Polar Bear Sign

Home / Places / Svalbard / Longyearbyen / Polar Bear Sign

Polar Bear Sign is a Monument at 6HHX+HQF, 9170 Longyearbyen, Svalbard and Jan Mayen

The Polar Bear Sign marks the edge of Longyearbyen, the main settlement of the Svalbard archipelago, where the town gives way to open wilderness. It is a yellow triangular road sign. A walking polar bear sits above the words "Gjelder hele Svalbard", meaning "Applies to all of Svalbard". The warning is real: beyond this point bears may turn up anywhere on the islands, and anyone leaving the settlement is advised to carry a firearm. Svalbard is home to several thousand polar bears. The sign has become one of Longyearbyen’s most photographed landmarks, a favourite for visitors posing at what feels like the very edge of the inhabited world. It stands at around 78°N, among the northernmost towns on Earth and deep in the auroral zone. Through the long polar night the aurora appears often and vividly, and the sign makes a memorable foreground for a photograph on the edge of town.