Barentsburg Things to Do

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A guided tour through Barentsburg is a matter of a few minutes, maybe half an hour - not counting a visit to the museum, of course!

There is not much to be seen in this little village: the sports center, the church, the museum and a few houses, along with explanations of the glorious efforts of the Soviet people!....

Still, this is the way it is, and experiencing it was quite an adventure for me, which I would not have wanted to miss!

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The Church of Barentsburg is a very new one: it was built after a terrible plane crash, in which 141 people were killed at Operafjellet outside Longyearbyen in August 1996. These were mostly families of the miners - a terrible loss!

The church is a tiny church, more like a chapel and it is open to the public.

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This really was a highlight and I am so glad we had time enough to visit this museum! They have excellent exhibitions on geology, history and flora and fauna.

It is very well described both in Russian and in English - much better than the (old) museum in Longyearbyen.

Entrance fee is to be paid in Norwegian Kroners.

the russian mining town (less than 1000 inhabitants, mostly men! watch out girls!)

note the wooden thing in the foreground: all pipes have to be isolated and kept above ground, like all the buildings ... otherwise they sink... (the usual permafrost problems!)

In the main street the is a Museum, which is suppose to be very interesting. We never had the time to visit on our short stop.

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have fun looking for details!

One thing that our tourguide pointed out to us were those little boxes within the windows. No, they are not airconditions - they are Arctic refrigerators!!!

here they can be completely self sufficient: they have a hothouse and they raise cattle indoor too! they say it's the northernost cows...

and this must be the northernmost Lenin too!

The Locals told me that There aren't police because the occasional troublemaker ''just gets a little advice from the mine manager,

So nice.

These are originals caps worn during the old Russian times.

The Picture was taken inside the souvenir shop.