The Global Seed Vault

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, set into a frozen mountainside near Longyearbyen, is one of the most remarkable and symbolic structures on earth, often called the doomsday vault. Behind its striking, angular concrete entrance, which juts from the snow and glows with an artwork of shifting light, a tunnel drives deep into the permafrost to chambers that safeguard duplicate samples of seeds from the world's crop varieties, sent from gene banks across the globe. Kept naturally frozen, it is a backup of humanity's agricultural heritage against catastrophe, a global insurance policy for food security. Though the vault itself is closed to the public, its dramatic entrance and profound purpose make it a genuinely fascinating and thought-provoking sight.

What you actually see

• The vault entrance - the striking angular structure in the snow.
• The illuminated art - the glowing artwork on the portal.
• The mountainside setting - the vault driven into frozen rock.
• The global purpose - the backup of the world's crop seeds.

When to go

March to September, when the light returns and travel around Longyearbyen is easiest, is the best time to see the vault's exterior, striking against the snow in spring or the tundra in summer; the illuminated entrance is especially dramatic in the low Arctic light. It is a brief viewpoint stop.

Honest expectations

The Seed Vault is closed to the public for its vital preservation work, so visitors can only view and photograph its dramatic exterior rather than go inside, making it a brief but striking stop. As the extraordinary doomsday vault safeguarding the world's crop seeds deep in the Arctic permafrost, though, its dramatic entrance and profound purpose make it a genuinely fascinating and symbolic sight.

Nearby

The town of Longyearbyen and the airport lie close by.