The Russian Geographical Society (RGS) announced that the field stage of its Russian Spitsbergen expedition has begun, with researchers setting out to document historical and cultural heritage across Svalbard.
From Pomor sites to modern research stations
According to RGS, during the 2026 field season, the team plans to survey and describe around 300 objects, carrying out archaeological inspections and assigning precise coordinates to those it identifies. The collected information will be used to create a comprehensive interactive map of Russian historical and cultural heritage on Svalbard and incorporated into the RGS’s geographic information system.
The Svalbard survey will also feed into a larger project, the planned Atlas of Russia’s Historical and Cultural Heritage in the Arctic. Much of the material for the future atlas has already been assembled during previous expeditions, including work on Wrangel Island and Novaya Zemlya. Once the information from Svalbard is added, the society will be ready to begin assembling the atlas.
As outlined in the announcement, the project focuses on traces of Russian activity on Svalbard dating from the 17th century to the present day. The planned interactive map is intended to bring together Pomor sites, wintering places associated with polar expeditions, Arktikugol industrial heritage and Soviet architecture, alongside modern scientific stations and historical Russian place names.
Heritage under pressure
The RGS says some of this heritage remains undocumented and vulnerable.
Preserving archaeological sites in Svalbard poses particular challenges as environmental conditions change. A growing body of research is addressing how to protect the roughly 4,590 cultural heritage sites registered across the archipelago. One of the recent studies highlights challenges including thaw-related ground subsidence, solifluction, thaw slumps, thermo-erosion gullies, and coastal and river erosion, while also assessing the relative risk to individual heritage sites in Svalbard.
Arctic interests
The mapping project also has a wider political context. Recommendations adopted following the 2024 International Arctic Forum Arctic: Present and Future called for continued work on maps of the historical and cultural heritage of the Russian Arctic. The document described maps as an important instrument of state policy and of the “promotion and reinforcement of Russian interests in the Arctic,” as well as a tool for research and public outreach. The recommendations specifically describe mapping Russian historical and cultural heritage on Svalbard and Wrangel Island as “extremely important”.
By bringing information about scattered historical sites into a single database, the project may help preserve a record of this history at a time when some Arctic heritage is increasingly vulnerable. At the same time, language used by the RGS and in Russia’s wider heritage-mapping programme shows that such documentation is linked to the country’s contemporary presence and interests in the Arctic.
Dr. Yana Kirichenko, PolarJournal