North of the seventy-eighth parallel, some 1,000 km from the North Pole, lies the northernmost museum in the world. It is located at Longyearbyen, on the group of islands called Svalbard, which is in many ways a highly unusual community. Although situated north of the Arctic Circle, its surrounding sea stays open most of the year; although in Norwegian possession since 1920, forty signatory countries to the Svalbard Treaty have equal rights in matters relating to economic activities and use of resources. Of its population of 3,700 a mere third is Norwegian. There is no indigenous population on the islands, their cold coasts having accommodated only migrant fortune seekers. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, they came to hunt whales and seals, and the islands teemed with Dutch, British, Russian and Scandinavian whalers. Since the early twentieth century, coal has been Svalbard's gold. Today another migrant group is announcing its arrival: the tourist industry has discovered that pristine landscapes can be profitable. Most people come to Svalbard to work, and their stay is transitory. Population turnover is rapid and local memory is short. What could better fill the need for a local memory bank than a museum?