The Laboratory - Abandoned Pharmaceutical Company (Part 6)

Alright, here it is - the final post about my first (and until now, only) visit to the abandoned pharmaceutical company.
It has been more than two months since our trip there, and the sights as well as the smell and the fine, relatively untouched decay are still very much alive in my memories.
So much so that I definitely have to go there again the next time I'm in the area.

This post is actually a good intermission between the last series about the abandoned cable manufacturing plant and the next one. It finishes my first real "laboratory" series and is a pretty nice starting point for the next series about another anandoned chemical factory...Kodak used to have their X-Ray films manufactured there...so stay tuned for the next post.
Coming soon...the Photochemical Factory...

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

The Laboratory - Abandoned Pharmaceutical Company (Part 5)

This is almost the final post about the abandoned pharmcautical company. I'll keep the last couple of pictures for myself a little longer ;)
It's amazing that so little of the glass equipment is broken or stolen. It adds a really unique feeling to the whole place.
Some rooms still smell like the chemicals that were produced or processed in them.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

The Laboratory - Abandoned Pharmaceutical Company (Part 4)

Over my last excursions I forgot all about continuing the series about the abandoned pharmaceutical company. A flaw that I will make up for right now :)
There is not much left to tell about the history of the complex, so I'll just let the photos speak for themselves.
They are from various buildings and rooms all over the area.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

The Laboratory - Abandoned Pharmaceutical Company (Part 3)

Do you remember my post about the abandoned distillery? The building in that post actually belonged to the original company that started the chemical business in the area as a company for the rectification of alcohol.
They then expanded their product line to include alcoholic preparations for laboratory use.
As I've said in my last post, in 1927, the company started with the pharmaceutical research, and later in the 20th century rose to be one of the three largest pharmaceutical companies in the GDR (German Democratic Republic).
A nice little anecdote:
Since 1919, the company tried to buy the area on which during the war more than 24.000 grenades per day had been filled with mustard gas.
In January of 1919, estimations about the remaining amount of combat agents were available. Almost 3.000 metric tons were still there and had to be destroyed. This was finished around August 1919.
But what worried more, were the 12.000 grenades with production faults that were leaking gas and had been buried on the premises.
The "graves" for the grenades had been fenced in and marked by signs after the war, but the markings and part of the fencings were gone by 1921.
The company was concerned that the buried grenades could harm the compnay - not so much by exploding, but by way of the leaking gas that could react with air and water in the ground to build sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid. These acids could cause massive damage to metal pipings and pumps and the company would have to hold the war ministry liable for any damages, possibly over many decades.
The ministry however referred to a report that counter-checked the company's reports and said that the chlorine gas leaking from chlorine grenades that had been buried there as well would be neutralizing the threat.
End of the story: The company and its successors have had trouble with the remains of the poison gas until today.

Here are some more pictures from inside the buildings.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6