Welcome to Kuopio, the town of a thick dialect and famous for extremely strange fish pastrys called the Kalakukko (fish cock). They are large rye breads, which are filled with fish, pork and bacon. The locals are passionate about it and often quarrel about what fish should be used and which bakery produces the right ones.
But I’m not here for local food, as Kalakukko isn’t very good. My tour of Finland had reached the point, at which I called my former studying friend and asked to spend the night at her couch.
During the summer I had shared a lot of my adventures in abandoned buildings on my private Instagram, and my friends were almost as fascinated about them as I was. My friend told me that there was a large abandoned hospital just a block away from her home.
And right she was. The hospital was built next to existing hospital buildings in the early 1950’s, expanded in the late 1980’s and closed down in 2013. An architecture competition was held of the area and it was decided to demolish the buildings and replace them with blocks of flats.
The place was good for apartments, as it was in a very central location and located by a large pond. Finding buyers wouldn’t probably be hard.
The newer, 1980’s built hospital building. It was just over 25 years old, when abandoned.
The main entrance to the hospital. We actually found a way in, but decided against it. There were people drinking beer and painting graffiti next to the entrance, and from inside we could hear people smashing things.
In cases like this I often decide against entering. If you are willing to break other people’s property, you might also be willing to break their noses. And also if clear signs of breaking things can be heard, it’s possible that someone calls cops on the vandals and catches me in the process.
One of the older hospital buildings in the area. I believe that this one became homes later. It was definitely protected, though.
When I returned in the summer of 2023, the abandoned hospital buildings had been demolished.