Tour Report: Chapel of the Last Rites

It was still morning, when Toeppi from "Fotodokumentationen" and I left the World War II air-raid shelter in Berlin to go check out three more locations - an abandoned chapel, an old retirement home and a field hospital. The two first spots are almost right next to each other; only a few hundred meters separate them from each other. It took us about 45 minutes to get there. There was plenty of parking space, and we decided to check out the chapel first. It was built together with a cemetery during the final days of World War II to bury soldiers and refugees that had died in the nearby military hospital that was operated by the Luftwaffe.

As we walked up to the chapel, the low winter sun painted shadows on the walls. There was no wind, and an eerie silence lay over the place.

The main door was locked, but as we walked around the old building, we found an open door that led into the basement.

It was not just the basement stairs, but also an "coffin elevator" that was used to transport coffins to and from the basement before and after the body had been prepared for laying out. As we went down the stairs and looked around in the rooms below the chapel, we could see that this place was also a place for thanatopraxy. I had seen photos of the rooms before, and obviously, there was much more to see in earlier years, and much stuff had been stolen, but there were still many things to be seen that pointed to the former use of the chapel.

Of course, many people had been here over the years who liked to redecorate rather than just photograph the place in its original state, but there were still a few nice shots to be taken.

All in all, it was a small place, but it was also a place that you don't get to see very often, so it was well worth the trip - and we hadn't even seen the retirement home next door...

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

The Red Church

We still had some time left on the way home on our tour, and we decided to pay a visit tothe "Red Church", mostly because it was in the right direction and didn't mean too much of a detour.
We quickly found the location, but it didn't look too accessible at first glance - but a first glance is often deceptive, so of course, we decided to take a closer look.
We parked the car in a side road and walked a couple of hundred meters until we got to the church.
Shortly before we got out of the car, it started raining. Not too much, but enough to be a little annoying.
We got to the fence that shielded the church from the rest of the world. It was right at the street, so it really wasn't the first choice as an access route, and we went on to look for another way in.
There was no chance. The other sides of the church were lined by a high wall and houses that didn't allow access either.
We must have looked for about half an hour when we got back to the front of the church and were standing at the iron gate - that rusty barrier keeping us from fulfilling our urbex destiny.
At on epoint, I got really fed up with it. I didn't care about the cars going by or the neighbours watching, and I gracefully climbed over the fence. Well, not really grace had nothing to do with it after all. But the others followed and we at least were on the premises. Only thing left to do was to get in. Easier said then done, the only way into the building was a really small window at the side of the building. I'm not really tall, but it wasn't easy getting in. Somehow we all managed, though, and we were all amazed by the beauty of this church that has been abandoned for more than sixty years.

There isn't much left, but it was well worth the effort. And it was Sunday after all - what better day to go to church ;)
We left after about three quarters of an hour to drive home, and complete our tour with a couple of shots at home.


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

St. Nicholas Church Z.

The next day, my wife and I had a couple of locations planned in a city that was so full of lost places that we eventually decided to return the next day to do some more eploring.
There was one thing about this small city, however, that nearly drove us mad. Almost every road in the town center was closed for construction. The damn GPS didn't know that, so we were desperate to find our way around and get to where we wanted to be.
We finally found our first spot, an abandoned church. But there was no place to park. So we drove around again through more construction sites until we had found...nothing. We decided to play it not safe and just parked right around the corner in front of the second location (which was across the street from the church).
Next to the church is a senior citizens home, and senior citizens are always vigilant, so when we saw an old lady sitting on a wall near the hole in the fence that was to be our way in, we hesitated at first.
But after watching her for a couple of minutes, we began to suspect that she was either suffering from dementia or drunk. Maybe both.
Anyway, we walked past her a couple of times and when there was no apparent reaction, we quickly jumped through the hole in the fence, made our way along the trees and through the bushes that surround the old church, and we were in.
The rain started shortly after we entered. It was only short showers, but the fast-moving clouds were a little annoying when it came to taking photos, because the light was constantly changing.
After we were done, we slipped out the same way that we had gotten in. The lady was still sitting there...


To find out more about the history of this abandoned church and to check out all the photos from this great little spot, click the button below.

Relics of Victory - Fort V.

I had read about this abandoned military facility in various forums online, and I've seen quite a lot of photos from there, so when it was clear for my wife and me that for this years' spring vacation we were giont near that area, we had to go check this place out.
So after our successful tour of the Starch Factory (and a rather unsuccessful attempt at another industrial site in the same city), we decided to take the trip in spite of the weather getting a little worse.
We drove about 40 kilometers from our first stop. I had the coordinates figured out some time before, but we had no clue how to get in.
The base lies right on a pretty busy road, and there was a bunch of cars passing by all the time. So we went past the place a couple of times and tried to figure out a place to park, but there was nothing inconspicuous, so we dcided to settle for the obvious way. Park right in front of the location and pretend to be hikers just walkign alongside the road...It worked nicely. After walking for a while, we found an opening in the fence...only to find another fence beyond that...and another hole in that fence as well...
After crawling under some pipes we had finally made it on the base.
Although it was thoroughly vandalized, we weren't disappointed. The church, the cinema, the bowling alley...what a great spot!
The light could have been better, but what the hell!
While on the base we noticed some workers and trucks moving around and we had to hide from time to time. I think that there is a lumber company exploiting the premises, but I am not sure.
As it got darker, we made our way back out past the workers and safely reached the car.