![]() ![]() Even though it hasn’t been so long since I’ve wandered here around, some things seem to have changed. I double check the rifle I’ve taken over from Linsay, before entering the swimming pool building at the end of the center. We could hear their incessantly screaming from a distance, and the rusty children’s playground in the foreground made the whole view look like a Hitchcock’s The Birds scene. The wooden platform ends near a yellow building that seems to be invaded by a colony of seagulls. Photographing on one of world’s most inaccessible places, it has a certain charm. To be honest, weather is too foul to be making good shots, but the abandoned and desolate atmosphere that accompanies it gives it a special touch. ![]() We keep an eye on which planks are still reliable to carry our weight, while our hopes were set on catching a glimpse of the former coaling mine, somewhere on top of the nearby mountain, but unfortunately clouds hanging quite low obstruct the sight. A gravel road leads to the center of the mining settlement, but instead we chose to use the wooden platforms flanked by tilting street lights to enter the town. Many pictures later – I have to admit that the glacier in the background of the harbor was a great setting – we continued our walk. A collapsed bridge leading to the water requires us to do our first scrambling. When we walk along the shores and enter the harbor, Linsay is already impressed. Exploring old, abandoned buildings and taking photos as we go, without causing any damage. This time, we were hoping to be able to enter some of them and do some urban exploring. Then, I only got to see the buildings on the outside. Our ambitions were a bit bigger than when I wandered here around two weeks ago. And Pyramiden simply doesn’t count as a inhabited settlement. At the same time, it is obligatory to be armed when leaving the inhabited settlements. They love snoozing in the dark corners of the abandoned buildings. The rifle, that is a safety measure for luring polar bears. During my sailing expedition two weeks ago, I already visited Pyramiden, so it seemed interesting to show Linsay the best places on our own. ‘Don’t forget to lock up the safety of your rifle.’, I tell Linsay, while I check where I’ve put the flares. Urban exploring with a rifle: a different experience This way, we would fight shy of the herds of tourists, find a real deserted town, and truly experience the atmosphere of a ghost town. We chose to arrive in Pyramiden at 8pm, after having kayaked to the nearby glacier. But as you can guess, this was not what we were setting our eyes on. A small number of Russian guides take the daily shipment of tourists from Longyearbyen on a tour around the most preserved buildings of the coal town. Not with coal, no they gave up on that idea, but with tourism. Nowadays, If you visit Pyramiden, all you will see are vestiges of the past… and a newly renovated hotel, which is owned by – just like the rest of the mining town – Arktikugol. Pyramiden was closed down and the last people left the village in 1998. ![]() When, in 1996, a charterflight arriving from Moscow bringing back mine workers from Pyramiden and Barentsbrug, crashed in Longyearbyen, the Russians were fed up. In the early 90s, Russian economy started to collapse and the decision to keep financing a community far away from the mainland while the mining industry wasn’t making money, wasn’t justified anymore. It wasn’t a voluntary act but they simply were obliged to leave the coal town and their lives behind. But what happened to this thriving community where 1000 people used to live, you wonder? From one day to the next, they had to leave and return to Russia. A place where everyone is happy, a community not based on money and where no one falls short. Pyramiden once was the realisation of the Soviet dream. Only a handful of Russians still live in the city, trying to keep the dream alive, but in reality Pyramiden is no more than a ghost town, a collection of bygone memories and a paradise… for urban explorers. Today, the utopia has disappeared and its population has been replaced by a colony of black-legged kittiwakes. This little piece of paradise, however, wasn’t situated within the borders of Russia, but in a remote corner on the Norwegian archipelago Spitsbergen. ![]() Today, we would describe this place as an Utopia, but life in the Russian mining village Pyramiden used to be like this. Imagine a community where everyone lives in harmony, where everyone has a job and lives a happy life. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |