Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
decade. With its signing in Cyrillic script, still-standing bust of Lenin, murals of muscly
workers in heroic pose and a run-down and dishevelled air, the overwhelming feeling is of
a settlement whose time has past.
History
Barentsburg, on Grønfjorden, was first identified as a coal-producing area around 1900,
when the Kullkompaniet Isefjord Spitsbergen started operations. Several other companies
also sank shafts and in 1920 the town was founded by the Dutch company Nespico.
Twelve years later it passed to the Soviet Trust Arktikugol.
Barentsburg, like Longyearbyen, was partially destroyed by the British Royal Navy in
1941 to prevent it falling into Nazi hands (ironically, the German navy itself finished the
job later). In 1948 it was rebuilt by Trust Arktikugol and embarked on a period of growth,
development and scientific research that lasted until the fall of the Soviet Union.
Barentsburg, like every other pit on Svalbard, has known tragedy. In 1996 many of
those who perished in a plane crash during a blizzard near Adventdalen were miners' fam-
ilies from the Ukraine. Then, a year later, 23 miners died in a mine explosion and fire.
Sights
Pomor Museum
MUSEUM
(admission Nkr50; when tour boats are in port)
This simple, appealing little museum outlines (in Russian only) the historic Pomor trade
with mainland Russia, plus Russian mining and history on Svalbard. Especially worth-
while are the excellent geological exhibits and the collection of artefacts suggesting Russi-
an activity in Svalbard prior to the archipelago's accepted European 'discovery' by Willem
Barents.
Chapel
CHAPEL
The small wooden Orthodox chapel above the football pitch commemorates the twin dis-
asters of 1996 and 1997.
Sleeping & Eating
