Inside the buildings, it’s as if time has stood still, with the occupants having left suddenly but expected back at any moment. The rails of the funicular on which the trailers of coal were hauled down are still visible on the pyramid-shaped mountain, which gave the village its name. (AFP Photo)īuildings built to last are just weather-beaten from decades of harsh winters. A monument stands at the entrance of the abandoned ex-soviet mining village of Pyramiden, in Svalbard, Norway, Sept. No one lives there apart from a handful of Russians who run a hotel – and the polar bears with whom visitors risk coming face to face.īut even though the mining community has long gone, nothing has been destroyed, an AFP photographer saw, and its vestiges offer a glimpse into the heyday of the Soviet era. Interesting future?Īt first sight, Pyramiden now looks like a ghost town. (AFP Photo)īut as the Soviet Union fell apart, while mining continued in Barentsburg, it stopped in Pyramiden in 1998 as its performance dwindled, and the miners left. A general view shows a statue of Lenin in the middle of the abandoned ex-Soviet mining village of Pyramiden, in front of the glacier Nordenskioldbreen in Svalbard, Norway, Sept. On the Western side of the Iron Curtain, it provided a window on Soviet power, culture and self-sufficiency, from pig breeding to its 300-seat cinema, swimming pool, gymnasium and hospital. (AFP Photo)īeing sent to Pyramiden was considered a plum job for a miner, a tour guide told Agence France-Presse (AFP). A photo shows a view of the abandoned ex-Soviet mining village of Pyramiden, located in front of the glacier Nordenskioldbreen in Svalbard, Norway, Sept. Russia began coal mining in Barentsburg, another settlement in the archipelago, in 1931, and later in Pyramiden, where the Russian community grew to up to 1,200 between 19. Norway – a NATO member – was afforded sovereignty of Svalbard under the 1920 Treaty of Paris but all signatories, which included the Soviet Union, were given equal rights to explore and exploit its mineral resources. The tiny ex-mining settlement of Pyramiden, meanwhile, helps Moscow retain a footprint in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, high above the Arctic Circle. Russia has made the development of the Arctic a strategic priority, pinning its hopes for supremacy in the region on a fleet of giant nuclear-powered icebreakers. (AFP Photo) With its bust of Lenin, cultural center and KGB offices, the abandoned Soviet outpost of Pyramiden may seem like a time-warped Arctic oddity but is valued by Moscow as it vies for clout in the warming region. BY FRENCH PRESS AGENCY – AFP A disused harbor crane stands at the abandoned ex-Soviet mining village of Pyramiden, in Svalbard, Norway, Sept.
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