Ny-Ålesund Town and Mine Museum

About

The Ny-Ålesund Town and Mine Museum (Norwegian: Ny-Ålesund By- og Gruvemuseum) is a museum located in Ny-Ålesund, a town on Spitsbergen, the central island of the Norwegian archipelago Svalbard in the Arctic Ocean. While some sources claim that the more well known Svalbard Museum holds the position, the museum is the world's northernmost by virtue of Ny-Ålesund's position to the far north of the regional capital Longyearbyen. Formerly a coal mining settlement until a series of serious accidents (including a final one in 1962) closed down the mine, Ny-Ålesund – which dates back to the first decades of the 20th century – has been a centre of international Arctic and polar research in recent years, housing scientific bases such as the Arctic Yellow River Station and the Himadri Station, belonging to China and India respectively.

The area is administrated by Kings Bay, a government-owned company. The museum is housed in a building constructed in 1917, originally for storage. It was eventually converted into the town store in 1920.

The museum was created long afterwards, in 1988, and the building has remained in use as such since. The exterior of the wooden structure has been largely preserved...