Pyramiden Mining Town A Soviet ghost town on the archipelago of Svalbard

Pyramiden is a Russian settlement and coal- mining community on the archipelago of Svalbard, Norway.

Founded by Sweden in 1910 and sold to the Soviet Union in 1927, Pyramiden was closed in 1998 and has since remained largely abandoned with most of its infrastructure and buildings still in place. Since 2007 there have been efforts to make it a tourist attraction.

Source: wikipedia

Following the release of theyr fourth album “Piramida”, the Danish band Efterklang add another string to their bow with “The Ghost of Piramida“, a film by Andreas Koefoed, that documents the Danish trio’s visit to the abandoned Russian mining town where the record’s inception began back in the summer of 2011.

Pyramiden is an abandoned coal mining village on Svalbard. There they placed the northern most Lenin statue, and there it is still standing and waiting until people come back.

Text by Lukas Bösch

The Russian mining town of Pyramiden on the Svalbard archipelago was abandoned in 1998, leaving behind the idea of a ‘perfect’ Soviet settlement complete with cultural, sports and social facilities sitting alongside the mining operations.

Text by Chris Parry

Ph. Lukas Bösch

Ph. Chris Parry

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