Welcome to an all too familiar story.
This beauty here is the former secondary school of a small town. It was originally built in 1950 and enlarged already back in 1959.
It was a private secondary school, which was run by an association. For a long time they tried to get the permission to arrange high school education. This was granted in 1961. Immediately a new building was added to the lot. This brought the school a gym, and classrooms for arts and natural history. This even brought water closets to the school so the kids didn’t have to use a privy anymore.
Another building was further added in 1976. In the early 2000’s all the buildings were in a bad shape and were completely renovated. This didn’t help with the air quality and moisture problems. The high school moved away in 2019 and the secondary school moved to the newest, 1970’s building. The rest was abandoned. Now the town is building a new high school and a new secondary school.
The buildings had been abandoned for a year. Electricity, air conditioning and alarms were on. And yet here I am standing at the door about to go in.
And here we are. How is this possible?
Well because of Tinder. I matched someone, who knew someone, who had access here and helped me obtain permission to enter.
This was the sight that greeted me when entering. An old harmonium and an old piano.
The school nurse’s office was the first room.
Like in all schools with air quality problems, everything had been left as they had been when school ended.
Information on preventatives. I can’t remember these being this openly displayed during my high school years in the early 2000’s. Back then sex was mystified. Nobody dared to talk about it and everybody thought others were having it. Yet nobody had it.
The interior of the school definitely looks like it is from the early 2000’s.
A classroom meets a cleaning closet.
The school was built on a hillside. There were classrooms even in the basement, the corridor of which could be seen here.
I’ve seen many of these, but would probably not know how to use them anymore.
Meeting, don’t disturb. Sure they must have been important meetings.
Finnish grammar, one of my least favorite subjects from secondary and high schools. I battled so much with my teachers, that one of them actually burst out laughing, when she heard that I dreamed about being a journalist. I started working with media and journalism almost 16 years ago and still do.
A mess of chairs, another common sight in abandoned schools.
Although I admire the fact that everything has been left untouched, I somehow miss the mess usually made by vandals. That just brings something extra to the experience. I mean if I wanted to visit a modern school, I would call the headmaster of the nearest one and ask for a visit. I would then walk around photographing, when the kids have left for the day.
Secondary school music books.
Secondary school Moomin films. I can’t recall us watching them in secondary school.
From theory to practice starting with Robbie Williams.
Basement finished. Lets see what is on the ground floor, shall we?