On the remote archipelago of Svalbard, a slowly decaying settlement offers visitors an intimate look at the not-so-distant past.
New York Times: Glimpses of a deserted Soviet mining town, preserved in the high Arctic
Alexander Romanovskiy, the Russian guard of the abandoned Russian mining settlement of Pyramiden, poses on July 19, 2015, in Pyramiden, on the Norwegian Arctic Svalbard archipelago. Pyramiden was bought by the Soviet Union in 1927 from the Swedish founders of the coal mine, and abandoned in 1998 after the mine's closure. It once housed 1,200 Russians and had hospital, a sports and culture centre, and a movie theatre. With much of its infrastructure still in place, efforts have been made since 2007 to make it a tourist attraction.
