PYRAMIDEN
Post-Soviet industrial
BASIC INFORMATION
Pyramiden is a former mining settlement that was founded in 1910. It owes its name to the pyramid-shaped mountain nearby. When the Soviet Union acquired the rights to it in 1927, it became the site of an unprecedented socialist propaganda and economic experiment. Although it was closed in 1988, in recent years it has been revived as a tourist attraction.
Here you can visit the remains of a settlement full of Soviet symbols, enjoy Russian specialities in the bar and, after trekking along the mine equipment, climb to the top, where you can admire the magnificent panoramas of the area by a barbecue.
The world under Lenin’s watchful eye
For propaganda reasons, the Soviet Union wanted to make Pyramiden its gem, the northernmost mining settlement. It took to the idea with aplomb, building a settlement that at times housed 1,000 people. A mine, a harbour, blocks of flats and a parade ground, for which the best soil from the Ukraine was brought in. As a result, grass, unique in this area, still grows here today. A large swimming pool was built, greenhouses, livestock were raised. In the 1980s – the heyday of the settlement – there were more than 1,000 inhabitants.
A two-year stay there was a reward for the best miners. The standard of living was high by Soviet standards and working in Pyramiden was seen as a promotion and a privilege. The village was to be a showcase for the Soviet Union in the West.
Financial considerations and the changes associated with the collapse of the USSR led to the closure of Pyramiden. The 1996 plane crash, in which many family members of Arktikugol employees died, also contributed to this.
Today, the bust of Lenin, which once directed a watchful eye on the work in the mine, watches herds of reindeer eating the grass that was specially brought to the site.
A visit to Pyramiden is one of the highlights of our Spitsbergen expeditions. We spend about a day here. We visit the highlights of the town, purchase a paid tour with a local guide, so we have access to Pyramiden’s greatest secrets, including the Committee for State Security office (КГБ), the old swimming pool, the mine management rooms. In addition, we visit other places and remnants of the mine on our own. The atmosphere of the whole is reminiscent of Chernobyl and stills from the film “The Birds” by Alfred Hitchcock.
