Covered in permanent darkness for half the year, locked in ice for even longer and abandoned for more than a quarter of a century, the ghost town of Pyramiden does not seem like an obvious destination for tourism.
Located on Svalbard, an island archipelago high in the Arctic administered by Norway, the former Russian mining colony provided millions of tonnes of coal to the Soviet Union and then the Russian Federation.
The town’s population once reached more than 1,000 people and it boasted facilities including a 24-hour canteen, a primary school, a library and a sports complex.
Being so remote, it also boasted the world’s most northern swimming pool and the world’s most northern bust of Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin – which stands to this day.
However, mining operations stopped in March 1998 and the last permanent resident left in October of that year.
Around six people have worked in the town as caretakers over the summer each year since 2013, as part of ongoing efforts by Russian mining company Artikugol to use the site for tourism – as Russia is keen to maintain its presence on the island.
Many of the buildings can be toured with permission in advance, including the abandoned swimming pool and other facilities.
The ghost town is also visited by some of the many animals that call the island home, including Arctic Foxes and reindeer.
The site also has a small souvenir shop for those who make it there.
The only practical route to the town for most is via the tourist ships that operate out of Longyearbyen, the town of just over 1,000 people that is considered by many to be the most northern town in the world.
This is not possible all year around, however, as the fjord is often frozen solid into spring – leaving it inaccessible for any vessels.
Russia has another settlement on Svalbard, Barentsburg, which continues to be inhabited and exports coal to Russia itself.
Svalbard may become increasingly important to Putin’s Russia, and other Arctic powers, in decades to come as melting sea ice means more vessels will pass between Asia and Europe via the Arctic rather than the current routes.
