So this is as high as it gets. The view from the eight floor balcony over the lake really was worth the climb.
The sunset was beautiful, but it was a bit difficult to enjoy it when I noticed, that the balcony I was standing on was growing trees from its cracks.
Visibility was good. The pipe in the middle of the photo belongs to a pulp mill around 15 kilometres away.
A final shot towards the sunset.
And yet another attempt at trying to capture the sheer size of the building. The attempt failed.
Then we slowly started our descent back inside the monstrous building.
One more of the shots which would later become my trademark.
Everything was completely uneventful until we reached the third floor of the building. We were about to go another floor down, when we suddenly heard shouts and heavy steps from right below.
Hardly one floor below us were several people, who were now running for their lives. They didn’t even bother to be quiet, they just ran as quickly as possible screaming along the way. They disappeared through the door we had entered through and it closed behind them with a loud bang.
We stood silent for a while until we were completely sure, that we were alone in the building. We then got a message from my friend waiting outside asking what is happening and if we were still alive. She told us, that three gorilla-sized men dressed in leather vests of a known criminal gang had just ran out of the house carrying bags full of beer and disappeared into the forest.
We later figured out they had been as scared as we had been. They probably thought we were guards, we thought the same about them.
There was a staff apartment complex behind the hospital. We don’t know if it was the wind or some people inside, but there were massive banging sounds coming from the top floors. We didn’t want to go investigate further after encountering the gang members.
Instead we finished our tour around the former sanatorium.
Looking at pictures of the wing, I believe, there’s a gym on the top floor. I’ve seen some pictures of one in the building, and the windows would hint at that.
Have I already said that I love the building’s functionalistic architecture. I haven’t? Well I love it.
One final photo of the sorry mastodon. For years I have felt anger about the way the city has let this building down. Its potential demolition has been one of my worst fears for years, but entering the building changed things. Now that I have been able to experience and photograph it myself, my fear of missing out has somewhat diminished. I still feel angry about the neglect, which I consider criminal, but losing this baby now doesn’t feel like the end of the world anymore.
So that was the final port of call on our midsummer tour, which included six different locations. It was time to enjoy the midsummer the Finnish way.
All the photos from this location are now in the gallery.