Back at yet another familiar location. This old elementary school for Swedish speaking kids had stood empty since 2014 waiting for demolition and replacement with a kindergarten. I’ve been looking for a way in twice in 2011 and once in 2022. This is already my fourth attempt.
For some strange reason there was a car parked up front and the main entrance was open. I still decided to go round the back to see, if I could get a clue of what was happening.
The school had been pretty intact during my first visit. Now it was difficult to find an intact window.
I climbed those stairs during my previous visit, but climbing inside through the balcony door was too dangerous, because the balcony floor was loose.
According to new documents I found, the annex with the gym wasn’t built in the 1960’s, but rather in 1976. It won’t be missed unlike the original school.
Almost done with my tour of the building.
I wish that they would just cut the building in two in here, demolish the part to the right and keep the part to the left. The museum authorities proposed this, but the city didn’t agree.
So now I’ve been around the building. And the front door is still open.
Some of you may remember, that I’m pretty good with neighbours. I once talked my way past a neighbourhood hawk into an abandoned teacher seminar, got one neighbor to guide me inside a former association house and even received zucchini as a consolation prize, when the neighbours could’nt find me a way inside an old leather factory. So with high confidence I approached the guy sitting in the car.
He tells me, that the school has been used as a playground for the local airsoft club for some years. His kid and some friends are inside playing at the moment and he’s the watchman for any problems. I tell, that I tour Finland and photograph abandoned places, and I’ve tried this place for many years. He calls the club president, tells that there’s a person here, who’d like to photograph the school for their own use, and asks if he can let me in.
I never mentioned that the photos would be published, but didn’t correct him, because publishing them on my own website technically is my own use. So after getting permission he calls the kids inside the building, tells, that a photographer is entering and tells them to be careful.
Sheer dumb luck.
But here we are. The airsoft use is clearly evident from all the obstacles built inside.
The first classroom was both a storage and a playground.
All the bicycle stands had ended up here.
All in all it looked like a nice, cozy school last renovated in the 1980’s or early 1990’s.
The main stairway was right next to the entrance.
But the entire area was a warzone.
A second classroom.
Some of the material of the mazes looked like it had been borrowed from the school, such as the old door to the left.
This room reminds me of my old kindergarten in the nearby city. The lamps were similar.
Looks like I’ve found the kitchen.
Almost everything had been left in their place.
A closed door with the text “no gaming area”.
Time to enter the ugly, 1970’s annex.