Beelitz-Heilstätten

[Josef]

Much to follow, but by general agreement this is the first.

[Lucky Poet]

A few more teasers:







It be an old TB sanatorium about 25 miles south west of Berlin, taken over as a military hospital during both wars, then used for the same by the Soviets till the early 90s, and now mostly abandoned. Some very big and rather bloody impressive buildings. Shedloads more photos to follow...

[Sharon]

Looks amazing, I await the full presentation!!!

[Lucky Poet]

So, Beelitz-Heilstätten. For a brief description, you can do worse than Wikipedia, so look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beelitz#Be ... .C3.A4tten

Or indeed if you know German, there’s its own website. I don’t know German, so don’t have a clue what it’s on about: http://www.heilstaetten.beelitz-online.de/

It was a neat excuse for a jaunt into the countryside, being about a 40 minute train journey from Berlin city centre. (On rather spiffy double-decker trains, incidentally, that play cheery wee tunes to herald station announcements.) When we finally got there, the reports elsewhere on the interwebs seemed to still be fairly accurate, though security’s been beefed up a bit – in that most of the buildings have been firmly closed up. Having said that, it’s a huge site, and there are large parts we didn’t get to even with several hours spent mooching around. One guy appeared in a van, apparently employed there in one of the few bits still in use, but didn’t react to our presence at all. For most of the time there wasn’t another soul around (possibly helped by the rain that day).

Anyway, it’s rather bloody impressive, a rambling site split into four quarters (divided by the north-south railway, and a road running east-west) with scattered buildings in varying degrees of size and condition, most sharing a similar architecture – lots of half-timber and fancy detailing like in the photo above, and clearly very expensively done.

First bit first, and it's yer usual abandoned place type stuff, with flaky paint:


And the odd little object left here and there, like an abandoned razor:


What's a bit less usual (for me anyway) is abandoned Soviet stuff, like a copy of Pravda on the stairs:


Or the old newspapers lining some walls:


Moving on a bit, if you're after a big wooden chandelier, there's a free one here (in what appears to have been a ballroom):


Much like St Peter's, there's a lot of graffiti, most of which is crap but with the occasional arty bit:




Back outside, here's a bit that's still in use, being (we think) a water tower, attached to the power plant:


And a sign in German. Not sure what it says, but the jist of it seems to be 'piss off and don't come back':


More later...

[davadvice]

that grafiti is ace.

i'm liking this keep it coming.

[Josef]

What's a bit less usual (for me anyway) is abandoned Soviet stuff, like a copy of Pravda on the stairs:


More later...

That's a beauty, LP.

More? I don't even know where to start....

Doors, doors, doors... there were doors everywhere. And I developed an unhealthy fascination with the ubiquitous strip lighting.

Anyway. Baths.



Them Russians again.




Power.




Attic doorways.




Central heating

[banjo]

interesting pics there.i must show them to the party of berliners that i have coming over in three weeks for my sons wedding.his fiancee is from there.

[Lucky Poet]

They may well think 'oh that old dump that's always crawling with photographers'

A slightly wider view of one of the bigger buildings:


The kind of detailing for the hell of it that you don't get any more:


Oops:


More oops:


Yet more oops (though it shows how solidly built much of it is - including much steelwork in the ceiling):


Two of a great many creepy corridors:




And finally, somebody had a thing for odd Batman-themed graffiti: