Abandoned Archives - English Russia

Life in the Northernmost City of Russia

A hundred years ago, in 1915, a village was founded on Dickson island in the Kara Sea, today it represents the northernmost settlement of Russia. It partially lies on the island and partially – on the coast of the Yenisei bay of the shore of Peter Chichagov of Taimyr peninsula. The parts are separated by a 1,5-km strait.

The average yearly temperature of Dickson is -11,4C. It is populated by 700 people at the most. There is still a polar station there, but its fish factory was closed, the only hospital is about to close too. Many houses are abandoned, a demolition of each costs three million rubles (about 50,000 dollars).

Photographer Alexey Nikolaev has been in Dickson twice, in summer and in winter, and now he shares these interesting pictures with us.

Abandoned Estate Of Lavrentiy Beria

by team

Beria was the longest-lived and most influential of Stalin’s secret police chiefs, wielding his most substantial influence during and after World War II. He loved comfort and he needed a houses that would correspond with his high status.

Soviet Mobile Power Station that Was Using Jet Engines [wow]

by tim

This is Soviet generator that is using jet engine and it’s fuel is jet fuel. It is having to jet engines AI-20, and two generators which can give 2.5 Megawatts. Here is how it looks inside:

City Suburbs Don’t Look Nice

by tim

Every country in the world has some not nice looking suburbs (maybe with exception to some states like Monaco etc). Here is such selection here from photographers who like noting dull sides of the life.

Abandoned Frozen Bomb Shelter Looking like a Skating Rink

by tim

This was Soviet bombing shelter under factory workshop. Despight factory is active the bomb shelter abandoned. Probably a couple years nobody has come down here. It was partially flooded and it made a cool effect: during winter water freezes turning shelter into rink.

Photos from Abandoned Soviet City Aralsk-7 Where Biowarfare Was Developed

by tim

On an island in a now dried Aral sea, there was a town Aralsk-7. Before 1940s it had a factory that was making foods out of fish, but later it was closed down and rebuilt into a Soviet bio warfare factory. During 1960-1980s the population of a town surrounding the factory (and also a bio warfare drill site) was around 1500. Now stays abandoned, here are some photos by Kirgiz photographer Nematov:

Paying Visit to an Abandoned Pioneers Camp

by tim

Emir and Antrei are two photographers from Yekaterinburg who like to explore abandoned places. This time it was an abandoned pioneers camp near Yekaterinburg city. The name of the place was “Cosmos” during the USSR era. It was built in the 1960s and after the USSR collapsed it stopped functioning, however it’s still in pretty good shape inside.

Abandoned 8×8 Vehicles Deep in the Forest Among the Swamps

by tim

It has been said that Russian forests can surprise you with curious finds. Things that in normal life you won’t be allowed to approach closer than the distance of a gunshot. Getting there isn’t easy, in this story a man goes beyond the swamp on an ATV like this:

Abandoned House of Culture from USSR Times

by tim

During the Soviet Era every city, town and even village had a “house of culture” building. They were sort of clubs for people to come, to study some crafts, to perform arts and also as convention places. Some of them were architecturally interesting, like this one abandoned near Tver city:

23 Abandoned Places in RU

by tim

Bridges, factories, churches, mechanical structures, all here abandoned: