Coal cableway centre (Taubanesentrale)

The old coal cable­way cent­re, local­ly known as Taub­a­ne­sen­tra­le, is is one of Longyearbyen’s most pro­mi­nent land­marks. It looks futu­ristic, but it is a sym­bol of a histo­ry that is about to loo­se its con­nec­tion to the pre­sent, as coal mining is get­ting less and less important in Lon­gye­ar­by­en.

The first part of the coal cable­way was built in 1907, in the ear­ly years of the Ame­ri­can time of Lon­gye­ar­by­en (then Lon­gyear City, named after the foun­der). It con­nec­ted the first mine, mine 1 (now often refer­red to as the “Ame­ri­cans’ mine”) which is loca­ted high up on the slo­pe of Pla­tå­berg abo­ve the church, and the har­bour. A litt­le trench-like cut was made in the upper part of the slo­pe down towards the har­bour. This part of Lon­gye­ar­by­en, with the Sysselmannen’s office buil­ding, the coal cable­way cent­re etc., is named “Skjæringa” (“the cut”) after this cut.

The coal cable­way sys­tem was enlar­ged over the years as new mines were estab­lished, first around Lon­gye­ar­by­en and later fur­ther away in Advent­da­len (mine 5, 6 and 7). The coal cable­way cent­re (taub­a­ne­sen­tra­le) was built in 1956.

The who­le coal cable­way sys­tem were aban­do­ned in 1987. Sin­ce then, lor­ries are used to trans­port coal from the mines to the har­bour. Today, only mine 7 is still in use.

The old coal cable­way cent­re remains as part of Longyearbyen’s cul­tu­ral heri­ta­ge. Visual­ly pro­mi­nent and his­to­ri­cal­ly in a cen­tral loca­ti­on, it is a very popu­lar pho­to stop. It was ope­ned to the public in 1991 and beca­me part of Sval­bard­mu­se­um in 1993. It was occa­sio­nal­ly used for exhi­bi­ti­ons and cul­tu­ral events, but it has been just emp­ty and the doors have been locked now for many years. It was legal­ly pro­tec­ted i 2003 (it was not auto­ma­ti­cal­ly pro­tec­ted as it was built in 1956; auto­ma­ti­cal pro­tec­tion appli­es to any­thing older than 1946).

← Back