Nybyen is a small settlement located on the southern outskirts of Longyearbyen

Longyearbyen

Longyearbyen is the largest settlement and the administrative centre of Svalbard, Norway. It is located on the western coast of Spitsbergen, the largest island of the Svalbard archipelago, on the southern side on Adventfjorden , which continues inland with Adventdalen...

, on the island of Spitsbergen

Spitsbergen

Spitsbergen is the largest and only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. Constituting the western-most bulk of the archipelago, it borders the Arctic Ocean, the Norwegian Sea and the Greenland Sea...

, in the Svalbard

Svalbard

Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic, constituting the northernmost part of Norway. It is located north of mainland Europe, midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The group of islands range from 74° to 81° north latitude , and from 10° to 35° east longitude. Spitsbergen is the...

 archipelago of Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. The name is Norwegian

Norwegian language

Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...

 and translates as New Town.

History and features

The settlement was founded in 1946-47 for the miners of "mine 2B" (later named Julenissegruva, "Santa Claus Mine"), one of the area's many coal mines. During the second half of the 20th century the "New Town" became a notable part of Longyearbyen, with the town's only shop for a period, though commercial activity has moved back down the valley. Today its character reflects that of Svalbard's more mixed economy (tourism, research and mining) with two guesthouses (Guesthouse 102 and Spitsbergen Guesthouse) utilising the former miners' barracks, as well as being home to the Svalbard Art Gallery & Craft Centre, and nearby is the Huset restaurant, club and cinema. Most students at the University Centre in Svalbard

University Centre in Svalbard

The University Centre in Svalbard is a Norwegian state-owned limited company that provides university-level education in arctic studies. The universities of Oslo, Bergen, Tromsø and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim are represented on its board. The centre is known as...

 (UNIS) live in six renovated mining barracks in Nybyen.

Geography

It is situated in the upper part of the Longyear Valley, about 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) uphill from the centre of Longyearbyen, at an altitude of around 100 metres (328.1 ft).

Nybyen falls within the community of Longyearbyen (incorporated in 2002) though remains detached from the town. Between the two settlements is the Longyearbyen School. Svalbard Airport is 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) away and there is a shuttle bus between the airport and the guesthouses. To the south, is a prominent hill named Sarkofagen ("Sarcophagus

Sarcophagus

A sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek σαρξ sarx meaning "flesh", and φαγειν phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarkophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos...

") which rises to 513 metres (1,683.1 ft).

Sverdrupbyen

To the west, just on the other side of the river, is a place called Sverdrupbyen, named after Einar Sverdrup

Einar Sverdrup

Einar Sverdrup was a Norwegian mining engineer and businessman. He was the CEO of the Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani, operating at Svalbard...

 (1895 - 1942), the managing director of the mining company Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani

Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani

Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani , or simply Store Norske, is a Norwegian coal mining company based on the Svalbard archipelago. It was formed in 1916, after a Norwegian purchase of the American Arctic Coal Company ....

. He was the leader of Operation Fritham

Operation Fritham

Operation Fritham was a Norwegian operation with the goal of securing the rich coal mines on Spitsbergen and denying its use to Nazi Germany.-The mission:...

in World War II, but died in the course of that operation, which attempted to secure Svalbard for the Allies. Nybyen is sometimes alternatively known as Østre Sverdrupbyen ("East Sverdrupbyen").

External links

• UNIS — Map of Longyearbyen and Nybyen
• Guesthouse 102 — History and information about Nybyen