90's flash mobs are very popular now and in my last review about Svalbard, I offered to take you back in time to the village of
Pyramiden. This village was abandoned in 1997 and has since become a popular attraction for tourists to witness the untouched preservation of Soviet era settlement.
As I said, a dormant settlement differs from an abandoned one, because sooner or later people will return.Permafrost is a great natural source that preserves the buildings and there is no one nearby to come and destroy them. I recently showed
from the outside, now I offer you a look inside . . . . prepare to be transported back to the 90's.
Let's start with the culture center:
Everything inside was left in its original state. Childhood memories suddenly flood my mind; I remember seeing and having many of the same elements and objects pictured below.
The cinema. Thie lining on the walls used to be everywhere:
There was a piano on the stage. It still worked but, as might be expected, it was out of tune:
This is a projection room. Film spools were still lying on the floor:
The sports hall was left totally untouched. Recently, there had been competitions between Russian and Norwegian scientists:
And this was the gym, complete with the Soviet-made sports equipment:
By the way, many of these fitness machines are still used in the Russian province:
And this was the library. Strangely, there are no books. It is said that they were stolen but I think they were taken by the Norwegians. I doubt that someone decided to steal the library of such a place:
And these are old Soviet tablets:
Soundproof lagging and musical instruments were left behind in the studio:
Polar explorers liked jazz:
Rocke gruppa:
A dance hall, also used for ballet classes. Why are there so many lights on the ceiling?
Mirrors were removed but under them we found the message from the year 1984:
A housing complex filled with birds. It used to be a family hostel.
And this is a kindergarten named "Solnishko" ("Sunshine"). The plaque lists the names of its creators:
Just above it is a sign for an elementary school. Now it looks like a jumbled puzzle.
The paint had already started peeling inside the school. However, this is not a surprise, especially given how long it has been abandoned, as well as the temperature.
Perhaps, this is an agitated poem:
And this was the teachers' common room, with shelves of textbooks and registers.
Textbooks of my time! I remember them from when I went to school:
And here is a stack of written works. Unfortunately, these are all dictated notes, not compositions. It would have been interesting to read the thoughts of students from the 90's:
And here is a grade book, complete with marks. From this we gathered that were 20 students in this class.
Our guide told us that the wallpaper started peeling away about a week ago:
And here is a list of children's activities:
A classroom in the elementary school. The board was into two parts - ruled and quad ruled:
In this classroom, children studied traffic rules:
This is the route taken by the great traveler, Maxim Gorky:
Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Apparently, such graffiti appeared only recently. A broken chandelier is the result of long years of neglect, not from vandals. Lights began to fall from the ceiling:
Here are small beds. It seems they were brought here from the kindergarten:
We also found bedside tables there:
Just look at those children's drawings:
The dining room was built according to a typical plan:
Here is a luxury staircase in the colors of the Russian flag, only in a different order:
And an old Soviet picture:
The kitchen was huge:
There were even giant vats for cooking soup:
In general, if you want to get in touch with Soviet history and polar beauty, come to
