Hiorthhamn

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.

Hior­th­hamn in the polar night

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.

Hior­th­hamn: coal ship­ping faci­li­ty (“first floor”)

Hior­th­hamn: coal ship­ping faci­li­ty (“second floor”)

Here we are on the second floor of the coal ship­ping faci­li­ty:

Hior­th­hamn: blacksmith’s shop

The blacksmith’s shop was right next to the coal ship­ping faci­li­ty:

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