The pyramid is located 120 km north of Longyearbyen, Norway; it was the world's northernmost coal mine. The prefix “the northernmost” here can be substituted for everything: “the northernmost monument to Lenin” or “the northernmost swimming pool in the world” and so on, whatever your imagination allows. In 1998, coal mining ended and the village was mothballed. In the 1980s, up to 1000 people lived in the village; when Lebedev visited this place in the 2000s, only a crazy German lived here. Due to the special status of Spitsbergen (any state could conduct economic activity there), the Soviet Union tried to make this village a real showcase of communism; the Norwegians were jealous of how luxuriously a citizen of the USSR lived. It was a real paradise, getting here was considered real luck.
The pyramid is located in a picturesque location at the foot of a mountain, similar in shape to a real pyramid overlooking the Nordenskiöld glacier. During the difficult crisis years of the conservation of the village, when no one remained in the Pyramid for the winter, vandals ruled here. The Norwegians came on snowmobiles and took away everything that could be taken away. For example, in the Kroa bar in Longyearbyen there is a bust of Lenin, it is just from the Pyramid. The city could have become another ghost town, like Pripyat in Ukraine, but we came to our senses in time and are now trying to breathe new life into the city through tourism.
Ghost town Pyramid on Spitsbergen // elnarperm.livejournal.com
And now a little history. There is constant debate about who was the first to discover this polar archipelago. The Pomors of Spitsbergen have been known as "Grumant" since the 15th century; at the entrance to the harbors, the Russians left wooden crosses with the names of those who erected them. The Pomors left traces of settlements, there is no doubt - they were the first to engage in fishing on the distant island of Spitsbergen. Radiocarbon dating of the objects shows that they are much earlier in time than the Viking journeys to these lands. The Norwegians, of course, claim the opposite. Allegedly, the Pomors arrived much later and brought with them old utensils and used centuries-old logs in the construction of houses, so radiocarbon analysis does not count :) Ours claim that the Vikings only sailed to Bear Island, which they called “Svalbard,” i.e. cold earth in Norwegian. The question is quite political.
Officially, the island was discovered by the Dutch navigator Barents, who was looking for the shortest route from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. The discovery of new islands led to the fact that whaling companies settled here; what’s more, the bowhead whale produced 1.5 tons of baleen and 30 tons of blubber!
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The British and Danes were the first to declare their territorial claims to this land. Unlike Western Europeans, our people felt great on Spitsbergen, built camps and spent the winter in harsh conditions. Norwegians actively began to appear at the end of the 19th century, the land was officially recognized as “no man's land” just at this time. The issue of the legal status of the islands was supposed to be resolved in 1914 between Russia, Norway and Sweden, but due to the First World War the issue was returned to only in 1920, the Soviet Union was not invited to the Paris Conference, but the possibility of Russian rights to use natural and other resources before the USSR joined the treaty. The treaty itself recognized sovereignty over the islands for Norway, but the Norwegians pledged not to build military bases and fortifications on the islands, and now the most interesting thing: “citizens of all countries that signed the treaty, along with the Norwegians, have the right of free access to the archipelago for shipping, industrial, and commercial activities.” and commercial transactions on conditions of complete equality.
In other words, the islands actually belong to Norway, but any company or any citizen can live on the island and use its resources. A unique situation!
Ours in 1924, we joined the agreement, bought the land plots managed by the Arktikugol company, its task was simple - to provide the northern part of Russia with coal. Until 1941, two mines operated - in Barentsburg and Grumant, and a third village - Pyramid - was built. Every day the ships departed for Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. During the war, all the workers were evacuated to the north of England, and after the war, in 1946, the first miners and builders arrived, restored two villages in 3 years and completed the Pyramid in 1956.
So, it turns out that we had three settlements, the first is Grumant, which was mothballed in 1961, the miners say that when the coal runs out in other places, they can return here, the proven reserves will last for a long time. The second village is Barentsburg, an active village with the Russian Consulate, a swimming pool, a school and other infrastructure, I will write about it later. The most interesting is the third mine, Pyramid.
My first story will be about him.
And it all started with this issue of the Russian Reporter; in 2009, I read the article “The Archipelago NO WAY” about this place and got excited. I knew I'd get here. Necessarily
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Our ship is in the port, the Russians call it the “polar girl”, the port of registration is Tromsø, in the winter it takes athletes to the fjord mountains, in the summer it takes tourists to the Pyramid and Barentsburg.
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The most important thing is to be lucky with the weather, then 3 hours of sailing will seem like a pleasant walk. In total, two ships carry it to the Pyramid in the summer.
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Barents, the discoverer of the island, wrote this: “The land along which we sailed was hilly and elevated, but they were not mountains, although the hills looked like sharp spiers, so the land was piled on Spitsbergen.”
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Northern nature is gorgeous, of course
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Guide Vadim talks in Norwegian and English about the animal world and the history of the island. Basically, half of the tourists are from mainland Norway, the rest are a complete hodgepodge of Germans, French, and Americans.
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Approaching the Pyramid
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Buildings, view from the water
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We are greeted by the bus and the tour guide Sasha from St. Petersburg, a colorful character with a “moose” gun. You can’t go without a gun; polar bears are extremely dangerous animals. Interestingly, the killing of a polar bear is investigated by the police; shooting can only be done in self-defense, which still needs to be proven. The role of the police is performed by the governor from Norway or, as he is called here, the Susselman. The punishments and fines here are severe, they say that in times of famine, our people killed deer, and they were with chips, and the Norgs (that’s what the Norwegians are called) immediately flew in by helicopter and tied everyone up. The fines are scary!
Svalbard is a place where the modern Norwegian way of life and the Soviet way of life coexist. There are three Russian villages on the territory of the archipelago, one of which is active - Barentsburg, and the rest have the status of “mothballed/abandoned”.
I want to tell you about one of them. We will talk about the legendary coal village of Pyramid. “Ghost town”, “the northernmost coal mine in the world”, “a fragment of the Soviet system in the Arctic”, “northern frontier” - no matter what they call this place, which has been lost in time and gives foreigners who come here the opportunity to feel like they are in the Soviet Union, and the residents of the CIS - to plunge into the past, from which they barely had time to wean themselves.
Why Pyramid?
Everything is very simple - the village is located at the foot of a pyramid-shaped mountain. The Norwegians call it in their own way Pyramiden, but this name was given to it by the Swedes, who were the first to begin coal mining activities here. With a very strong desire and the necessary equipment, you can climb to the top of the Pyramid and look at the village and the mine from above, which goes deep into this mountain, but you must have a guide with a gun with you, because due to the proximity of the Pyramid to Billefjord, where seals live , the likelihood of meeting a polar bear here increases sharply.
The same mountain thanks to which the village received its name
History of the Pyramid
In 1910, the Swedish company Spetsbergens Svenska Kolfalt received permission to mine coal in the archipelago, and a year later equipped a mine for this purpose. It must be said that geologically this is not the easiest place to mine coal. The mine is located in a hard-to-reach place at an altitude of half a kilometer, which makes this type of work very complex and energy-intensive. In this regard, 16 years later, in 1927, a Swedish company sells the territory of the village of Pyramid along with everything that is on it. In 1931, the Soviet state trust Arktikugol became the owner of this 47 sq. km site. From this year until now, it is the only Russian company that conducts business activities in the Norwegian archipelago of Spitsbergen.
Plan diagram of the village of Pyramid The Soviet Union decided not to use the Swedish mine, but, with its usual scope, began to build its own. In 1941, having managed to rebuild the mine itself and the infrastructure around it in the village, all residents were removed from the village due to the outbreak of World War II in the Soviet Union. During the evacuation, the coal warehouse and all equipment were destroyed by the inhabitants of the Pyramid.
After 1946, life in the Pyramid begins to resume. For these purposes, 609 polar explorers were brought here, and already in 1947 the first street appeared here, which started from the port and led to the village. The Soviet Union spared no expense in reviving the Pyramid; everything was done on a grand scale. Multi-storey buildings were built here for families, women and men (in the best Soviet traditions, men lived separately from women). The women's house was called "Paris", and the men's house was called "London". A library, a hospital, greenhouses, a large sports complex with a swimming pool with heated sea water, a hotel, a dining room with 200 seats, a livestock farm and many other industrial and technical buildings. Pyramid was the northernmost village in the Spitsbergen archipelago and the closest to the North Pole. And if you also take into account that this territory is located in permafrost, then you can imagine how much effort had to be made in order to erect all these buildings.
The main street in the Pyramid is called “60th Anniversary of October” Coal mining was in full swing and already in the 1950s about 70 thousand tons of coal were mined. In order to increase production, in 1956 the second Severnaya mine was opened, from which, according to the project, 235 thousand tons of coal could be extracted per year.
A mine that goes deep into the mountain, and at the top there is a rock in the form of a pyramid By 1980, the population here numbered more than 1000 people. The village is gaining incredible popularity due to the high level of salaries. Literally everyone in the Soviet Union knows that if you work in the Arctic, you can earn enough to buy a new apartment in a very short time, so the competition for jobs is simply crazy. You can get a job in the coal village of Pyramid only through great connections through good friends.
Residential buildings in Pyramid 
Hotel "Tulip" 
The rule to leave your gun outside applies throughout the Svalbard archipelago 
The Pyramid houses the northernmost monument to Lenin in the world However, the process of collapse of the Soviet Union will have an extremely negative impact on the Pyramid. By that time, coal as a mineral will greatly depreciate in the market. And the costs of maintaining such a distant territory will no longer be affordable for the Soviet government, so the number of miners and their families is gradually decreasing. Transporting coal to the continent becomes very expensive, so they decide to store its entire supply locally, in the village. The condition of the mines requires major repairs, especially after endogenous (underground) fires that have not yet been extinguished. However, the Pyramid is trying to “survive” for another 7 long years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But in 1997, a decision was made to close the mines and mothball the entire village.
The buildings in the Pyramid look different depending on the lighting. Here, for example, is the port on a sunny day. Nothing at all 
And here is the same port, but in a snow storm. Looks a little scary, doesn't it? 
The coal sorting room looks very gloomy. It's like a set for a thriller or horror movie 
The rest of the industrial buildings don't look any better. 
There is a lot of equipment left in the kitchen in the dining room 
The kitchen had a lot of capacity to feed an entire miner's village. 
A large mural of the Arctic hangs in the dining room. 
There were always a lot of books in the Pyramid 
Sometimes you come across books that you can't put down 
Despite the fact that the bulk of the books were transported to Barentsburg, interesting copies can be found in the Pyramid 
Most buildings are prohibited from entering. But our guide, who worked in the Pyramid, still had the keys to the dining room and the cultural center 
Sports complex with swimming pool 
The cultural center has a gym where you can develop your physical spirit 
Music studios were also present in the Pyramid 
The cultural center often hosted performances by local groups. 
The distance between Pyramid and Barentsburg is 120 km, so sports competitions were often held between the villages 
These posters are still kept in the cultural center 
There was a notice board in the dining room where people were buying and selling things. 
Since goods from the continent sometimes had to wait a very long time, such boards helped to get the necessary goods 
Where would we be without her, my dear? In March 1998, the last ton of coal was produced from the Severnaya mine, and now this legendary trailer, filled to the brim, stands at the entrance to the village. During operation, this mine produced 8.8 million tons of coal, which accounted for 57% of the total volume of the entire mine. Due to the closure of the mines, all its inhabitants were taken to the continent or to Barentsburg.
The last trailer with coal is at the entrance to the village Plane crash on Spitsbergen
Another factor in favor of closing the village was the largest air disaster on Spitsbergen, when in 1996 a Russian Vnukovo Airlines TU-154 plane, operating a charter flight Moscow-Longyearbyen, crashed into Mount Opera. There were 141 people on board - mostly miners for the Pyramid and Barentsburg mines and their families. All crew members and passengers were killed. The cause of the plane crash was the inexperience of the pilots who made this flight. The fact is that after the collapse of the USSR, there were constant delays in the payment of salaries, and the crew of the flight that usually flew to Spitsbergen refused to work. Therefore, they hired completely new pilots who did not know the terrain near Longyearbyen airport. This led to a disaster that is still considered the largest in terms of the number of victims in the entire history of Norway. In memory of this sad event, a wooden church was erected in the village of Barentsburg, which is open around the clock.
The pyramid in our time
The village stood in a mothballed state for 11 long years, when the Russian authorities decided to revive life in this distant land. The fact is that the “ghost town” became a desired destination for many Norwegian tourists who wanted to “touch” the Soviet Union, which they had only read about in books. In 2009, a decision was made to “re-open” the Tulip Hotel so that visiting tourists would have a place to stay overnight. The hotel opens a full-fledged restaurant-bar. The entire interior has been preserved in the classic Soviet style; they decided not to modify it. By 2016, some of the hotel rooms were renovated, and the second part was left as is, because for the opportunity to spend a night in a “Soviet room”, Norwegians and other foreigners are ready to shell out a large sum (in 2018, a room in the “Soviet” style cost 100 euros per night, and refurbished – 120 euros).
At the bar you can order a lot of strong alcoholic drinks, including regular vodka. The more Soviet symbols, the better The same goes for the restaurant menu - all the names have been preserved from Soviet canteens. Here you will find the Gorbachev omelette, the Student cutlet, Russian pancakes with caviar, and Ukrainian borscht with sour cream. All products are transported from another Russian village on Spitsbergen - Barentsburg. They also accept orders for overnight stays at the hotel or group tours to the Pyramid. During the polar summer (from late March to early October), up to 20 service personnel can live in the village - these are cooks, guides, cleaners, waiters, the head of the village, and stokers who heat all the buildings with coal reserves. In winter, about 3 stokers remain in Pyramid, and since no one goes to the village during the polar winter, a supply of food for these workers is left in the fall.
Pancakes, but not with caviar 
We can safely say that there are many more animals in the Pyramid than people 
Arctic foxes here are tamed by stokers, but it is better not to touch them with your hands - they can carry rabies 
Around the Pyramid on the ice you can find many tracks of polar bears. They often enter the village, so you shouldn’t walk alone without a gun 
The reindeer are not at all embarrassed by the abandoned status of the Pyramid; they are here on their own territory Communication in the Pyramid
It is at this place that you can try to catch the signal of the Norwegian mobile operator. Someone hung up a telephone as a joke My impressions of the Pyramid
We spent 3 days and 2 nights in the Pyramid, and my impressions were very mixed. On the one hand, this is a unique place, which has no analogues in the world, where you can feel forgotten by everyone on the edge of the earth. On the other hand, if you are a socially active person, then the Pyramid will be a real torture, since a limited circle of people (with whom it is not always possible to make friends) and a complete lack of communication will make staying in the village almost unbearable. Therefore, everyone decides for himself whether he could live in complete isolation or not. But the fact that this place will not leave you indifferent is one hundred percent. Therefore, if you have such an opportunity, then visit this “ghost town” at the end of the earth while it is still in the form in which it was left.
Mothballed in 1998. Since 2007, 3 people constantly live and work in the village in winter and up to 20 people in summer.
| Village | |
| Pyramiden | |
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| 78°39′22″ n. w. 16°19′30″ E. d. HGIOL | |
| A country | Norway Norway |
| Region | Spitsbergen |
| Island | Western Spitsbergen |
| History and geography | |
| Based | 1910 |
| Climate type | arctic |
| Timezone | UTC+1 , in summer UTC+2 |
| Population | |
| Population | 3-16 people (2014) |
|
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| Audio, photo and video on Wikimedia Commons | |
Basic information
The village received its name because of the pyramidal shape of the mountain, at the foot of which it was founded on the shores of Petunia and Mimer bays. The village is located about 120 km from Barentsburg. The distance to the capital of the archipelago, Longyearbyen, is about 50 km to the south as the crow flies. Until 1998, Pyramid was the world's northernmost operating mine. The village was built taking into account the experience gained during the construction of Barentsburg, Grumant and Colsbay and became, according to the Norwegian King Harald V, who visited the village in 1995, one of the “pearls” of the archipelago.
During the summer, Norwegian tourist boats from Longyearbyen sail daily to Pyramiden. In winter you can get there by snowmobile.
Attractions
The terrain in the Pyramid area is mountains, valleys, glaciers. Opposite the Pyramid there is a large Nordenskiöld glacier, large blocks of which, hovering above the water, break off from time to time with a roar to begin their journey in the form of icebergs.
The emblem of the Pyramid is the stele at the entrance to the village. The stele was installed in 1984, but it acquired its finished form in 1998, when, by order of the director of the Pyramid V.I. Chistyakov, it was decided to install one of the trolleys near it in memory of the labor exploits of the miners of the Arctic. The inscription was written on the trolley: “On March 31, 1998, this last ton of coal was issued from the Pyramid mine.”
In the village you can visit the dining room, where a magnificent mosaic panel is still preserved, a kindergarten and a school, a cultural and sports complex and a swimming pool, as well as a cinema where you can look into the projection control room.
On a one-day hike, you can see the Blue Lakes, waterfalls, and the bottle house, which has become a popular attraction. Those who wish can also climb Mount Pyramid or go to the fabulously beautiful Skanskaya Bay.
Story
In 1910, Swede Bertil Högbom received permission to mine coal 120 kilometers from the Barentsburg mine in the depths of the mountains at half a kilometer above sea level. In 1911, construction and equipment of the mine began. The settlement was located on the shores of Petunia and Mimer bays, the land plots belonged to the company " Spetsbergens Svenska Kolfalt", from which they were acquired by the Anglo-Russian Grumant society; then, in 1927, the Severoles trust became the owner of the Pyramid, and since 1931, the Arktikugol trust. Thus, the village became Soviet.
Construction of the mine in the Mount Pyramid area began in July 1939 and continued until August 1941, when all residents of the archipelago were evacuated. At the time of evacuation, there were 99 people at the mine. Before the start of the war, premises for a diesel station and a technical warehouse, a dormitory and a bathhouse were built at the foot of Mount Pyramid, the construction of a residential building, a canteen, a radio station, a boiler room and the passage of ventilation and haulage adits began. The work was carried out mainly on the surface of the mine. The first wintering was organized in the winter of 1940-1941. During World War II, in 1941, the coal warehouse and all equipment were destroyed by the employees themselves during the evacuation.
August 1946, when 609 polar explorers arrived at Pyramid, is considered the beginning of construction of the mine.
The first street in Pyramid appeared in March 1947. It began at the port under construction and led to the village. On both sides there were little houses called “fincas”.
In 1947-1950, a large volume of geological exploration work was carried out, mining exploration was carried out, from which coal was mined - about 70 thousand tons of coal were mined.
The population in the 1960s to 1980s was over 1,000; In those years, multi-storey capital buildings, a swimming pool, a library, a winter garden and a shallow port for loading coal were built.
During the operation of the mine, a thermal power plant, a port, a garage, three artificial lakes with drinking water, a livestock farm, a greenhouse, and other industrial and social facilities were built and put into operation. Up to a thousand people lived in the well-maintained village, for whom a spacious sports complex with a seawater pool and a dining room with 200 seats was built.
Mine closure
The decision to close the mine was made at the end of 1997. At the time of closure, the annual coal production plan was 135 thousand tons, or 57 percent of the mine's design capacity. The decrease in the level of coal production was mainly due to the inability to timely replenish the mining front due to difficult geological conditions. The main reasons for the decision to liquidate the mine were limited reserves and high costs of coal mining associated with the need to carry out a large volume of preparatory mining, as well as the constantly growing costs of localizing an endogenous fire in the mine, which arose in 1970 and is still active today.
The last tons of coal from the mine were released on March 31, 1998. During its operation, Mine No. 2 “Severnaya” produced about 8.8 million tons of coal.
Mine liquidation work was carried out mainly in the mine workings and mine surface objects technologically related to it. The work completed allowed the mine to be closed and ensured in subsequent years that people would not be allowed into the mine workings. During the liquidation of the mine, the housing stock (except for dilapidated ones) with a total area of 3931 m², social and cultural facilities and industrial buildings were mothballed.
Projects to resume mining at the open-pit mine were considered, but coal mining in Pyramid is unprofitable. The pyramid, despite its favorable location inside the archipelago, did not become a research station like Ny-Ålesund, but it has turned into a real art object, an open-air museum, and attracts tourists from around the world. Since 2007, the Arktikugol trust has been developing tourism activities in Pyramid.
The difficulties of the Arktikugol concern with the formation of a development policy were fully reflected in the Pyramid.
Despite repeated statements of interest in resuming production at the open-pit mine, no active actions have been taken in this direction and independent estimates of the profitability of Pyramid are unknown. In addition, capital buildings of the Soviet era were not in demand in the 21st century.
The settlement was founded by the Swedes in 1910. It deserves its name because of the pyramid-shaped mountains surrounding it. The main occupation of the population was coal mining.
In 1927, the territory on which the settlements were located, along with the coal mines, was sold to the Soviet Union. Between 1960 and 1980 the population reached 1,000 people, however, starting in 1988, people began to leave the settlement and by 2000 it was completely deserted.
Now you can only get to the Pyramid by boat or snowmobile.
In the vast far north there is a place that for many years symbolized the parity of world systems, socialist and capitalist. It was here that the northernmost frontier of the Cold War took place, and it was here, in this sterile, pacifying cold, that “potential opponents” got along for a very long time, worked and even fell in love. The country of sharp mountains, Spitsbergen, also known as Svalbard, was, as it were, no one’s. Moreover, the sons of the Soviet people on this land had almost more rights than the subjects of Norway, the legal owners of the archipelago. Here was the longest ruble.
It all started with the fact that in 1912 Russian polar explorers found more than 30 deposits of good coal on wild, useless Svalbard. The countries, weakened by the world war, began to divide the archipelago, and in 1920 they agreed: no wars, only work! Since then, not a single cruiser has the right to moor here (there are weapons on the islands to scare polar bears).
At the turn of 1920-30. Eighty square kilometers of land were purchased by the USSR from the Swedes, and mines and mining settlements began to be built here. The most famous of which is the village (and now “ghost town”) Pyramid, next to the mine of the same name and a kilometer-high mountain.
Over the 60 years of existence of the once mighty Arktikugol trust, Pyramid, the northernmost mine in the world, gave the country almost 8 million tons of coal - expensive, unprofitable, but “light”. It did not appear “on the mountain”, but rolled down the mountain. The money ran out and the last ton of black gold was mined on March 31, 1998. The last trolley is still waiting for something. But there's nothing to wait...
Since then, both the mine and the town at its foot are dead. To put it in clerical language, they are mothballed. Some of the workers returned to the mainland, abandoning everything except their savings; others got a job at a mine in Barentsburg. Instead of the previous 1,100 inhabitants, there are now usually thousands of noisy seagulls and five people: one “hermit” who has taken on the role of a tourist guide, and four workers who prevent the houses from falling apart.
In Soviet times, the Pyramid had everything a Soviet person needed: a good salary, scarce products, and even the world’s northernmost swimming pool. There are a lot of options for cultural leisure. A cultural center with a cinema, a library, a sports complex where dumbbells, exercise machines, balls remain...
It's 79 degrees north latitude here and it's always very cold. However, Soviet biologists acclimatized mainland lawn grass in the Pyramid to brighten up the tired looks of miners on a long polar day.
Sometimes in summer there are tourists here, who are usually brought by water from Longyearbyen. The trip takes two hours, exploring the town takes the same amount. For a dromomaniac photographer, this is a frozen polar paradise. It is officially prohibited to enter houses and touch anything inside, but, as they say, if you don’t get caught, you don’t...
That's why artifacts are often stolen - “as a souvenir.”
The future of the ghost village is uncertain. Norway is introducing strict environmental laws, so there is no talk of any revival of coal mining. In general, the Russian Federation is not up to the Pyramid now. Businessmen see this very well, and someone is planning to mine and dry sea medicinal algae here. And someone wants to build a tourist complex for lovers of skiing and dog sledding. There is somewhere to turn around.
In the meantime, perhaps the main attraction of the ghost town is the Pyramid, the world’s northernmost monument to Ilyich. The stone leader indifferently surveys the distances of unfinished communism.
Now a flash mob about the 90s is very popular, and in the last post about Spitsbergen I propose to be transported back to that time - to the village of Pyramid, mothballed in 97 and retaining the ambiance of the Soviet-perestroika era.
(42 photos)
A mothballed settlement differs from an abandoned one in that sooner or later people will return to it. Permafrost is good for preserving buildings, and there is no one nearby who could destroy them. Recently I showed the Pyramid from the street, and now I invite you to look inside and plunge into the atmosphere of the 90s...
Everything inside remains as is. Childhood memories came flooding back to me - a lot of typical elements and familiar objects.
Cinema hall. This lining on the walls used to be everywhere possible.
There is a piano on stage. Working, but, as one would expect, not in a good mood.
Projectionist's booth. There are reels of tapes on the floor.
The gym is completely untouched. Recently there was a competition between our and Norwegian scientists.
Rocking chair with Soviet homemade sports equipment.
By the way, in the Russian provinces many of these simulators are still in use.
Library. Strange, but there are no books. They say that they were stolen, but it seems to me that the Norwegians took them away. I doubt that anyone would decide to steal a library in such a place.
Old Soviet signs.
The studio retains soundproofing upholstery and musical instruments.
Hall for ballet and dance classes. Why are there so many lamps on the ceiling?
The mirrors were removed, revealing a message from 1984 behind them.
The Bird House is a former family hostel.
Kindergarten "Solnyshko" and its creators.
A little higher up is a sign for an elementary school. Now it looks like a puzzle.
The paint inside the school is already peeling off. In principle, it is not surprising - for such a time and in such temperature conditions.
Teacher's room with a warehouse of textbooks and magazines.
Textbooks of my time! I remember them from school.
A stack of test papers. Unfortunately, it was a dictation, not an essay - it would have been interesting to read the thoughts of schoolchildren from the 90s.
Magazine with ratings. It can be seen that there were 20 people in the class.
The guide said that the wallpaper started peeling off just a week ago.
Primary school class. The board is lined into copybooks and squares.
A classroom where traffic studies took place.
The trek of the great traveler Maxim Gorky.
Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Apparently, such graffiti appeared in recent years. The broken chandelier is the result of long years of neglect, and not the hands of vandals - they themselves began to fall from the ceiling.
