Tour Report: Hotel "Lampshade"

On a bleak, cold day in November 2020, we set out to explore an abandoned hotel. It stands on the edge of a small village in the Thuringian Forest and was closed in the early 1990s after barely a decade of operation.

The drive from our accommodation was not exactly short—just over two hours. Along the way, we took in the late autumn scenery: the cold and damp had wrapped the Thuringian Forest in a dense veil of fog that would linger with us throughout the entire day.

The hotel sits atop a hill. To the south and west lie residential areas; on the eastern slope, a few cattle grazed quietly on a wide pasture, while to the north the complex borders an expansive stretch of forest.

We parked some distance away in a spot that seemed inconspicuous and made our way toward the building. The fog swallowed every sound. There was no wind, and the cold felt sharp and still—I couldn’t help but feel like we had stepped into the opening scene of a horror film.

Even from afar, the structures were visible: a large, prefabricated six-story accommodation block, flanked by two lower annexes that once housed kitchens, dining halls, and various other facilities.

Finding a way inside didn’t take long. Within minutes, we discovered an open door and slipped into the building. We began by exploring the guest room block. As was typical in socialist times, the rooms were all identical: beds, a wardrobe, a lamp, and a small shelf.

The higher we climbed, the more evident the decay became. Water had clearly been leaking in from the roof, and the damage intensified with each floor. The mold was so pervasive that, despite the cold, we could almost taste the decay in the air. We didn’t even want to imagine what it must be like here in summer.

I found the small shelves particularly charming. Much like the rooms themselves, they existed in various stages of decay—from nearly pristine to damp and green with mold, all the way to completely gone. Tracing this “path of decay” in detail would go too far here, but I’ve included a small photo at the end of this post that captures it quite well.

After finishing the hotel section, we moved on to the areas that once housed the restaurant and other facilities. This was where vandals and cable thieves had done the most damage. The rooms bore clear signs that parties had taken place here over the years—none of which had done the building any favors.

Even so, we were still able to capture some truly striking images. At one point, however, our progress was abruptly halted: access to further parts of the complex was completely blocked and secured, which took us by surprise. With that, our exploration came to an end—aside from the sealed-off section, we had seen nearly everything.

On our way back to the car, we suddenly heard noises coming from behind the barricaded area—metallic, rhythmic, unmistakably the sound of tools. Apparently, someone was using that section as a workshop at the time—or perhaps metal thieves had sealed it off themselves to go about their “work” undisturbed.

Either way, we were glad we hadn’t tried to push further. We weren’t particularly eager for human contact out here.

And so, after a truly successful exploration, we made our way back to the Husky farm, where a well-earned, hearty dinner awaited us.

To find out more about the history and to check out all the photos from this place, click the button below.

Tour Report: Tunnels into the Mountain

After visiting the former children’s sanatorium together with our friend Biggi from Der Schlittenhundehof, we decided to check out a few sights around the town. This time, it wasn’t about abandoned places - just a relaxed walk to wind down after our exploration.

Later, we drove to a small parking area just outside town, located near a hiking trail. We had chosen this spot for a cozy coffee break. Just before turning into the parking lot, we noticed an opening in the hillside on the right side of the road. We couldn’t make out much, but it looked intriguing enough to spark our curiosity immediately.

Right next to the parking area, there was another tunnel entrance - this one sealed off with a heavy metal door and a padlock. Still, it added to the sense that there was more to this place than met the eye.

But first - coffee.

We set up our small camping chairs and table. When I make coffee on the road, I always use my Petromax percolator on a compact gas burner. It takes a bit longer, but that’s part of the charm - we weren’t in a hurry. As we sat there, sipping hot coffee on a gloomy November day, just above freezing and with a light drizzle in the air, a few passersby gave us puzzled looks. Three people casually having coffee on a parking lot in that kind of weather isn’t exactly an everyday sight.

While waiting for the coffee to brew, I took a closer look at the sealed tunnel entrance. There was no obvious way to open the door, but peeking through, I could catch a glimpse of the tunnel behind it. It looked promising - but inaccessible.

So our attention returned to the entrance we had spotted from the road.

After finishing our break, we set off on the short walk. As it turned out, this tunnel was open. At some point in the past, a brick wall had been constructed just behind the entrance to prevent unauthorized access - but it had long since been breached, allowing us to enter.

Inside, we found two somewhat larger chambers, clearly carved into the mountain by human hands. At the time of our visit, we had no idea what these tunnels had originally been used for. Mining? Air-raid shelter? Something else entirely?

Unfortunately, the items we found offered little clarity. Scattered boots, wooden posts, tools, and fragments of porcelain raised more questions than answers. There was no way of knowing who had brought them here, when, or for what purpose. Some objects suggested possible military or civil defense use, but we couldn’t confirm any of it.

From a photographic perspective, the site wasn’t particularly rewarding either. Dark, mostly featureless walls don’t offer much visual appeal. On top of that, we had only brought our “small” flashlights - after all, a cave exploration hadn’t been part of the plan.

In the end, it was an exciting little exploration, even if it didn’t reveal much about the tunnels’ history. That would only come more than two years later, when we returned to the area and discovered additional tunnels…

To find out more about the history and to check out all the photos from this place, click the button below.

Tour Report: Ballroom "Wintergarten"

It's one of those abandoned buildings that I've seen photos of over the years, and although it doesn't really look spectacular in the end, I've long harbored a desire to visit and photograph this old ballroom.
So when the opportunity presented itself, I took it. 
It was also the last opportunity, because just a year or so after our visit, the roof collapsed and demolition followed just a few months later.
We were on our way from one overnight stop to another during our 2019 summer vacation, and the old social hall was very conveniently located on the way for a quick stop. There was even a public parking lot almost directly in front of it.
Finding an entrance was very easy - there wasn't really any fencing, so we could easily find an open door.
We were first in a long corridor, and there was a strong smell of smoke - probably a relic of one of the many larger and smaller fires that have raged in the old building over the years.
Starting from this corridor, we found some rooms that were long past their prime - you could see through the ceilings into the ballroom one floor up, the walls were covered in graffiti, and the floors were full of rubble and trash.

We reached the ballroom via the staircase. Although it was already more than broken, we were amazed at its former splendor. The metal columns, the high, vaulted ceiling, the railings decorated with wooden elements and the large, framed stage - grand celebrations certainly took place here!

At the time of our visit, the last sounds of the orchestra had long faded away, and the ravages of time have gnawed deep holes in the floor and ceiling.

We dared to take only a few steps into the room to take a few pictures. The floor was so precarious that we quickly retreated back to the more "solid" area of the building.

We found the collapsed ceiling in the dressing room area particularly impressive - the broken wooden beams formed a strange structure that seemed almost surreal.

All in all, the visit was worthwhile, because you could get a good idea of how beautiful the ballroom must have looked in its best days. It is always a pity that such buildings are not preserved and put to a new use - although here the protection of historical monuments and the immense costs of a renovation in keeping with the preservation order often deter potential investors.

To find out about the history of this place and to check out all the photos, click the button below.

Tour Report: Porcelain Factory "Souvenir"

As I've said - we had two abandoned porcelain factories on our list for that day. After we'd finished exploring the first one, we grabbed a quick snack before getting on the way to the second one. It was a route of only about 100 kilometers, so we didn't expect it to be a too long drive.

What we hadn't accounted for was that the route took us through the mountains which meant that we got stuck behind a truck more than once and had to wait to be able to pass it somewhere on the winding road. So this was already a bit of a nuisance. But when we got to a full closure only five minutes before reaching our destination, we were really annoyed, because we had to take a detour of about thirty kilometers.

Well, alright. So we took the detour - again along winding mountain roads, so it was an additional half an hour before we even got close to the porcelain factory.

The factory was on the edge of town at the end of a residential street. There weren't any inconspicuous places to park, so we parked the car a bit further down the street, so we may have just been tourists that went for a walk in the picturesque little town. We got our gear and walked up to the old factory building. Finding a way onto the premises was easy - but to get to the access into the building, we had to fight our way through a lot of vegetation, thorn bushes and over old timber.

As we finally entered the building, we were really disappointed. The first room that we entered was a typical industrial ruin in which people had dumped a lot of trash, old chairs, electrical appliances, used clothes and torn fabrics. Only a few molds pointed to the former use of this factory.

So with only little hope, we went on to explore the rest of the building.

Only a few rooms later, our disappointment had vanished and made room for enthusiasm. There was fantastic decay, many old relics to be discovered and in the end, this place was even better than the other factory that we had explored only hours before.

The afternoon sun made for a fantastic light in many of the rooms, and only the fact that we had a reservation for dinner and still had a "few" kilometers to drive was reason enough to get us to leave at some point.

This truly was a great location to explore, and although parts of it were already collapsing, I hope that there will be the chance for a revisit in the future.

To find out about the history of this place and to check out all the photos, click the button below.

Tour Report: Sanatorium "Grand Duchess"

After we'd explored the abandoned recreation home that we'd found by accident, we moved on to the location that we'd originally planned - an abandoned sanatorium. Built more than 120 yeas ago, the place promised to be an exciting explore in both historical and architectural aspects.

It was only a few minutes drive from the recreation home which - as far as I know - had been a part of the sanatorium after World War II. Of course, there were no regular parking spots, so we had to find us a place somewhere between the cars of the local residents. We found one a bit down the street, which was good because standing in front of an abandoned place with a license plate from a city about 600 kilometers away is not the best thing to do if you want to keep a low profile.

We walked a bit up the hill to get to the old sanatorium which really was a sight for sore eyes. It was a beautiful day - mostly sunny and partly cloudy, which always makes for a nice atmosphere. There was no wind, so we could hear the crickets in the grass as we started looking for a way in. We walked around the building following one of the many trails through the vegetation surrounding the building. It only took us a few minutes to find an entrance. This entrance seemed to be frequently closed with OSB plates and then opened again by someone else. Upon entering, we saw a hand-written note - possibly put there by the owner or some sort of caretaker. The note said something along the lines of "If you feel that you have to enter this place, at least don't leave your trash and don't spray things on the walls!".

We started exploring the building, and we found that a lot of people obviously didn't follow the note - there was a lot of graffiti and a lot of leftovers from various parties that happened in the place. It was kind of disappointing, since in the absence of any furniture or original decoration, the architecture - the staircases, windows and long hallways - were the only thing (next to the outside) that made this location beautiful. There were a lot of graffiti, however. And I'm not talking about beautiful, artistic graffiti, but only stupid slogans, tags or penises...as I said - it was a bit disappointing.

We walked through the entire place, and I did take a couple of photos, but not as many as I usually would have in a location this size.

After about an hour and a half, we went back to the car, drove back to the hotel, went shopping for groceries and started looking for a restaurant for dinner.

To find out about the history of this place and to check out all the photos, click the button below.