Polar worlds
Explore the frozen worlds through historic films capturing the Arctic and Antarctica. This gallery reveals extraordinary journeys, scientific expeditions, and the resilience of inhabitants in the planet’s most extreme environments. These cinematic records preserve unique perspectives on polar history, climate, and human curiosity at the edges of the known world.
23 items
A cyclical year in the lives of the Inuit community at Grise Fjord, Ellesmere Island, 900 miles north of the Arctic circle.
A silent animated film about a trip by airship to the North Pole. The passengers play games with a seal and a polar bear. The airship “Gum Drop” departs from Reno, headed towards the North Pole. We see America from the air, accompanied by all manner o…
Footage of the returning expedition party from the 1902 - 1904 Antarctic expedition led by William Spiers Bruce, met by veteran world traveller Sir John Murray at Millport July 1904
The documentary presents the expedition of the Romanian scientist Constantin Dumbravă to Greenland. Here, the scientist and his team explore the highest peak, collect various types of mosquitos and, together with the Eskimos accompanying the expedition, a…
Between october 1957 and march 1958 Vivian Fuchs, together with the New Zelander explorer Hillary, the first terrestrial crossing of the continent. Departed from the sea area of Weddel, he reached the South Pole on 20th January 1958, where he met with Hil…
The film shows how to make harness for reindeer in traditional Sami way.
Mountaineering in Norway in the past and present.
10 - the sailing ship, the new Zealand coast in the background.; 13 - sailors load ice blocks, a seal and a group of penguins on the ship; 5 - a map on which the route from the expedition ship to new Zealand is drawn.; …
Documentary about life and nature on the Røst Islands in Northern Norway.
In July 1922, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his crew set out on the Maud in an attempt to reach the North Pole by drifting the Arctic Ocean. They also brought along equipment to collect data in the fields of meteorology, oceanography and research …
The film shows the process of making a traditional North Sami reindeer sleigh or pulka.
Whale ship. Hunting for seals and walrus. Hunted seals aboard the ship. Whaling ships among Arctic ice cream.; A well-known participant in the Polish polar expedition to Bear Island, engineer Stanisław Centkiewicz, sends us a series of film photos from hi…
The aurora borealis or northern lights are one of the seven natural wonders of the world. In Europe you can see them best in the far north. We travel to the Norwegian city of Tromso that's 350 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. There local tourist…
1 - scorpions fly over ice covered peaks, frozen landscapes; 5 - a general answers the phone; 3 - the plane fires rockets during the flight; …
Spring is a busy time at the farm: everybody helps out. Drawing and painting classes in the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts. Catching herring in the Arctic Ocean.
The Danish ambassador presents his credentials to the President of the Republic. Giant earth-mover in Mikhailovsky (foreign material). Ice-breaker Lena at the Arctic Ocean (foreign material). Miniature apple trees in Moldavia (foreign material). English t…
12 - Argentine ship enters a port; 26 - the landing of men and materials that will be used for the construction of the case-observatory begins; 14 - the participants of the expedition, on board the soups, prepare to land; …
General views of the landscape taken from a whaling boat, South Georgia, Antarctica. Footage of ships in harbour. Views of town covered in deep snow.
For his documentary film, Werner Herzog traveled to the McMurdo research station on Ross Island in Antarctica at the invitation of the American National Science Foundation. Here he was the first officially authorized filmmaker to observe the work of the s…
Figure Skating World Championships in Prague (foreign material). Boat sport show 1962. Scale model of Meilahti medical hospital in Helsinki. Antarctica exhibition in Helsinki. Awards to writers and illustrators of adolescents’ and children’s books (Maija …
A battalion of the Gordon Highlanders, of which White was Colonel-in-Chief, leads the procession through the streets, with the coffin on a gun-carriage. Lord Roberts, on horseback, leads the mourners.The men of the expedition are on board the SS Highland …
Dog sleighs and hunting at an Inuit village.