Skip to the drawer search

Kept for a stranger, 100 years from now.

Polar Archive holds the safety copies of 14 seed collections in a rock hall 120 m inside Isfjord Ridge. Nothing on the shelves is there for show. Every drawer carries 2 years: the year it came in, and the year its seeds are next due a germination test.

Scroll to walk in. The further in, the older the seed.

Isfjord Ridge, 78.2° N. Depositing costs nothing.

A03-42Row 03IN 2024TEST 2029

Quinoa, 10 accessions
Altiplano Quinoa Cooperative

The label on drawer A03-42. Quinoa is tested every 5 years, so this box is opened again in 2029.

The newest boxes sit by the door.

Row 012026

Each year's deposits go on the next free row, so the aisle reads like a timeline. A box arrives sealed by the depositor and stays sealed. Nobody here opens it except to test it.

The hall holds 1,968 drawers on 41 rows, 48 to a row.

Each crop keeps its own clock.

Germination tests200 seeds a test

A test sows 200 seeds from the box and counts what comes up. Under 85%, we ask the depositor for fresh seed before the old seed fails.

  • Onion, lettuce, quinoaevery 5 years
  • Wheat, barley, rice, maize, cowpeaevery 10 years
  • Sorghum, lentil, chickpea, milletevery 15 years

The further in, the older the boxes.

Row 411986

The far wall is 1986, the first year the hall was used. Wheat from that row has been tested 4 times and is due again in 2036. It is also the coldest end of the hall.

Walk the aisle

Walk the aisle.

Scroll moves you along the rail, drag looks around, and a click on any drawer slides it out. Every label shows when the box came in and when it is next tested.

Row
Row 01
Deposited
2026
In
1 m
Air
−15.0 °C

The aisle as a list.

The same 1,968 drawers, one line per row. Screen readers get this table in place of the 3D aisle, and so does any browser that cannot draw it.

41 rows from the door to the far wall, newest first
RowDepositedDepositorsTested at least onceNext tests dueWalk to row
012026130 of 482031 to 2041
022025130 of 482030 to 2040
032024130 of 482029 to 2039
042023130 of 482028 to 2038
052022130 of 482027 to 2037
062021121 of 482031 to 2036
072020102 of 482030 to 2035
082019123 of 482029 to 2034
092018111 of 482028 to 2033
102017111 of 482027 to 2032
1120161142 of 482031 to 2036
1220151124 of 482030 to 2035
1320141027 of 482029 to 2034
1420131034 of 482028 to 2033
1520121031 of 482027 to 2032
1620111048 of 482031 to 2041
172010948 of 482030 to 2040
182009948 of 482029 to 2039
192008948 of 482028 to 2038
202007848 of 482027 to 2037
212006848 of 482036
222005848 of 482035
232004848 of 482034
242003748 of 482033
252002748 of 482032
262001748 of 482031
272000648 of 482030
281999648 of 482029
291998648 of 482028
301997548 of 482027
311996548 of 482036 to 2041
321995548 of 482035 to 2040
331994448 of 482034 to 2039
341993448 of 482033 to 2038
351992448 of 482032 to 2037
361991348 of 482031 to 2036
371990348 of 482030 to 2035
381989348 of 482029 to 2034
391988248 of 482028 to 2033
401987248 of 482027 to 2032
411986248 of 482031 to 2036

14 collections came north.

Each depositor keeps its own collection at home and sends a duplicate here. If a flood, a war or a failed freezer takes the original, the boxes in this hall are how it starts again.

Polar Archive, 78.2° N
Plotted by latitude and longitude, no coastlines. Dot size follows the drawers each depositor holds; the dashed line is the Arctic Circle.

Deposit a collection.

Depositing costs nothing. You keep ownership, and only you can ask for your boxes back. We test germination on the crop's own clock and send you every result.

Shipment window

5 boxes on row 01 by the door, labelled IN 2027. Wheat is tested every 10 years, so the first germination test is due in 2037.

← nightmarqueefootage: Higgsfield⧉ Copy this prompt