In the permafrost of Svalbard, in the northern Svalbard archipelago, the entrance to an unusual building usually remains closed. It is a global seed bank in the Arctic.

Surrounded by snow, ice and the occasional polar bear, it holds 1.2 million seeds from all over the planet as a last resort in the event of a major catastrophe.

Seeds represent 12,000 years of human agriculture, and the World Seed Bank’s goal is to prevent the extinction of cultivated species after a war, natural disaster, or pandemic.

A building in the Norwegian Arctic, commissioned in 2008, remains off-limits to the public and is the subject of numerous online conspiracy theories. Now, in honor of its 15th anniversary, a virtual tour invites everyone to see the interior of the bank and its vast collection of rice seeds, grains and other crops, buried in the mountains behind five rows of metal doors.

“Deep freeze” designed to withstand forever, which is jointly run by the Norwegian government, Crop Trust and NordGen, a gene bank for the Nordic countries. Seeds can provide a solution to agricultural problems caused by the climate crisis, pests, changes in rainfall patterns and rampant loss of biodiversity.