A Look Inside The Northernmost City On Earth

You won't believe how they bury their dead!

Created by Linda Casablanca

On Mar 31, 2017

Longyearbyen began as a coal mining outpost back in 1906.

The City of of Longyearbyen, on the archipelago of Svalbard between Norway and the North Pole, is the world's most northernmost inhabited city.

Longyearbyen was named after its founder, an American coal miner named John Longyear and not because it's so cold that spending one year there would seem much, much longer. Still, it is cold. Very cold.

The Sun goes down from October 25th and doesn't come back up until March 8th. When it does, the townspeople throw a huge party called Solfestuka.

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Because the city is so far north, polar bears are a frequent sight.

It is their home as well.

Most residents carry guns when they're outside.

But they leave them on porches and at front doors because guns are prohibited inside buildings!

The soil in Longyearbyen is frozen so buildings have to be built on stilts or wooden piles to keep the houses from flooding or sinking into the permafrost.

The frozen terrain in Svalbard is better suited to dogsled than cars.

But most people drive snowmobiles.

There are about 4000 snowmobiles for Longyearbyen's 2000 citizens.

While dogs are useful pets in the snowy city,

It is illegal to own a cat in Longyearbyen because of their potential impact on bird species.

Another odd law in Longyearbyen concerns how they bury their dead. It is illegal to bury your dead in Longyearbyen because the frozen ground wouldn't allow the bodies to decompose, and they'd just freeze into mummysicles.

The original mining town graveyard is still there, though. Which makes one wonder what those bodies look like now. + = ?

Because of the city's many oddities, and the chance to see the northernmost church, Post Office, ATM, museum, commercial airport and university...

Tourists go the extra mile to make the difficult trek to get there.

How about you? Would you go to Longyearbyen?

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