BATHHOUSE No.8 [GE]

Exploration #235 Bathhouse No.8. Bathhouse No.8 was one of the nine thermal baths, called also “spring” located within the large central park of Tskaltubo (წყალტუბო), the town located in west-central Georgia designated as an important balneotherapy centre by the government of the former Soviet Union. Of the nine buildings, four are currently in use: Bathhouses No. 1, 2, 3, and 6.

Bathhouse No.8 was a communal bathhouse that was probably used  by the proletariat rather than the party elite. It has a huge central skylight that was probably glass covered originally. Nowdays it is completely abandoned.

Tskaltubo has always been famous for its healing mineral waters and radon bath treatments. The centre focuses on balneotherapy for circulatory, nervous, musculoskeletal, gynaecological and skin diseases.
The first balneological baths were opened around 1870 and in 1925, the first sanatoriums and curative structures were built. Development continued apace and in 1931 the town was designated a balneotherapy and spa centre by the Soviet government. Tskaltubo was one of Stalin’s favourite holiday resorts: he had a private swimming pool in Bathhouse No.9, which is still in use today in the same park where Bathhouse No.8 is located.

During the Second World War the hotels were used as hospitals, but after the war Tskaltubo became one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Soviet Union. Moreover, it was not only a luxury holiday for the rich, but spa treatments could also be prescribed by doctors and provided free of charge to the poorer population. Four trains arrived daily from Moscow. There were about 5,000 beds in 19 hotels and sanatoriums and up to 1,500 people a day underwent treatment.

The independence of Georgia in 1991 and the fall of the Soviet Union at the end of December 1991 caused the Tskaltubo spa industry to collapse. Without guests, most hotels and resorts were forced to close. Buildings were abandoned and fell into disrepair.

In 1992, a war broke out in neighbouring Abkhazia. More than 200,000 displaced Georgians fled the conflict and about 10,000 of them found refuge in the empty buildings of Tskaltubo. It was supposed to be temporary accommodation but today, almost 30 years later, these makeshift flats have become permanent homes for new generations of families. The condition of the buildings is extremely poor even though they still possess the magnificence of Soviet architecture. A couple of former structures, Hotel Medea and Hotel Imereti, are still so incredibly photogenic that they host multiple wedding photo shoots during the summer months. Bathhouse No. 5, on the other hand, is just a skeleton of mouldy, peeling walls within the large city park.

If you enjoyed this article, you can also have a look at this other places in Tskaltubo: Bathhouse No.5.

BATHHOUSE No.5 [GE]

Exploration #228 Bathhouse No.5. Bathhouse No.5 was one of the nine thermal baths located within the large central park of Tskaltubo (წყალტუბო), the town located in west-central Georgia designated as an important balneotherapy centre by the government of the former Soviet Union.

Tskaltubo has always been famous for its healing mineral waters and radon bath treatments. The centre focuses on balneotherapy for circulatory, nervous, musculoskeletal, gynaecological and skin diseases. The first balneological baths were opened around 1870 and in 1925, the first sanatoriums and curative structures were built. Development continued apace and in 1931 the town was designated a balneotherapy and spa centre by the Soviet government. Tskaltubo was one of Stalin’s favourite holiday resorts: he had a private swimming pool in Bathhouse No. 9, which is still in use today and not far from the abandoned Bathhouse No.5.

During the Second World War the hotels were used as hospitals, but after the war Tskaltubo became one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Soviet Union. Moreover, it was not only a luxury holiday for the rich, but spa treatments could also be prescribed by doctors and provided free of charge to the poorer population. Four trains arrived daily from Moscow. There were about 5,000 beds in 19 hotels and sanatoriums and up to 1,500 people a day underwent treatment.

The independence of Georgia in 1991 and the fall of the Soviet Union at the end of December 1991 caused the Tskaltubo spa industry to collapse. Without guests, most hotels and resorts were forced to close. Buildings were abandoned and fell into disrepair.

In 1992, a war broke out in neighbouring Abkhazia. More than 200,000 displaced Georgians fled the conflict and about 10,000 of them found refuge in the empty buildings of Tskaltubo. It was supposed to be temporary accommodation but today, almost 30 years later, these makeshift flats have become permanent homes for new generations of families. The condition of the buildings is extremely poor even though they still possess the magnificence of Soviet architecture. A couple of former structures, Hotel Medea and Hotel Imereti, are still so incredibly photogenic that they host multiple wedding photo shoots during the summer months. Bathhouse No. 5, on the other hand, is just a skeleton of mouldy, peeling walls within the large city park.

In Tskaltubo there are other former thermal bath like the Bathhouse No.8.

BUZLUDŽA [BG]

Exploration #181. The official name of the Buzludža monument is “Monument House of the Bulgarian Communist Party”. It was built on the Hadzhi Dimitar Peak (until 1942 known as Buzludža Peak), which is close to the geographical centre of Bulgaria. It is the largest ideological monument to the communist regime in Bulgaria. After the political changes in Bulgaria in November 1989, the new government had no interest in this symbol of communism and it was abandoned.

The monument commemorates a secret assembly of socialists from different Bulgarian areas, on 2 August 1891, to form an organized socialist movement, the Bulgarian Social Democratic Party. This assembly was an initiative of the socialist leader Dimitar Blagoev and this new party (from 1894 the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers’ Party) was in fact a forerunner of the Bulgarian Communist Party, founded in 1919. But there are two more reasons why this spot is important for Bulgarian history. On 18 July 1868, the famous revolutionary Hadzhi Dimitar led his rebels in a final battle against the Ottomans, fought at Buzludža Peak. And on 25 January 1944, Bulgarian partisans ambushed here fascist forces engaged in training exercises, ending up in a fierce fire fight, during which several partisans lost their lives.
The decision to build this monument was taken by the Bulgarian Communist Party on 11 March 1971. Its construction began in January 1974 and was financed with donations and the sale of stamps, in total worth more than 14 million Bulgarian Leva (nowadays about 35 million USD). The monument, a round domed building with a 70m high double pylon, was designed by a team led by the architect Georgi Stoilov. The structures were designed by professor engineer Dobromir Kolarov. The Monument House of the Bulgarian Communist Party was unveiled on 23 August 1981 by party and state leader Todor Zhivkov.

To build a stable foundation for the monument, about 9m of the peak had to be levelled; 15,000m³ of rock was dug out, reducing the height of Hadzhi Dimitar Peak from 1441 to 1432m. A total of 70,000 tons of concrete, 3,000 tons of reinforced steel and 40 tons of gilded glass were used for the construction, involving more than 6,000 builders and workers. At the top of the double pylon, on its wide sides, are two irregular 5-pointed stars, made of red glass and measuring 6.5 x 12m (the largest in the world). The stars had lighting fixtures; at darkness, they could be seen from far away.

The round domed building consists mainly of the ceremonial hall with a corridor around it, covered with a copper roof of about 2500m². The round ceremonial hall is decorated with mosaics with a total area of 510m². The hall is surrounded by a corridor with large glass windows, and 14 mosaics covering the walls. More than 60 artists needed about 18 months to create the interior artistic design. All mosaics together cover a surface of about 920m². In the ceiling of the hall, one can still see the mosaic ‘Proletarians from all countries, unite!’, with the communist symbol hammer and sickle.

After the political changes in Bulgaria in November 1989, the new government had no interest in this symbol of communism and it was abandoned. Soon afterwards, the last employees left and the doors were locked. In the following years, the monument deteriorated. It became subject to theft, vandalism and weather influences. The building began to crumble, glass was broken, mosaics, ornaments and other elements of the monument’s structure were torn down. Everything in the building worth stealing, was stolen, including the copper covering the roof.
Several initiatives to preserve the monument had been undertaken throughout the years, not with much success. The latest initiative started in 2019 and after investigation, a Conservation Management Plan was made and it was indicated that the monument could be saved. In 2020, works started to stabilize the surviving mosaic panels. These conservation and preservation efforts are still ongoing.

These photo are from my visit in March 2017 (fog and snow) and March 2018. Nowadays the monument is being renovated.  

CHIATURA CABLE CARS [GE]

Exploration #155 Chiatura cable cars . Chiatura cable cars were a network of cable cars built so that almost every corner of the mining town was accessible. Chiatura (ჭიათურა) is a Georgian municipality located in a narrow mountain valley on the banks of the Qvirila River. In 1879 large deposits of manganese were discovered in that valley and the state started the JSC Chiaturmanganese company to manage its exploitation. As early as 1905, a small town was built for the extraction of the metal and a railway link was set up to transport the ore to the Zestaponi ferroalloy plant, which is still in operation today, although it is in such a poor state of repair that walking past it could be mistaken for a disused industry.

Over the years, manganese production rose to 60% of the world’s total production, as did the number of miners employed, estimated at over 4000.
The employees worked 18 hours a day sleeping in the mines, always covered in soot, without even a toilet. The problem was also due to the logistical difficulties of moving around, as the mines were located along the valley, with access on the steep, steep slopes.

The first workers’ movements arose, led by a young Stalin, here renamed with the battle name of “Koba”, who left his mark in Chiatura, winning it over with his oratory to the cause of the Bolsheviks, the only town in a Menshevik area.
In June-July 1913 the miners went on strike for 55 days, demanding an eight-hour day, higher wages and no more night work. Working conditions improved but the problems of travel were only solved a few years later when, after the annexation of Georgia to Russia, Russian engineers decided that the best solution for transport was by air.

A network of cable cars was built so that almost every corner of the mining town was accessible. The system transported workers from their homes in the lower part of the valley to the mines that dotted the mountains. The system was also used to transport manganese to the various factories in the area. What merits Sergeant Major ‘Koba’ had in the project remains to be seen, but the cable car system was at the time one of the most fascinating engineering feats on the planet. As many as 21 pairs of cabins were built, climbing a total length of over 6,000 metres. Of these, 15 remained in service virtually unchanged for 50 years until the beginning of 2019 when they were stopped with the promise of building new, more modern ones. In 2017, the Georgian government began rebuilding the system using modern cable car technology, beginning with the central four-line hub station. The revamped system opened in September 2021.

Of the 15 cable cars that stopped some have been dismantled, of others only the departure and arrival station remains, while some rest intact and left without maintenance a few metres from their station, probably to avoid being stolen, waiting for a restart that will never happen again or for an unlikely restoration. The government plans to preserve its stations as heritage site.

SKRUNDA-1 [LV]

Exploration #71 Skrunda-1. Skrunda-1 is a special ghost town: during the period of activity it was a closed city and Soviet military base in Latvia. Skrunda-1 housed almost 5000 military, technicians and scientists (with related families) on duty at a radar station called in NATO slang “Hen House” (name deriving from the fact that it resembled a large chicken coop). It was one of the six radars built at the beginning of the Cold War in the peripheral areas of the then Soviet Union, capable of monitoring possible ballistic missile launches to Russia. The city was built in 1963 and had around 75 buildings spread over an area of more than 100 acres. The city was self-sufficient and inside there were schools, residences, a small hotel, a prison, places for leisure and bunkers.

The Russians left Latvia in 1994 but Skrunda-1 remained operational for a few more years. The city was finally emptied of all its valuable material and then abandoned by the Russians in 1998. The Latvians demolished the radar towers on the occasion of the exit of the Soviets, but the rest of the city was left abandoned in the middle of the forest.

In my urbex adventures I explored several ghost towns, but Skrunda-1 was a different experience. First of all, the vastness: we are not talking about a village but a real town with main roads and secondary avenues. Then the buildings: multi-storey apartment buildings, all the same in classic Soviet style that follow one after the other. Walking in these avenues was like experiencing the post-apocalyptic film scene. Inside, everything was devastated, but some small memories of the inhabitants remain, the ones that most impressed me, some small posters of some Russian teenagers who spent their childhood in Skrunda-1.

This exploration dates back to 2014. From 2016 it became an almost official tourist attraction and local authorities asked for an entrance ticket. Since 2018, however, the city has been under army control and is used for training and therefore unfortunately it can no longer be visited.

GEAMANA FLOODED VILLAGE [RO]

Exploration #40. Geamana is a very unique ghost town located in Romania. Its peculiarity is being entirely submerged by of a toxic red lake created by men. The tragedy of this village, that once occupied a fertile and sunny valley, began in 1977. In that year the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu decided to begin the exploitation of the nearby copper deposit of Rosia Poieni, in those years the largest in Europe .

At first the residents of Geamana imagined getting some small profits from the nearby copper mine but unfortunately it was not. The copper extraction process in fact produces large quantities of toxic waste, in particular sludges containing cyanide and other metals that must be adequately treated by expensive machinery. The brilliant idea of the former dictator was therefore to store these muds, and what if not the nearby valley of Geamana could serve for this purpose? In 1980 all the lands were expropriated, a large containment dam was built at the beginning of the valley and toxic mud began to take the place of the green cultivated fields. About 400 families were promised new fertile lands but in reality they were moved to cities more than 100km far and received only a small amount of money. About 20 of the 1000 inhabitants of the valley of the past, mostly elderly, have instead decided not to move but to build new houses at an ever higher point.

As the exploitation of the mine has continued over the years, so the level of this surreal toxic lake increased. To date practically the whole village has been submerged, except for the bell tower of the old church, once the high point, and the new homes of those who decided to stay in this forgotten and forever poisoned place. The old cemetery, which the authorities had promised the former occupants of the village to move, also now lies submerged near the church. It is now only a matter of little time that the bell tower is forever submerged, putting the end to the history of Geamana.

RED STAR TRAIN GRAVEYARD [HU]

Exploration #34 Red star train graveyard. The red star train graveyard place was once one of the most important railway repair workshops in Hungary. For the residents of Budapest this place goes by the name of Istvántelek and for the rest of the world, that name is Red Star Train Graveyard, the place where trains went to die.

The Istvántelek Train Yard, aka red star train graveyard, was built in Budapest between 1902 and 1905, going on to serve as a sprawling, modern repair facility for the city’s trains. In fact, one of the workshop halls was so large at 24,000 square meters that it was noted as Budapest’s largest building in 1902.

In this train graveyard it is possible to find some MAV class 301 locomotive that was the star of transportation from 1911 to 1914 and the huge and powerful MAV class 424 locomotive another engineering marvel that Hungary produced weighting an impressive 137 tons. The current collection of rusting gems includes also German freight cars that very well could have transported Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz during Nazi occupation.
More than 100 locomotives and railcars are here and around it in the fields rusting. The colossal locomotives were brought to this place to be repaired and transported to the Budapest Railway Museum but the museum does not have money for their restoration.

CCCP PILOT SCHOOL [DE]

Exploration #14 CCCP pilot school. This place, known as CCCP Pilot School, was a flight school originally established in 1933 to educate and train engineers and mechanics for military aircraft.

The Luftwaffe took over the site before the second world war and in October 1933 there were already 1,500 students. Only one year later this was the biggest military training area of the Reich – though nobody knew about it officially. The Nazis added many buildings to the complex and the school was developed into a fully functioning military airfield to aid in developing the countries flight skills in preparation for the war. Next to nearby barracks, a military training area, and an airbase this was part of a new and massive military compound. The ensemble with a parade ground in the middle of it gets dominated by the semi-circular main building.

In 1945 the Red Army took over the site as part of its occupation within East-Germany and several units of the Soviet Air Force were based here. They even extended the runway and added an anti aircraft missile site nearby. The airfield was handed back to Germany in 1992 and it seems to have laid dormant since.

THE SMALL THEATRE [BG]

Exploration #12 . This was an unexpected exploration. I and my fellow traveler were wandering in a small Bulgarian town looking for a beer when our attention was caught by this building. It was a big structure with a well-finished garden and with nice pillars at the front entrance. Looking throughout a window we discovered this was an old theatre, now completely abandoned. Quickly we sneaked inside to explore and to make a couple of pics.

The theatre was strongly vandalized, anyway it would have been rather elegant for its time, with nice curved balconies all long its upper perimeter. There are not many information about the story of this theatre but probably after the fall of communism there was no interest for the locals for a theatre or a cultural building of similar sorts in this really small town.

BLUE THEATRE HOSPITAL [DE]

Exploration #1 The blue theatre hospital. The blue theatre hospital, know as the CCCP Hospitalis, is a sizable derelict military Russian hospital complex located on the edge of one of the biggest bases of the former DDR.

It would appear the hospital was built around 1890-1900, as the architectural style is similar to other military buildings of that period. In 1930 the hospital was extended, not only soldiers were treated, but also family members and people from the village. The new hospital had place for 400 patients. After the war, the Soviet used the hospital and based on some of the murals on the wall it would appear that at least the upstairs of the building was used for treating children. It was abandoned in the early 1990s when the Soviet army left following the reunification of Germany. It has lain abandoned ever since.

Not far from this hospital it is possible to find a former flight school, also used by the Red Army and now abandoned: the CCCP pilot school.