Pyramiden, Svalbard

Svalbard · Norway · Abandoned site

A Soviet model town emptied out in weeks in 1998 – the plates are still on the tables, and the world's northernmost bust of Lenin stares across an empty football pitch.

Pyramiden was founded by Swedes, sold to the Soviet Union in 1927 and built up into an Arctic model community of more than a thousand people: school, swimming hall, greenhouses, a cattle barn and a library of nearly 25,000 volumes. When the mining company Arktikugol abruptly closed the pit in 1998, everyone left almost overnight, carrying only personal belongings. What remained was an entire town, furnished and ready. The ball still lies on the handball court, schoolbooks lie open, the grand piano stands in the culture house, and the bust of Lenin – the northernmost on earth – faces the glacier. Permafrost keeps it all near-intact while polar bears and kittiwakes take over the streets. Through the polar night, Pyramiden is one of the planet's most literal ghost towns.

FAQ

Where is Pyramiden, Svalbard located?

Pyramiden, Svalbard is in Svalbard, Norway.

More haunted places in Svalbard

Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.