The following text was adapted from this website:https: www.spitsbergen-svalbard.com photos-panoramas-videos-and-webcams spitsbergen-panoramas barentsburg.htmlBarentsburg is a Russian coal mining settlement in Grønfjord, about 37 kilometres westsouthwest of Longyearbyen. In 1916, the Norwegians made the first attempts at least for some trial mining, but did not really get anywhere with it as they did not have the capital for mining on an industrial scale. So they sold their property in 1920 to a Dutch company, the Nederlandsche Spitsbergen Compagnie. The Dutch founded Barentsburg and named the place after Willem Barentsz, one of their polar sea heroes. They mined coal on a larger scale, but mining has always been an economical challenge in Spitsbergen and they finally had to sell. The new owner was a Russian company, which was soon turned into the state-owned Trust Arktikugol. This is the owner which still runs Barentsburg and the other Russian properties in Spitsbergen today.The Russians continued mining in Barentsburg in the 1930s, until the beginning of the Second World War Most of today's buildings were built during the 1970s and 1980s. In those years, the Soviet Union was powerful and ambitious and a strong presence in Spitsbergen was obviously something that the leaders in Moscow appreciated.As the economy went down in Russia in the 1990s after the breakup of the Sovjet Union, Moscow forgot about her periphery and things went downhill. A strong blow for the Russian community in Spitsbergen came in 1996 with the crash of an airplane at Operafjellet. The second Russian settlement in Spitsbergen, Pyramiden, was abandoned in 1998. Barentsburg continued its existance, but under difficult conditions for some years. The buildings suffered from the climate, slope movements and lack of maintenance and the number of inhabitants dropped from once more than 1000 to a few hundred. Mining had to be discontinued after accidents between 2008 an 2010. Finally, the Trust Arktikugol started again to invest in Barentsburg. Some of the old buildings were removed and others were refurbished.Coal continues to be mined, but quantities are small in a global context with about 100,000 tons per years. To secure income and jobs, it was decided to develop tourism. The hotel was modernised and activities are now offered to tourists who spend more time than just the 2 hours that those have who come on a day trip from Longyearbyen. Now, you can visit the coal mine, take a course in Russian handicraft or join a guide for a hike. Without any doubts, the combination of an active Russian mining settlement and the arctic surroundings makes Barentsburg a unique place, which has got much more to offer than what you can see in the 2 hours that you have got within a day trip from Longyearbyen. But a lot has changed since the Russian full-scale invasion in the Ukraine started. The relationship between Norwegians and Russians in Spitsbergen has cooled down, and tourism in the Russian settlements has largely collapsed.Thr white four-storey building in the background - to the right of the middle â is Hotel Barentsburg, the red building in front of it is the hospital. Coal deposits are visible, so are the docks of the Arktikugol Coal Company.
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