Tag: urban exploration

the Lenin House of Culture, Nizhny Novgorod

More than 1 200 people used to seat in this huge hall. And now it is totally abandoned with only a giant chandelier hanging in the middle. The round stage itself has apocalyptically fallen down.

More than 1 200 people used to seat in this huge hall. And now it is totally abandoned with only a giant chandelier hanging in the middle. The round stage itself has apocalyptically fallen down.

The Lenin House of Culture in Nizhny Novgorod was built in 1927 to commemorate 10th anniversary of the Great October revolution. Lenin is still present here: there is a giant smashed head of Lenin and the other bust is standing facing the corner. A lot of artifacts are scattered everywhere: books, film rolls, slides and course materials. As a souvenir we took tokens, which would be given to people in the cloakroom.

Standing as it is, a sort of contemporary ruin, the former Lenin House of Culture could be a great sight for a performance. So I really hope to come back one day – if it will still be there as life of such buildings is unsecure and unpredictable.

IMG_1259IMG_1249IMG_1250IMG_1258IMG_1260IMG_1261IMG_1264IMG_1265IMG_1263IMG_1248

the lost world

I am Russian. I was born in 1989. When I fill in a visa application form I need to write that I was born in USSR, Moscow. I was born in the country, which you can no longer find on a map and in which I only lived for a little more than two years. From the 21st of August 1991 it no longer existed…

I am Russian. I was born in 1989. When I fill in a visa application form I need to write that I was born in USSR, Moscow. I was born in the country, which you can no longer find on a map and in which I only lived for a little more than two years. From the 21st of August 1991 it no longer existed.

Urban exploration (urbex) is popular in many countries. However, it is very specific on the post-Soviet territory. In this particular case we are dealing with the abandonment of a whole country, an almost century-long historic period and a never fulfilled utopia.

These buildings stand as phantoms, often with complicated ownership situation, abandoned and in decay. Although not completely destroyed, they are as if suspended between existence and absence.

Together with my friends I have been practicing urbex, travelling around the former Soviet Union countries, for more than three years now. In this blog I will be constantly sharing with you some of the photos (both by me and my friends) of the abandoned buildings we’ve been to.

an abandoned factory ‘Zarya’, Dzerzhinsk, Russia

IMG_1132IMG_1133IMG_1116IMG_1129IMG_1134IMG_1131IMG_1130

Photos by Alisa Oleva

sites we like

UK Urban Exploration

UK Urban Exploration documents urban decay in the UK with love and at some risk. The site has the following disclaimer:

The places you will see in the pictures we have taken are dangerous and should not be entered under any circumstances, UkUrbEx takes no responsibility for any harm you may come to if you decide to enter.

– But the atmosphere is more of melancholy beauty than macho daring.

UK Urban Exploration belongs to a group based in Birmingham but it roams all over the UK. However,  the coverage of West Midlands sites such as the Longbridge tunnels or the Central TV studios is particularly fascinating.

Image from The Hoarders House, Droitwich at ukurbex.co.uk