The Whale-oil Refinery near the Village of Smerenburg (detail), showing various installations with smoking chimneys and large groups of workmen.

Featured on PDR in the essay The Myth of Blubber Town, an Arctic Metropolis

Though the 17th-century whaling station of Smeerenburg was in reality, at its height, just a few dwellings and structures for processing blubber, over the decades and centuries a more extravagant picture took hold — that there once had stood, defying its far-flung Arctic location, a bustling urban centre complete with bakeries, churches, gambling dens, and brothels. Matthew H. Birkhold explores the legend.

Other works by the artist in the archive…

The Whale-Oil Refinery near the Village of Smerenburg (Detail)

Artist

Date

1639


Underlying Rights

Public Domain Worldwide

Digital Rights

No Additional Rights


Image Size

800 x 687 Higher res available?

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