I heard repeatedly during my childhood the term “communist paradise”.

Happy factory workers had access to first class education and equal wages than a banker. Food was free as much as lodging, schooling or hospital.

Happiness and justice were all over the place

Once upon a time, the Russian guardian of Pyramida tells while carrying his compulsory gun, there were 6000 inhabitants in this city. He has a Russian sense of humor and makes european listeners laugh with things such as: “Western spy Mikhail Gorbachov finished the soviet paradise”.

True enough, once Norwegians claimed back their territory and rampant mining was brought to an end, Sovietic forces withdrew from Pyramida in a blink of an eye. The energy of thousands of workers who dwelled there remained frozen in the landscape.

In 1990 Russia gave three hours to the inhabitants of Pyramida to leave the place.

The rush can me almost touched in the air. The footballs frozen in space the music sheets half page, the catering still smoking with the last bread tray.

the cries of the albatross can be heard like cries of children among the empty buildings. The occasional white bear visits time to time the place looking for some human delicacy.

Pyramida is the image of the soviet system collapse.

A Russian guide looks over the place where a Russian flag still reigns over the silent walls.

The glaciers around Pyramida are a sort of underworld facing civilisation.

The white and blue of the ice looks silent, almost smily to the lone city.

The victory of nature over man is always a reassuring matter.

All standard items of soviet life were part of the day to day in Svalbard.

The workers may have spent hours in the coal galleries or cooking meals for thousands of persons. However, arts, sport and science were part of the marxist way of life soviets liked to install.

Pyramida could be a mining town but it had its own sports complex, ballet room, music center and library. You could be a coal miner and a violinist.

Charcoal was dug out of Pyramida for years. Workers were shipped from Sovietic Union into the city with the promisse of a compensation after the hardship mission. In revenge, food and lodging were provided.

The kitchen of the canteen of Pyramida worked 24 hours.

At its peak time, Pyramida had 6000 inhabitants.