal reserves remained small. In general, all the circumstances turned out in such a way that the mine was simply closed, and along with it the village was empty. Although, by that time there were already much fewer people left in the Pyramid than in the years of its heyday.

Revival of the village

The mining village of Pyramiden on Spitsbergen was mothballed rather than abandoned, which gives hope that Russia will return to its development. Currently, the town, or rather its objects, are of interest to tourists who come to see it. Now the Pyramid on the island of Spitsbergen is a tourist area. Arktikugol restored the hotel and also partially restored heating networks, sewerage and water supply. A restaurant has been opened for tourists, a diesel station and thermal boilers have been launched. There are three houses for visitors in the port, and quite a few people visit the Pyramid. For tourists, not only the buildings of the village themselves are of interest, but also its location. The port offers stunning views of the sea and the glacier, which is so clearly visible as if it were very close. In fact, the distance to it is about 15 kilometers.

Polar bears often visit the town. One day, a bear snuck into the hotel bar and found nuts and a couple of cans of beer. They kicked out the guest with the whole world. But the bear was in no hurry to leave the warm den. Since then, the bar has offered guests a set of two cans of beer and a pack of nuts called the “polar bear set.”

A farm was once built on the territory of the town, and the experiment was so successful that ours exported meat and milk to Longyearbyen. The village even had its own fields where grass grew. Chernozem was brought here by several ships arriving from the USSR. In those days it was not allowed to walk on the lawn, unless, of course, children were involved.

How to get to the village?

If you are interested in the village of Pyramid on Spitsbergen (photos presented), then the logical question arises of how to get there. The tourist option is quite simple. You need to fly to Longyearbyen, and then take a boat excursion to the village itself. If you want to spend the night on the island, you can stay in a local hotel. And then return back on the same ship a few days later. Norwegians also take their tourists to the Pyramid on foot, on snowmobiles, and in kayaks.

By the way, Russian scientists are in great demand on Spitsbergen. Arktikugol also regularly recruits people for job vacancies. Contracts are concluded for two years.

Moreover, as a rule, the staff lives in Barentsburg and only goes to work in the village of Pyramid on Spitsbergen.

Tourist routes (characteristics)

At the port of the village, guests are met by the so-called local guide. He is the one who conducts the excursion program. He looks more like a northern hunter with a carbine on his back. A walk around the city includes an external inspection of key buildings, and the guide even gives you the opportunity to enter some of them, although not for long. For example, you can look into the Sports Palace, which is impressive. The building is quite large for such a city, built on a grand scale. In general, the village makes an interesting impression. All the houses are locked, as if someone has left and is about to return. The city seems to be waiting for its inhabitants to arrive here soon.

On the territory of the town there is a shop with souvenirs (how could we live without them) and a museum, which opens only during the arrival of the next group of tourists. It contains old photographs showing the village in its heyday. There are also stuffed birds and a bear. The exposition of the establishment is not at all rich.

The village today

According to the guides, very few Russians come to Spitsbergen, including the city of Pyramid. There may only be a couple of people per season. But there are quite a lot of Norwegians.

Currently, only a couple of people who run the hotel spend the winter in the village. Oddly enough, during the polar night there are many more visitors to the hotel. Walking around Spitsbergen on snowmobiles departing from Longyearbyen is very popular now. Tourists come to the Pyramid as a transit point, where they can refresh themselves and spend the night. But in the summer, the entire staff, consisting of ten people, returns to the town. Among them are workers who keep the town in a relatively normal condition.

Silent monuments of the past

In general, on its territory and in the surrounding area there are stunning objects that are currently silent witnesses to its former prosperity. After work in the mine was stopped, all its residents hastily left the city, taking only their savings. The houses still have furniture and dried plants on the windowsills. Everything here remains the same as it was in 1998. In general, the village makes an indelible impression. No wonder it is called a ghost town. It’s as if he exists, but it’s as if he’s not there. And, if the buildings are impressive from the outside, when you go inside, you feel a pang of melancholy when you look at people’s abandoned belongings, abandoned sports equipment in the complex, and even medical equipment in the clinic.

Around the village you can see dilapidated communications and lines that were used during the coal mining period. Here you can see the last trolley, which froze waiting for something.

It still bears an inscription indicating when the last coal mining took place - March 31, 1998, prior to the closure of the mine.

Remains of infrastructure

At that time, the territory of the Pyramid had a fairly developed infrastructure, especially considering that all this was built in extremely harsh conditions. And now here you can see two wooden buildings connected by a dining room. One of them was intended for unmarried men. And they called it "London". Unmarried women lived in the second, which is why it was called “Paris”. Nearby there is a five-story dormitory building in which married couples with children lived. Numerous birds have now built nests in the window openings of the house. Nearby you can see the building of the thermal power plant, which heated the entire town. It is no less interesting to look at the local Tulip Hotel, sports complex and the world's northernmost swimming pool.

Instead of an afterword

By the way, there is still no connection on the territory of the Pyramid. You can only use mobile communications in the port, where there is a place where phones come to life. Probably for laughs, there is a Soviet-era pay phone here, which, of course, does not work, but indicates the location where the network is available. So, if you want to take a break from the outside world, the Internet and the phone, you should go to the Pyramid.

Svalbard is a place where the modern Norwegian way of life and the Soviet way of life coexist. There are three Russian villages on the territory of the archipelago, one of which is active - Barentsburg, and the rest have the status of “mothballed/abandoned”.

I want to tell you about one of them. We will talk about the legendary coal village of Pyramid. “Ghost town”, “the northernmost coal mine in the world”, “a fragment of the Soviet system in the Arctic”, “northern frontier” - no matter what they call this place, which has been lost in time and gives foreigners who come here the opportunity to feel like they are in the Soviet Union, and the residents of the CIS - to plunge into the past, from which they barely had time to wean themselves.

Why Pyramid?

Everything is very simple - the village is located at the foot of a pyramid-shaped mountain. The Norwegians call it in their own way Pyramiden, but this name was given to it by the Swedes, who were the first to begin coal mining activities here. With a very strong desire and the necessary equipment, you can climb to the top of the Pyramid and look at the village and the mine from above, which goes deep into this mountain, but you must have a guide with a gun with you, because due to the proximity of the Pyramid to Billefjord, where seals live , the likelihood of meeting a polar bear here increases sharply.

The same mountain thanks to which the village received its name

History of the Pyramid

In 1910, the Swedish company Spetsbergens Svenska Kolfalt received permission to mine coal in the archipelago, and a year later equipped a mine for this purpose. It must be said that geologically this is not the easiest place to mine coal. The mine is located in a hard-to-reach place at an altitude of half a kilometer, which makes this type of work very complex and energy-intensive. In this regard, 16 years later, in 1927, a Swedish company sells the territory of the village of Pyramid along with everything that is on it. In 1931, the Soviet state trust Arktikugol became the owner of this 47 sq. km site. From this year until now, it is the only Russian company that conducts business activities in the Norwegian archipelago of Spitsbergen.

Plan diagram of the village of Pyramid

The Soviet Union decided not to use the Swedish mine, but, with its usual scope, began to build its own. In 1941, having managed to rebuild the mine itself and the infrastructure around it in the village, all residents were removed from the village due to the outbreak of World War II in the Soviet Union. During the evacuation, the coal warehouse and all equipment were destroyed by the inhabitants of the Pyramid.

After 1946, life in the Pyramid begins to resume. For these purposes, 609 polar explorers were brought here, and already in 1947 the first street appeared here, which started from the port and led to the village. The Soviet Union spared no expense in reviving the Pyramid; everything was done on a grand scale. Multi-storey buildings were built here for families, women and men (in the best Soviet traditions, men lived separately from women). The women's house was called "Paris", and the men's house was called "London". A library, a hospital, greenhouses, a large sports complex with a swimming pool with heated sea water, a hotel, a dining room with 200 seats, a livestock farm and many other industrial and technical buildings. Pyramid was the northernmost village in the Spitsbergen archipelago and the closest to the North Pole. And if you also take into account that this territory is located in permafrost, then you can imagine how much effort had to be made in order to erect all these buildings.

The main street in the Pyramid is called “60th Anniversary of October”

Coal mining was in full swing and already in the 1950s about 70 thousand tons of coal were mined. In order to increase production, in 1956 the second Severnaya mine was opened, from which, according to the project, 235 thousand tons of coal could be extracted per year.

A mine that goes deep into the mountain, and at the top there is a rock in the form of a pyramid

By 1980, the population here numbered more than 1000 people. The village is gaining incredible popularity due to the high level of salaries. Literally everyone in the Soviet Union knows that if you work in the Arctic, you can earn enough to buy a new apartment in a very short time, so the competition for jobs is simply crazy. You can get a job in the coal village of Pyramid only through great connections through good friends.

Residential buildings in Pyramid

Hotel "Tulip"

The rule to leave your gun outside applies throughout the Svalbard archipelago

The Pyramid houses the northernmost monument to Lenin in the world

However, the process of collapse of the Soviet Union will have an extremely negative impact on the Pyramid. By that time, coal as a mineral will greatly depreciate in the market. And the costs of maintaining such a distant territory will no longer be affordable for the Soviet government, so the number of miners and their families is gradually decreasing. Transporting coal to the continent becomes very expensive, so they decide to store its entire supply locally, in the village. The condition of the mines requires major repairs, especially after endogenous (underground) fires that have not yet been extinguished. However, the Pyramid is trying to “survive” for another 7 long years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But in 1997, a decision was made to close the mines and mothball the entire village.

The buildings in the Pyramid look different depending on the lighting. Here, for example, is the port on a sunny day. Nothing at all

And here is the same port, but in a snow storm. Looks a little scary, doesn't it?

The coal sorting room looks very gloomy. It's like a set for a thriller or horror movie

The rest of the industrial buildings don't look any better.

There is a lot of equipment left in the kitchen in the dining room

The kitchen had a lot of capacity to feed an entire miner's village.

A large mural of the Arctic hangs in the dining room.

There were always a lot of books in the Pyramid

Sometimes you come across books that you can't put down

Despite the fact that the bulk of the books were transported to Barentsburg, interesting copies can be found in the Pyramid

Most buildings are prohibited from entering. But our guide, who worked in the Pyramid, still had the keys to the dining room and the cultural center

Sports complex with swimming pool

The cultural center has a gym where you can develop your physical spirit

Music studios were also present in the Pyramid

The cultural center often hosted performances by local groups.

The distance between Pyramid and Barentsburg is 120 km, so sports competitions were often held between the villages

These posters are still kept in the cultural center

There was a notice board in the dining room where people were buying and selling things.

Since goods from the continent sometimes had to wait a very long time, such boards helped to get the necessary goods

Where would we be without her, my dear?

In March 1998, the last ton of coal was produced from the Severnaya mine, and now this legendary trailer, filled to the brim, stands at the entrance to the village. During operation, this mine produced 8.8 million tons of coal, which accounted for 57% of the total volume of the entire mine. Due to the closure of the mines, all its inhabitants were taken to the continent or to Barentsburg.

The last trailer with coal is at the entrance to the village

Plane crash on Spitsbergen

Another factor in favor of closing the village was the largest air disaster on Spitsbergen, when in 1996 a Russian Vnukovo Airlines TU-154 plane, operating a charter flight Moscow-Longyearbyen, crashed into Mount Opera. There were 141 people on board - mostly miners for the Pyramid and Barentsburg mines and their families. All crew members and passengers were killed. The cause of the plane crash was the inexperience of the pilots who made this flight. The fact is that after the collapse of the USSR, there were constant delays in the payment of salaries, and the crew of the flight that usually flew to Spitsbergen refused to work. Therefore, they hired completely new pilots who did not know the terrain near Longyearbyen airport. This led to a disaster that is still considered the largest in terms of the number of victims in the entire history of Norway. In memory of this sad event, a wooden church was erected in the village of Barentsburg, which is open around the clock.

The pyramid in our time

The village stood in a mothballed state for 11 long years, when the Russian authorities decided to revive life in this distant land. The fact is that the “ghost town” became a desired destination for many Norwegian tourists who wanted to “touch” the Soviet Union, which they had only read about in books. In 2009, a decision was made to “re-open” the Tulip Hotel so that visiting tourists would have a place to stay overnight. The hotel opens a full-fledged restaurant-bar. The entire interior has been preserved in the classic Soviet style; they decided not to modify it. By 2016, some of the hotel rooms were renovated, and the second part was left as is, because for the opportunity to spend a night in a “Soviet room”, Norwegians and other foreigners are ready to shell out a large sum (in 2018, a room in the “Soviet” style cost 100 euros per night, and refurbished – 120 euros).

At the bar you can order a lot of strong alcoholic drinks, including regular vodka. The more Soviet symbols, the better

The same goes for the restaurant menu - all the names have been preserved from Soviet canteens. Here you will find the Gorbachev omelette, the Student cutlet, Russian pancakes with caviar, and Ukrainian borscht with sour cream. All products are transported from another Russian village on Spitsbergen - Barentsburg. They also accept orders for overnight stays at the hotel or group tours to the Pyramid. During the polar summer (from late March to early October), up to 20 service personnel can live in the village - these are cooks, guides, cleaners, waiters, the head of the village, and stokers who heat all the buildings with coal reserves. In winter, about 3 stokers remain in Pyramid, and since no one goes to the village during the polar winter, a supply of food for these workers is left in the fall.

Pancakes, but not with caviar

We can safely say that there are many more animals in the Pyramid than people

Arctic foxes here are tamed by stokers, but it is better not to touch them with your hands - they can carry rabies

Around the Pyramid on the ice you can find many tracks of polar bears. They often enter the village, so you shouldn’t walk alone without a gun

The reindeer are not at all embarrassed by the abandoned status of the Pyramid; they are here on their own territory

Communication in the Pyramid

It is at this place that you can try to catch the signal of the Norwegian mobile operator. Someone hung up a telephone as a joke

My impressions of the Pyramid

We spent 3 days and 2 nights in the Pyramid, and my impressions were very mixed. On the one hand, this is a unique place, which has no analogues in the world, where you can feel forgotten by everyone on the edge of the earth. On the other hand, if you are a socially active person, then the Pyramid will be a real torture, since a limited circle of people (with whom it is not always possible to make friends) and a complete lack of communication will make staying in the village almost unbearable. Therefore, everyone decides for himself whether he could live in complete isolation or not. But the fact that this place will not leave you indifferent is one hundred percent. Therefore, if you have such an opportunity, then visit this “ghost town” at the end of the earth while it is still in the form in which it was left.