Introducing Barentsburg
The first thing you see of Barentsburg, Svalbard’s only remaining Russian settlement, is its power-station chimney, belching dark black smoke into the blue sky. This isolated village continues to mine coal against all odds and still produces up to 350, 000 tonnes per year, though selling it on the open market is a constant problem and stockpiles are huge. Everything’s a bit run-down, dishevelled and sooty. With its signing in Cyrillic script, a still-standing bust of Lenin and murals of muscly workers in heroic pose, it feels further east and of the last century.
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Last updated: Feb 17, 2009
Thorn Tree forum discussion
Recent posts
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RE: Svalbard - September
by johnthefinn 03 July 2011
In addition to Longyearbyen, you need have no worries about going around unarmed in Barentsburg, the Russian settlement.
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RE: Svalbard in early May
by CazzB 14 April 2011
I was there in early June last year. Still enough snow to dog sled (awesome), and we also kayaked, went on a boat trip to Barentsburg,…
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RE: svalbard or bust....
by johnthefinn 11 March 2011
I stayed in Longyearbyen in early June last year. I took the ferry trip to the crumbling Russian settlement at Barentsburg, went fossil…
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