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abandoned wonders of the former soviet union: from mining towns to oil rig cities there are abandonments all over the world, but the former soviet union has some of the most interesting, unique and strange abandoned buildings. the complex political, military and social history of the country has led to everything from almost-finished buildings abandoned before actual use and entire abandoned cities to chilling gulags. a huge thank you to carni parti for sharing these images with us.
a north carolina woman is under arrest for abandoning a newborn in a restroom.
an old ferris wheel from the abandoned park in japan.
throughout russia and the former soviet union one can find a vast number of abandoned air, sea and land vehicles that have simply been left to rust rather than repurposed or recycled. in other parts of the world one would imagine they could find other uses for giant ships, disused fighter jets and entire train networks but here these things seem to fall through the cracks. figures next to the planes and boats shown above bring home the enormous scale of these abandoned relics of soviet transportation.
photographer troy paiva presents a beautiful but sad look at abandoned and forgotten scenes in america. the lighting and the timing of the photographs make each very unique and equally nostalgic. thanks for taking the time to upload these amazing images, finn0219.
it is somewhat hard to imagine how incredibly costly and complex industrial and communications machines could ever be worth abandoning, yet in russia one finds giant mining contraptions and satellite arrays left largely to succumb to the elements.
promyshlennyi, russia was abandoned with the fall of the soviet union, cut off from communication with and support from the government. when utilities and electricity stopped working, people simply left to find a home and work elsewhere, leaving buildings behind and many belongings in the wreckage. today, the remnants of the things they owned and buildings they inhabited remain relatively untouched.
there are many abandoned estates scattered throughout russia that are simply too remote to warrant restoration. as photographer jason grant points out, though, these are provide in many ways a more real experience of history for those who visit and photograph them. this particular estate in belogorka survived the revolution and was only moderately damaged by a bomb in wwii. it was subsequently used as a scientific research institute and is now strewn with bottles and chemicals from these last tenants.
fort alexander sits abandoned on a man-made island off the shore of st. petersburg. constructed in the 1800s, the fort has over 100 cannon ports providing 360-degree defense. after the crimean war it was initially used as a military storehouse before being converted by the soviets into a dangerous plague research center due to its physical isolation from the mainland. the fort is now deserted and most of its interior objects have been stripped and metal has been melted down for other uses. even now, however, visitors coming by boat (or snowmobile) are advised to wear a respirator and rubber boots.
unlike other soviet mines in the kyshtym region the ones in the photographs at least aren’t radioactive. the ones shown here date back to the days of the gulags and have been abandoned since the 1960s. a cooling tank explosion around that time contaminated almost 20 square miles around this and other local mines and caused the evacuation of nearly 300,000 residents. this incident was long hidden by the soviet government before a scientist leaked the information in 1980. other intrepid urban explorers, however, have braved even the nearby radioactive mines at their own risk.
pyramiden is a classic model soviet small blue-collar coal-mining town with a long history that was quickly and suddenly snuffed out. in the early 1990s it was concluded that pyramiden was no longer profitable and its citizens were given a few short hours to pack and leave. much like chernobyl the result has been sad but fascinating: virtually everything was left behind from house plants to books on library shelves. though there are plans to potentially renovate this ghost town for now it provides a picture of local life two decades ago.
the region known as abkhazia is a semi-independent zone within georgia in which a great deal of transportation and other infrastructure has been deserted in recent decades due to a lack of funds. shortly before the collapse of the soviet union the region came into conflict with the rest of georgia as georgians pushed toward independence from russia. today, russia issues passports for abkhazians, pays their retirement pensions and provides citizenship to many of the people. nonetheless, since the fall of the ussr the local budgets have not been enough to maintain many buildings and train networks as illustrated by the images above.
in the last half-century, detroit lost more than half its population. those leaving the city were mostly white people who fled to the suburbs. as a result, the tax base was destroyed and the black population that remains has had to govern a 139-square-mile city with limited resources. -vice magazine writer and photographer james griffioen
balakava is a small town on the black sea coast that was once the secret home to a soviet nuclear submarine base. people with resident family members were not even allowed to visit the town without special dispensation from the government. today, all of the submarines are gone but the base remains remarkably intact and can be visited by urban explorers from around the world.
in most countries, abandonments remain in the wake of long-deserted structures that once saw heavy use. in russia, some industrial, medical and administrative abandonments are merely the remnants of failed projects that were nearly completed but never put to use. in a way, these tell a unique kind of history - a history of corrupt and confused leadership, a history absent of the normal metaphorical ghosts that haunt the halls of once-used structures. in short: a history of could-have-beens.
