The Dancing Is Over

When I first started urbexing, I was pretty quiet about it. After all, it is basically illegal, although nobody can specify, which law I break, if I don’t break or steal anything. I only came out after ten years or so.

But my current employer has been extremely supportive. They know all about it, in fact most of the construction business in Finland knows all about it. And if I’m able to combine business and pleasure, even that has been encouraged. I am privileged in this way.

Once I came out with Deserted Finland on my private Facebook, my former boss and the editor in chief of my former place of employment asked, if I had photographed a dance pavilion located in a small village. Well, I hadn’t. But now I would.

According to records, it was built in 1968, and closed a long time ago. But of course I went looking for it.

And there it is. It was quite small.

This is probably the former ticket booth.

And behind it was a clear entrance.

The world’s smallest oven. But it has been used to serve customers.

A bottle of denaturized alcohol. A common thing used by alcoholists in the previous decades.

The view from the counter towards the hall.

The pavilion was fairly small.

The narrow bench was probably, where people were waiting for someone to take them dancing. I know a lot of people from this area. Who knows, how many are here because of this location.

It’s around 9.30 pm. The sun is setting behind the windows.

An attempt at capturing the light effect.

The stage was fairly small. But probably some famous bands have performed here anyways.

Or, well. At least some music has been played.

Another look at the place in the summer light.

And the attempt to be artistic.

The counter and the ticket booth. This was very primitive.

And the main entrance, which was well sealed.

A good location. One of the best tips the editor in chief ever gave to me.

Is This Really Supposed To Be In Here?

Again I was looking for something completely different. And ran across a largish building on the verge of collapse.

Ok, it did feature a loading dock and a large door. But that didn’t seem to be the original purpose of it.

The place was in a very bad shape.

The main entrance seemed like that of a public building.

Let’s go have a closer look.

A cloakroom and an old checkout. This wasn’t something that I expected.

Not one checkout. Two of them. And clearly from the same store.

An old scale. But not something, which I had seen in stores. As you can see, all kinds of things are falling from the ceiling.

The checkouts weren’t from just any store. They were from a store by the liquor monopoly Alko. So somebody has closed an Alko somewhere and brought the things here.

There seemed to be a whole lot of other things stored here, too.

The only look towards the great hall of the building. It was so full of stuff, that you couldn’t enter. And the ceiling was hanging dangerously low.

I did a lot of research on this one, and it appears, that it was the house of the local workers’ association. The building appears on maps as an association house, and there were two of them in the village. I also found an association, which matches the description.

But when it was built and when it was abandoned, I have no idea. An how it has been filled with checkouts of Alko, I am less unsure of.

The building still appears on aerial photos but no longer on terrain maps. It may be gone, it may be not.

Making Way For Apartments

This here is a former hospital. Built originally in 1937 and enlarged in 1962 it first was a large regional hospital and after 1988 the city hospital in the area. It later served as an ordinary clinic and was abandoned in 2018 after air quality problems arose.

Since 2018 it has been planned to demolish the newer buildings, preserve the oldest one and build apartments on the site. Most of the buildings in this photo would be demolished. Only the 1937 section, of which a small part can be seen in the left corner of the photo would be preserved.

The main entrance. Let’s see, if there’s anything to explore here.

This is the 1960’s part. Not exactly beautiful, but a prime example of architecture from that era.

A further section closer to the river.

The riverside of things. I wonder, what has been in that low wing with the balcony.

Moving on. The first glimpse of the protected 1930’s hospital building can be seen to the right.

The balconies look like a lot later addition than the 1960’s.

The clock has stopped. It is evening already.

This building has probably originally been the medical superintendent’s house from the 1930’s. The detail plan proposal would allow its demolition.

The more modern auxiliary building has probably served as a legal graffiti wall judging by its current appearance.

It is actually quite fancy.

The protected, 1930’s original hospital, which has been heightened in the 1990’s. This one will be preserved according to plans.

The taller far end of the 1930’s wing will apparently also be restored to its original appearance according to the plans.

One final look at the 1930’s part. The yard seems to be acting as some sort of a storage.

The administrative court overturned the new detail plan in 2024. It’s judgement was, that not detailed enough research had been done on the plan.

So the area is waiting. And so am I.

A Tip From A Friend Part IV

The 1957 school wasn’t the only building on the lot. It was actually fairly common for lightly built extensions to be added to the lots of rural schools in the 1960’s, when smaller schools started to close.

And such an addition was done even here. According to old maps there has even been a new row house built for teachers back then.

Looks like an old computer screen.

And this looks like a complete mess.

Not only does it look like it. It is a complete mess.

Is that a dentist’s chair?

Another room, but the mess just goes on.

A vertical version of the same view.

I wonder, what all this stuff has been here for.

The room was also surprisingly large. Much larger than ordinary classrooms.

An old photo of the kid, looks like the late 1990’s. I’ve blurred the face, but maybe somebody recognizes themselves.

I stand corrected. Three nights to Christmas, 2002.

The room in the other end of the barrack. It was an even worse mess.

The amount of clothes was amazing. The box says summer hats.

Well they don’t look like summer hats.

And what is that cage?

The pile of clothes was even higher in the following room. None of that is useful anymore.

Just look at the pattern of that clothing item.

The mess just continues.

This room was just full of all kinds of clothes.

As the windows had been broken, the mess now has started flowing outside.

The final views from this part of the school.

The old main school was seriously damaged by fire in the spring of 2024. As there probably was no electricity, the reason was probably arson.

According to terrain maps, there is no longer a building on that spot. I’ll have to wait for next summer’s aerial photos to see, if the ruins really have been demolished. This newer addition still seems to stand, though.

A Tip From A Friend Part III

Entering the second apartment. There was even a toilet here.

The living room.

Another room.

And the following one. Interestingly enough they formed a chain.

Back in the previous room. I am once again very satisfied with this picture.

The kitchen. This one was also pretty much in its original 1950’s shape.

Cracks have started to form.

A bedroom, with the original cupboards.

Let’s move up the stairs then.

Two doors up front.

The other one was the attic.

Which seems to have been an ordinary storage space. There also seems to be an original school desk from the early years of the place.

A look back downstairs. The Chernobyl impression still stands.

The other door upstairs led surprisingly to a third apartment.

The toilet was smashed. As usual.

This apartment was smaller than the others. But even this one was in its original 1950’s shape.

It was just one room and a kitchen. With a long corridor.

And so I am back outside. But this was just the first part of the school.

A Tip From A Friend Part II

So the basement featured a small corridor. Let’s see, what’s behind that door.

Another classroom it is. It looks like a jungle gym has been on the wall. This must be the former gym of the school.

But there also seems to have been a blackboard. So this room has served several purposes.

This looks like another entrance is behind the drying cabinet.

The main switchboard seems pretty rusty.

And this is where I find the school’s kitchen.

It was extremely small. But probably it has made food in the space that was available.

Moving a few steps up there was a basement.

Well, it was not very interesting. I didn’t go further.

So, moving back up.

And back through the side corridor.

And through the main entrance.

I suppose this is where the teacher apartments are.

But the entrance there must be on the other side.

And there it is.

A-ha.

Inside the first apartment. But what the fuck is that pile.

A second look at the pile, it seems.

Probably the bedroom.

And another room. This school featured generously spacy apartments.

The kitchen. It was in its original, 1950’s appearance.

But it was large.

There was a stairway. But I’m not going up yet, just to the other apartment in this wing.

A Tip From A Friend Part I

So here I am at the school, which was tipped by a friend. It seems to have turned into a garbage dump. The school was closed in 2005.

The lot is actually for sale, and the building’s condition is listed as good. I would like to disagree.

I mean, if the condition was good, I’d expect the windows to be intact.

The main entrance was pretty easy to find.

And here we go. Number 39 of the season.

And probably the most beautiful picture I took during 2023. At least one of them.

The coat racks of the pupils. They are original.

The school had a side corridor. Typical for the 1950’s.

The front of the first classroom.

And the room really was a mess with stuff unrelated to the building’s time as a school.

That was quickly seen. Back in the corridor.

The second classroom was in an equally bad shape. Here the podium of the teacher is still in place.

This was where the old tables and school desks were stored.

The front of the classroom. With the blackboard removed from the wall and the podium.

Looking back towards where I came from. This, if something, looks like Chernobyl.

Stairs down and another door. But I’m not going there yet.

So another classroom it is.

The back of the classroom again contained loads of furniture.

A small toilet. Even this location would need a plumber.

And this is what the end of the corridor looks like.

I wonder, what these switches have done back in the day. And why the wall around them is so damaged.

So finally heading down towards the next post.

The Heart Of The Village

This is a location I found by complete accident. I was actually going here just because a friend of mine gave a tip about an abandoned school. But when I noticed boarded windows by a highway, I decided to have a look.

Back in 1953 the construction of a hydropower plant started in the middle of nowhere by a large river. Around 2500 builders were there during the peak of the work, and so a village was built for them. It was designed by the famous architect Aarne Ervi.

And because there was a village, there was also a community building built, completed in 1954. This was where the workers and later the employees of the power plant had their parties and watched movies. As the village has now quieted down, even the community building has been shut down. According to Google Maps the windows weren’t yet boarded shut in 2022. Well, in 2023 they were.

A side entrance to the great hall. The former village store can be seen behind the trees. There still seems to have been a bar there in the 2010’s.

The main entrance is below that canopy.

Windows to the great hall. The plywood is fresh.

The main entrance. And the surprising amount of other spaces in the building.

And a better look at the main entrance.

The back of the building. There must have been quite some functions in it.

There was quite a lot of unused road around the building. Let’s go and see what the courtyard holds.

Most of the building in one picture here.

There was what looked like an apartment in the end. Customary to the era, the caretaker of the house probably lived here.

The door to the left is to the projector room. At least movies were shown here back in the days.

There were even garages for the cars of people here. Quite advanced for the time.

Unfortunately no entry.

The Northernmost Point Part II

And inside I am. this is the former lobby of the school and the living room of the hostel.

And one of the former classrooms.

Which has also served as a gym, it seems.

Drawings of an apartment. Apparently it is the teachers’ apartment upstairs. At least the window layout hints at that.

The second classroom.

One of the walls has been painted pink. It seems that even the old school desks are left.

The curtains scream the 1990’s.

Apparently the place was open for explorers already the summer before.

A late 1990’s computer. And an overhead projector.

Even the old books of the school are still here.

Back in the lobby.

The following room was a kitchen.

The cupboard was still full of food.

There was even a pizza oven. This, I believe, is from the hostel days.

The garlic has expired in 2015. That would put the date of abandonment to the earlier part of the 2010’s.

The trays may be from the school years. The fridges are empty.

One further room with three beds. I wonder, what this has been originally used for.

That carpet is so awful, that I actually like it.

A horizontal view of the same room. The board in front of the curtain track has taken some hit.

One more bedroom – with a bed.

And one final look at the lobby before leaving. The upstairs apartment was inaccessible. It was probably accessed through the closed doors at the back of the school.

I still don’t know, if somebody was sleeping in that room just across the lobby or if it was just a prank. And I didn’t stay to find out. Another successful exploration is over.

The Northernmost Point Part I

So here I am in a small village in the middle of nowhere. And this is the school of the village. It looks like it has been built in the 1940’s or 1950’s, but it was definitely closed in 1998. After that it served as a hostel of some sort.

I am here, because I received a tip that it is all open doors. And if I get in this is the northernmost abandoned place I have ever visited. This is way past the polar circle.

According to old aerial photos, this wing has been added later.

Like the tip promised, it is all open doors.

Inside I am. I took a turn left to the first room, and suddenly stopped.

Now I don’t know, if this is a joke made by the local youth or if there really is somebody sleeping in there, but I didn’t stay to find out.

Let’s explore the other wing first.

There was an apartment. It was probably for the caretaker or for a teacher.

But it had since turned into a room with two beds and an early 2000’s TV.

Or actually several beds. This place looks so fresh, that it can’t have been abandoned for a long time.

There was an older TV, too. One of my favorite wood covered ones.

This looks like a sauna dressing room.

And there is the boiler room and the switchboard.

Surprise: it was a sauna dressing room.

Of course there is a sauna in a rural Finnish school.

The school seen from the outside. The first wing has now been explored.

I went around the back to see if there would be an entrance further away from the potential sleeper.

There indeed was a third entrance. But it was locked.

Or actually two more entrances. I believe the taller section of the building to be the teacher apartment wing. The layout is pretty similar to this old village school.

There were no doors at the back.

Even some reindeer had come to greet me. I decided to ignore the potential sleeper. I had come this far out, I was going in.