In one of the eeriest experiences we’ve had yet, in the documentary we explore the abandoned Russian settlement of Pyramiden on the arctic island of Svalbard. Join us as we discover why the Russians settled on Norwegian land and why they left in such a hurry…

A special thanks to the Svalbard Museum for granting us permission to use the archived photos in their collection for this film. If visiting the Longyearbyen, we highly recommend taking a couple of hours to visit the carefully crafted museum that’s full of history and information on this incredible island.

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Postcards from Chris & Paloma (& Doreen )

About Us:
We met living in Cornwall UK and have been planning big adventures ever since. We converted our Ford Transit and are now discovering the world at our own pace! Come say hi and follow us on our adventures and guaranteed mishaps.

00:00 Abandoned Russia
00:25 Looking for a Soviet ghost town
01:00 Pyramiden, Svalbard
01:31 The Svalbard Treaty
02:10 Why did the USSR come here?
03:08 The iron curtain showcase town
04:00 The heart of Pyramiden
04:58 The Swimming pool
05:20 Was it hard living in the arctic?
06:14 The downfall of Pyramiden
06:56 Johan, the rifle and the polar bears
07:14 The Culture House, The end of the road
10:00 Outro, where do the profits go?
10:22 Next time

Script snips for SEO

Today We are boarding the MS PolarGirl in Longyrbean, the northernmost permanent settlement on Earth, yet we are heading even further north, looking for a soviet ghost town. 2.
We are looking for Pyramiden, a Russian settlement technically on Norwegian land that was abandoned overnight. And we are here to find out why.

This is Pyramiden. Once home to over 1000? people, now home to 6.
It is overlooked by the mighty Nordenskiöld glacier.
But why did the Soviets come here, and why did Russia end up leaving so quickly?

Once a lawless state, Svalbard, in a bid to solve conflict between mining owners and workers, came under Norwegian sovereignty with The Svalbard Treaty in 1920

The countries who signed the treaty agreed to give full and absolute sovereignty to Norway over the islands, under the conditions that signatories citizens could live there without discrimination, that the environment was protected, *AND that the land would not be militarised.

Today, there are 46 countries who have signed the treaty, but only the Russians and Norwegians have an active presence on the archipelago.

As well as being home to bountiful coal, the Soviet coal company’s move to take over Pyramiden very quickly served political and strategic purposes.

It was a showroom of Soviet communism that was otherwise not seen due to the iron curtain. It was one of two presences here in the high arctic which could help with future claims to sea and land territories as well as potential strategic shipping routes as Arctic ice melts away. (Something like this)

At a time when life inside the Soviet Union was largely unknown, Pyramiden was used to portray a Soviet Utopia of sorts boasting of helicopters for transport, self sufficient farmland and a strong community that thrived in the long polar nights. They created a village that was designed to alleviate the hardships that Arctic living presented, including a school, hospital, gym and swimming pool, and culture house, making workers and their families feel at home in these high arctic fjords.

Miners, mainly from Ukraine at the time, were eager to come to make the most of good wages, free accommodation and food allowing them to save for a better future.

A carefully crafted portrayal of the very best that the Mainland had to offer, conveniently on a platform for the whole world to see.

The Canteen was the heart of the village, the place where everyone came for every meal of the day. It was decorated with lavish mosaics and even had a lushus garden in the entrance hall in a bid to make people forget the harsh conditions outside. There was also grass indoors for kids to play as parents socialized.

As the Soviet economic crash casted a shadow of uncertainty on Pyramiden’s future, the Russian company eventually realised they couldn’t sustain Pyramiden. Barentsburg.
America vs Russia. conspiracy.

In 1994, miners started to be laid off, families sent home and, by 1998, the once bustling village quickly waved off the last boat of 18 miners, leaving, Johan totally alone with some unwelcome visitors, polar bears.

#russia #abandoned #documentary