Stumbled across this rabbit hole about Svalbard’s largest settlement. The combination of the 1950 burial ban, the 1992 cat ban (to protect seabirds), and the polar bear rifle requirement makes it one of the most bureaucratically unique places anywhere. Anyone here actually lived or visited Longyearbyen? Curious how it feels in practice.
Posted by DontHugMeImReddit
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Visited a couple of years ago. Another fascinating tidbit is the alcohol allotment. If I remember correctly, if you’re a resident of Longyearbyen you can only buy 30 beers and 1 bottle of spirits a month. You can, however, buy as much wine as you wish. This is an old rule dating back to the mining community. The administration didn’t want the workers drinking all the time so they enforced the allotment by using punch cards. Miners drank beer and spirits, the administration drank wine. You will still see these cards at the local liquor store and the allotment is still enforced. As a tourist you’ll need to provide your return ticket to the cashier in order to buy alcohol.
There’s also no sales tax or other fees on consumer goods. This means that the cheapest gasoline, beer, cigarettes etc. in Norway is on Svalbard.
The burial ban is pretty logical, burying someone in permafrost is the same as putting them in the freezer, one day they come to the surface.
You don’t need a gun in the city of Longyearbyen, but you need it when you go outside the city.
No births either