Tour Report: Sanatorium G.

As the second location in our summer vacation 2019 we had decided to visit the abandoned former sanatorium at the Grabowsee. It was conveniently located on the way between our first two accommodations, and we had planned to meet up with our friend Toeppi, who had also never visited the old sanatorium.

Toeppi had made an appointment with the sanatorium's leaseholder - a spontaneous visit is possible, but it can happen that one is then turned away - so we would not travel there for nothing.

We met at the appointed time at the entrance to the site and went in search of the overseer. A short phone call later he appeared to briefly explain to us which areas we were allowed to enter and which not - and so that we could pay the obligatory contribution. 

It is often a matter of principle - some people from the so-called "Urbex Scene" are convinced that only illegal entering is "real" Urbexing. I, on the other hand, enjoy the opportunity to explore a place undisturbed and with unlimited time and not having to worry about a security guard escorting me off the premises or being reported to the police.

It was a little weird in this case, because the area is partly inhabited by a kind of artist commune. There were "strange" people wandering around everywhere, sneaking through the buildings. We tried to avoid them as much as possible, and for the most part we succeeded.

The weather was moderate. It was a fairly warm day, but the sky was cloudy and it rained at times. Not heavily, but there were a few annoying little showers.

However, you don't let a little rain get in the way of an excursion - we took plenty of time to explore all areas as much as we could. The cellar was unfortunately not accessible due to work that was going on, but the rest of the facility was already worth the visit due to the great architecture. It took us several hours to see and photograph everything.

Afterwards, Toeppi went home, while we drove on to Potsdam to meet up with a couple of friends for a feudal dinner.

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

Tour Report: Sanatorium J. [Revisit]

A short vacation in March of 2019 took us to the Harz Mountains to visit our friend Jens. On the morning after our first night, we had explored a small old original 1970s apartment, and in the afternoon, we returned to chop some wood for the next night and prepare the fire for the evening barbecue.

We decided, however, that there was still enough time to use the (admittedly bleak) afternon light to go for another quick tour of the old sanatorium on the site. The rain/snow had stopped, and even a few blue spots could be seen through the thick cover of clouds.

What I didn't know at that point was that the photos I took that day were the last ones I was going to take at this place for more than three years.

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

Tour Report: "The Red M*A*S*H"

The final location that my friend Toeppi from "Fotodokumentationen" and I visited during our spontaneous tour in February of 2019, was a truly unique place - as far as I know, it's the only location of its kind in Germany.

It is an abandoned field hospital that used to be a Soviet project for reusable command posts and field hospitals called Type SKT (сооружение каркассно-тканевое = Frame-Fabric-Structure). This particular object is actually made up of two structures of this type. It was used as a training object for field care for wounded soldiers.

We drove for about an hour, and we arrived sometime around 3 o'clock in the afternoon. It was February, so the sun was already low, and it was beginning to get colder. Near the coordinates, we found a public parking space, and we assembled our gear. We had to walk a bit to get to the little forest where the field hospital was located under about two or three feet of earth. We waited for the people that were walking along the street to disappear so that we could walk into the forest unnoticed. After all - the facility was near a residential area. One of the access points was even right in someone's backyard, so to speak.

As we approached the field hospital, we only saw a small mound of earth, but as we came closer, we saw the top of the fortified access that had been filled up with earth but re-opened at some point. There was a small hole that we could climb through to get in.

This wasn't a huge place with tons of stuff - but it was a very interesting location - not only because it was a rare thing to find and explore, but also because there was a lot of special stuff still left, such as parts of a mobile x-ray machine, liquids for intravenous infusions and even some medicine. A few tables, stretchers and parts of the ventilation system were to be found as well.

We took our time to photograph the place and all the details that we were able to find, before we made our way out and went back to the car.

Looking back, we got really lucky to have seen the place in this condition, because we were there during a phase before the "tourism" began and tourists started stealing things and decorators moved the stuff around to get the "better" photo.

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

Tour Report: Sanatorium "Bauhaus"

We had tried to visit this place once before. In Summer of 2014, we drove up the mountain to explore a beautiful abandoned sanatorium that was built in the late 1920s and designed in the style of "Neues Bauen" (Bauhaus).

At the time, however, we met some people on the premises that told us that they were the owners and that we were not welcome there. At the time, ownership of the place wasn't really clear - personally I think that it was "between two owners", so to speak. And I do think that the people we met were in fact copper thieves. So this was our first try at exploring this building.

Before we drove up to the Harz mountains in November of 2018 to visit our friend Jens, I contacted the new owners to see if it was possible for us to take a few photos. It didn't take long, and we got the answer that it was in fact possible and that we should contact them again to set up the time.

We did as we had been told and were greeted friendly upon our arrival. The place is now operated by a group of people with the goal to set up a community on a cooperative basis that combines housing, working and living together. They are living inside the old buildings and are renovating them bit by bit to slow down the decay of the past 20 years.

First, we were told which areas are off limits because they are used as living quarters for the inhabitants or because they might be too dangerous to explore. Then we got a very detailed history about the place by a young man who lived in the community and happened to be an art history major at the university - perfect for showing us through this architectural gem!

Towards the end of the first walkthrough, we were told that we could roam freely from then on and explore on our own - with the exception of the mentioned areas, of course. There was no fixed price for the exploration and the tour, so we gave a little something for the community. It may have been a little more than they'd expected (we thought it was more than adequate for the tour we got and the time they took for us), because they then unlocked another building - which is usually off limits because the community uses it to store their tools - and said that we were allowed to explore this one as well.

So we took a few more hours to explore the place. We checked out every room that we found and managed to get quite a few nice shots.

If you are interested to visit this place, contact the community on their website Freie Feldlage.

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