On the north side of Adventfjord, opposite Longyearbyen, are the remains of Hiorthamn, a small mining settlement from the early 20th century. The British company The Spitsbergen Coal and Trading Company had aquired the mining rights already in 1902 and started mining in 1904 in Advent City, but had to give up after only a few years.
First some impressions from the polar night (early January), with the moon on the sky and Longyearbyen’s big city lights on the other side of the fjord 🙂
The Spitsbergen Coal and Trading Company started activities in Hiorthhamn in 1917. Some of the old buildings from Advent City were moved to Hiorthhamn. The actual coal mine is high up on the slope of Hiorthfjellet.
But mining was abandoned again already in 1921. A few attempts were made to revive it, but 1940 was the last year of the final activities in Hiorthhamn.
Some of the buildings still exist. The large coal shipping facility next to the fjord is the most obvious one and a fascinating bit of old technology and architecture. This is where the first series of panorama images if from.
my new book is in print and it can now be ordered 🙂 it is a photo book with the title “Norwegens arktischer Norden (3): Die Bäreninsel und Jan Mayen”, with German text Click here for further details!
BOOKS, CALENDAR, POSTCARDS AND MORE
This and other publishing products of the Spitsbergen publishing house in the Spitsbergen-Shop.
Norwegens arktischer Norden (1): Spitzbergen
Photobook: Norway's arctic islands. The text in this book is German. [shop url="https://shop.spitzbergen.de/en/polar-books/70-norwegens-arktischer-norden-1-aerial-arctic-9783937903262.html"] ← Back
Lofoten, Jan Mayen and Spitsbergen from the air - Photobook: Norway's arctic islands. The text in this book is German, but there is very little text, so I am sure that you will enjoy it regardless which languages you read (or not).
The companion book for the Svalbardhytter poster. The poster visualises the diversity of Spitsbergen‘s huts and their stories in a range of Arctic landscapes. The book tells the stories of the huts in three languages.
Comprehensive guidebook about Spitsbergen. Background (wildlife, plants, geology, history etc.), practical information including travelling seasons, how to travel, description of settlements, routes and regions.
Join an exciting journey with dog, skis and tent through the wintery wastes of East Greenland! We were five guys and a dog when we started in Ittoqqortoormiit, the northernmost one of two settlements on Greenland’s east coast.
12 postcards which come in a beautifully designed tray. Beautiful images from South Georgia across Antarctica from the Antarctic Peninsula to the Ross Sea and up to Macquarie Island and Campbell Island.
Huts are places of longing, dreams and adventure in Spitsbergen’s beautiful landscape. Even if the modern visitor’s eye may mostly be directed towards nature, most will have an open ear every now and then for exciting survival stories about explorers and expeditions, adventurers and trappers.
These huts are silent witnesses and and every one of them tells a little part of the whole story. The little book “Svalbardhytter” and the poster that is part of the same project make these fascinating places accessible for everyone.
From remote ruins, just traces in a few cases, to “famous” trapper huts such as Fredheim in Tempelfjord and Bjørneborg on Halvmåneøya, the war weather station Haudegen, the former scientific base Würzburger Hütte on Barentsøya and Hammerfesthuset, Svalbard’s oldest building.