I roamed around the downstairs looking for a stairway up, but was only walking in circles. This was the same room with the bicycle seen before from the opposite side. I finally found a way up. It was just a bit difficult to access the stairs because of the rubble. But before finally going upContinue reading “The Railroader’s Cottage Part II”
Author Archives: desertedfinland
The Railroader’s Cottage Part I
The village we were on an adventure in had a railroad in it. No major trains had ever stopped there, as it was just the end of a line of a side track connecting a large local factory to the main network. The rails were still there although they hadn’t seen much use after theContinue reading “The Railroader’s Cottage Part I”
The Travel Lover’s Cottage
Somewhere in the east lies a small town, which was born and grew because of the forest industry. After decades of layoffs, closing production lines and factories, it has started to shink in size. This of course means lots of abandoned buildings, if only you know where to find them. This cute little cottage didn’tContinue reading “The Travel Lover’s Cottage”
The Staff Shortage Seems Real
In the backyard of a quiet regional hospital sits an even quieter area of old residential buildings from different ages. Its story goes something like the following. To attract staff from other cities and towns, apartments were built close to nearly every single public institution. Schools, hospitals, sometimes even churches, received their own residential buildingsContinue reading “The Staff Shortage Seems Real”
The Mill Is Open
The Southeastern part of Finland has a strong tradition in forest industry. Since the late 19th century around a dozen pulp mills and dozens of paper mills have cooked wealth to the Finnish society. In recent decades times have been hard. Paper machine after paper machine has been shut down, in the early 2000’s andContinue reading “The Mill Is Open”
Despair St.
Technically these buildings are not abandoned. They all are located on one street in the village of Myllykoski near Kouvola. They have been built between the 1930’s and the 1960’s, and have originally had stores downstairs and apartments upstairs. There are still people living upstairs, but when the local pulp and paper mill was closedContinue reading “Despair St.”
Wild Turns for the Nursing Home
When my friend realized where I was driving, she sent me a message about an abandoned nursing home nearby. Built in the early 1930’s as a municipal home, it was enlarged in the 50’s and again in the 80’s. The latter years of the building were a bit more turbulent. After being closed down itContinue reading “Wild Turns for the Nursing Home”
Famous, Yet Forgotten
A-ha, a quarry. That seems promising! It does forbid driving, but driving to the premises is allowed. So if I’ll drive there to visit the quarry, that’s not wrong, is it? The quarry was very old. You couldn’t have figured out that you were in one if you hadn’t known it. So this was it?Continue reading “Famous, Yet Forgotten”
What Once Was Is No More
After almost 10 years I had returned to the Southeastern part of the country. Back in the days I had photographed a huge abandoned school in the town of Hamina. I knew the place had been demolished long ago, but I still wanted to see what had been built on the spot. I found this.Continue reading “What Once Was Is No More”
Sorry, Mistook You for a School
Whenever visiting any village that summer, I tried to find something to photograph. In the more modest villages it was perhaps the church, so anything more interesting than that would do, really. I usually just looked up the biggest building of the village, which often was a school. That was ok, school architecture up untilContinue reading “Sorry, Mistook You for a School”