Back in the USSR

March 8, 2006 7:53 PM

Beautiful decay pictures of Russia in decline.
posted by drezdn (27 comments total)

Absolutely gorgeous. I know it's passé and all, but: Best of the Web.
posted by S.C. at 8:03 PM on March 8, 2006

I know it's passé and all, but: Best of the Web.

Seconded.
posted by 327.ca at 8:08 PM on March 8, 2006

How come I never find stuff this cool? Thanks!
posted by sourwookie at 8:25 PM on March 8, 2006

Nice stuff - thanks drezdn. Does everyone else just see a bunch of accented vowels for the descriptions?
posted by tellurian at 8:32 PM on March 8, 2006

Very nice. (Try changing your character encoding to Cyrillic for Windows, tellurian.)
posted by languagehat at 8:46 PM on March 8, 2006

ahhh, rich, wonderful images. Neat FPP drezdn, thanks. The Russian esthetic is deliciously, mysteriously complex and decomposition adds a piquant depth.

Those images reminded me of this old post apocalyptic Russia.
posted by nickyskye at 9:04 PM on March 8, 2006

Thanks languagehat - now I can see the Russian characters. What I really wanted to do was find out what this place was (aquarium, fish farm)? Google doesn't do Russian and Babelfish returned an error.
posted by tellurian at 9:11 PM on March 8, 2006

In Soviet Russia, building takes picture of you! (sorry, couldn't resist)
posted by clevershark at 9:13 PM on March 8, 2006

Nothing says decay like having your space shuttle destroyed by the roof caving in on top of it.
posted by Mr Mister at 9:28 PM on March 8, 2006

Tellurian, that is an abandoned summer camp for pioneers (young Communists).
posted by Pontius Pilate at 9:46 PM on March 8, 2006

This is great. And sad in a good way.
posted by bardic at 9:48 PM on March 8, 2006

Thanks Pontius Pilate (by the way, how do you come off in Judas' new book?)
posted by tellurian at 10:42 PM on March 8, 2006

Rehabilitated, I could only hope. :)

(Really interesting link, by the way. Neat stuff.)
posted by Pontius Pilate at 11:31 PM on March 8, 2006

Cute to look at from afar, sucks to live in it.
posted by Meatbomb at 12:55 AM on March 9, 2006

Wow, those are beautiful and mysterious and sad. Thanks, drezdn.
posted by terpsichoria at 2:16 AM on March 9, 2006

Lots of quality photos = great post.
posted by Acey at 5:33 AM on March 9, 2006

Tellurian, that is an abandoned summer camp for pioneers (young Communists).

It's an abandoned Pioneer camp for deaf-mute children.

Заброшенная, но охраняемая территория пионерского лагеря для глухонемых детей
posted by languagehat at 6:01 AM on March 9, 2006

I'm pretty sure this train is looking at me...

Many of these are really fantastic - thanks.
posted by amro at 6:09 AM on March 9, 2006

These incredible pictures speak the unutterable. Breathtaking. For a gorgeously color version of decaying Russia, taken with a 4X5 camera, check out the work of Mr. Andrew Moore. These pictures make Russia look like an abandoned stage set -- which maybe it is.
posted by Faze at 6:21 AM on March 9, 2006

[Pontius Pilate] Tellurian, that is an abandoned summer camp for pioneers (young Communists).
[languagehat] It's an abandoned Pioneer camp for deaf-mute children.
Oh! Pontius, You're not looking good come that Easter publication.
posted by tellurian at 6:28 AM on March 9, 2006

This is fantastic. When I have some alone time I'm going to queue up Harold Budd's 23 minute piece Abandoned Cities and have a nice long melancholy browse.
posted by fleetmouse at 6:59 AM on March 9, 2006

Excellent, thanks!
posted by carter at 7:47 AM on March 9, 2006

Oops. I just saw the title (Заброшенный пионерский лагерь, подмосковье), and missed the full caption below. Mea culpa.

(Also, apparently even though the camp has been abandoned, it is still guarded - "Заброшенная, но охраняемая территория пионерского лагеря для глухонемых детей.")

I'll get that "Most Misunderstood Politician" award yet, damn it.
posted by Pontius Pilate at 9:51 AM on March 9, 2006

Russia has a net-loss of 1 million people a year due to declining average lifespan - 1 million people a year - that's a lot of decay. It's a modern post-apocalyptic scenario in slow motion.
posted by stbalbach at 9:56 AM on March 9, 2006

Great pictures. Ditto theme. Believe it or not, New York City is guilty of wanton abandonment of old buildings. In their place, soul-less towers.
posted by caraig at 12:26 PM on March 9, 2006

Flagged as a fantastic post, thanks drezdn!
I followed the Ring Hub link at the botom of the page and found many more pages of beautiful ruins, too. Examples: 1, 2, 3.
posted by Zack_Replica at 5:21 PM on March 9, 2006

caraig wrote, soul-less towers.
I call those blank faced glass boxes
Darth Vader summer palaces.
posted by nickyskye at 11:06 PM on March 10, 2006