We would like to welcome you to our brand new venue “Kuhaugen”. Located just outside the main settlement of Longyearbyen. With a beautiful view of the advent valley and the Opera mountain, this venue gives you the perfect surroundings for a social event. Decorated as an “explorers club” the interior has focus on the big polar expeditions in the 19th and 20th century. With modern equipment we can house lectures, concerts and other cultural events. Contact us and we will put together a nice program for you.
History:
This old building was first build as a dynamite storage for the Norwegian coal company “Store Norske Spitsbergen Kullkompani”. It was put on the area “Kuhaugen”, that means “the cow hill”. The reason for the name is that the cows in Longyearbyen used to grass here in the summer. Later this building has been a hangar for a Dornier airplane. In the end of the 1990s The Norwegian Academy for Polar Research bought this building to use it as a summer school for PHD students. The winter of 2016 Better Moments moved inn and started to renovate the building. By ripping out the interior and some help form two carpenters from southern Norway, they brought the building back to the time of polar heroes.
The heroes:
Roald Amundsen is recognized as the first person, without dispute, as having reached both poles. He is also known as having the first expedition to traverse the Northwest passage (1903–06) in the Arctic.
Fritjof Nansen was a polar explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace prize laureate. He led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, traversing the island on cross-country skis. He won international fame after reaching a northern latitude record of 86°14′ during his North Pole expedition of 1893–96.
Otto Sverdrup crossed Greenland with Nansen, and was captain on board Fram when Nansen left with the dogs to the North Pole, on the first Fram Expedition. He was the captain on the second Fram expedition that charted 260.000(!!) square kilometres of the north west passage. Sverdrup continued on expeditions in Russian territory and is probably the most experienced polar explorer that ever lived.
Hjalmar Johansen joined both Nansen on the ice towards the North Pole and was one of the important reasons that Amundsen succeeded on the south pole expedition. On the North Pole expedition, Johansen joined Nansen, dogsledding towards the North Pole, but turned around at 86°14′ and ended up at Franz Josephs land. Before returning to Norway as a hero.
Umberto Nobile was an Italian aviator, aeronautical engineer and Arctic explorer. Nobile was a developer and promoter of semi-rigid airships during the period between the two world wars. He joined Amundsen and the airship Norge to be the first expedition to reach the North Pole, and a few years later, he tried the same with the airship Italia.
Adolf Henrik Lindstrøm was seen upon as the most important crewmember on any expedition. As a chef, he kept the spirits high with his excellent food. He joined Amundsen on the Gjøa and Fram expedition, and Otto Sverdrup on the second Fram expedition.
