monastery St. A (NE)

Yet another abandoned holy place. A huge monastery in the Netherlands with church section and a lot of other nice rooms. On the inside courtyard there was nice walkways under roof with arches and columns. Built in the 17 century and was used as a children’s asylum for girls from 1880. From the 1920s mentally ill people was treated here. Now it is abandoned and only frequently visited by another kind of strange people… The place was really fascinating and we spent many hours here and met a few other urban explores as well.

monastery fr (BE)

Shots from an abandoned monastery in Belgium. The place has a few different names on on line forums: Father Ray, St. Hilarius and Monastere du Roi. We new a small part of the huge place was still used so we had to enter the place quietly and fast and run though what used to be a small garden with pathways and statues. At one point we had to hide since a car drove past. We found the entry point and walked inside the buildings. It was quite clean and tidy and not vandalized in any way. There were lots of corridors, halls and beautiful stairs. It is strange to see all these former religious places that nobody use anymore. Did they loose their faith?

labyrinth school (BE)

The ‘Labyrinth School’ in Belgium is a very well known abandoned place for urbexers and the place is well photographed. The main goal for this mission was to see the amazingly long corridors as well as finding the old stroller in the attic. The place was under demolition or reconversion when we entered the place so it might be gone now for all I know. We crawled through a small hole in a hedge and made our way to the first building. Ahead we saw a couple of vans with workers blocking the road. We first thought of sneaking past them, but we went for the “walk right past them” method like we were supposed to be there. That worked. We walked straight past them, said hello, and carried on. They didn’t even look at us.

The place used to be a farming school for children. They started the plans for building in 1910 but it was delayed because of the outbreak of World War 1. But in the 1926 it was finished. Here children could learn about carpentry, basketry, cut and seam, agriculture and livestock. Between the buildings was gardens and the long corridors ensured that the students could walk inside between the different functions such as classrooms, kitchens, workshops, gymnasiums, greenhouses and an educational farm.

Classic split corner shot in the abandoned school.

Probably the longest corridor I’ve ever seen.

The gym.

I had to sign the board.

One of the goals for this mission: To shoot the old stroller in the attic.

industrial area (NO)

An abandoned industrial area somewhere in Norway. Probably a place where they dealt with hazardous, polluted waste and/or oil storage. Large concrete tanks laid side by side next to the water. On the site was an office building and in a garage there was some old cars. Some of them had potential as restoration objects for somebody with a lot of time. If you recognize which type of cars they are please let me know.

The office section still with Christmas decorations.

Binders and left over papers.

“Deklarasjon av spesialavfall”/”Declaration of hazardous waste”

Called a ‘Spark’ in Norwegian… No idea what its called in English.

Fishy shot of an old forgotten car.

An old 66 Ford.

Maybe a Ford but I’m not sure. 31? 34? Let me know.

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forest view hospital (BE)

‘Forest View Hospital’, also called ‘Home Sweet Home’, is a large old hospital and nursing home for old people in Belgium. The place was abandoned in 2008 and it is well known for its huge amount of chairs. On the roof was a large terrace (also with chairs) with a great view over the forest. Parts of the building was damaged by a fire with subsequent water damage from the extinguishing. There were also quite extensive damage from vandals and graffiti artists.

A new nursing home is built next to this place so the former residents didn’t need to move far.

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tree mansion (BE)

Somewhere in Belgium next to a busy road lies this beautiful little farm house. The building looks quite anonymous on the outside, but the inside hat quite a lot of nice secrets. There where hay all over the place and the hay loft itself had a beautiful light. I took this picture (link to flickr) which has been shown in a lot og magazines here. I walked around in the dust a while and used a few seconds to exposure the shot. There were a few bedrooms and a living room with lots of old objects. In one of the bedrooms lied a cat which looked like it had been there for a very, very long time.

I have no idea why it is called Tree Mansion.

The living room.

The people that used to live here perhaps and other object left behind.

A bedroom.

jkfjk

The dusty hay loft had a beautiful light.

The bedrpoom with lots of hay.

The mummified dead cat.

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nursing home v (NO)

It was a cold day when I stood up early and drove to this location – a nursing home in a small Norwegian city abandoned in 2005/06. The sleepy city and houses surrounding the buildings was still asleep. Frost on the trees and fog on the ground made a strange mood. I felt quite alone in the world when I entered the area. I found the entry point pretty quick and started exploring the oldest part first built in the last century. The place was built in a U shape with the oldest white wooden building on the right, and the newest as a connected L to this one. A fairly large place, but mostly empty.

I walked around for a couple of hours and went through the whole place. Some areas was unfortunately very vandalized with much broken glass and mess all over. I have read lots of news articles in the papers that police have stopped youth from damaging the place many times.

A strange thing happened in there – I got a tiny cut in my finger that kept bleeding the whole time when I was inside. Very annoying. Think I got blood on my camera and lenses and everything. Immediately after I got out of the building the bleeding stopped. Strange.

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cotton spinning mills (at)

The last mission this day was to explore an old spinning mills in the woods closed down many years ago. The light was fading fast. We met a man who stood between the buildings cutting down trees and after a long talk in German I didn’t understood, we got his permission to take a look through the buildings.

The buildings was mainly empty but still interesting. A few old machines and lots of strange trees and vegetation growing through windows and craks. We went to look for a piano, but it had collapsed and the room was to dark to shoot in.

This place was he last Austrian place I have. Next time it will be something Norwegian.

The outisde of the spinning mills hidden by the forest.

The river that once turned the waterwheel that ran the spinning mills.

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steelworks (at)

This is the most dusty and dirty place I have been to shooting urbex shots – an amazing abandoned steelworks in Austria. But it had also the most beautiful light I have ever seen. The photos doesn’t do justice to the warm evening sunlight shining through numerous small windows on the top of the large building. The dusty particles in the air, that some places made beautiful light rays, made it difficult for the camera to tackle the mix of dust and light. The place had thousands of interesting things to photograph. Under the roof was walkways, conveyor belts and iron beams in all directions. On the floor there were old equipment and machines, rails, wagons and a really cool control cabin.

At the bottom I’m trying out a new slideshow function I just found (which has probably been there all the time). All the pictures from this post is here.

Rust, dust and parts everywhere. And a great light.

Inside the cool control cabin.

Nice working conditions.

Rusty protection goggles on a table.

Fish-eye shot of the hall.

Crates with equipment.

Green vegetation grew here and there in contrast to the dirt and rust.

Small green plant.

Some buttons and a lifting hook.

Lots of cool conveyor belts.

Conveyor belts and wagons on rails below.

Very dusty environment and somewhat difficult conditions for photography.

Lots of hooks in a row.

Rails in the ceiling.

Collapsed ceiling in a side room.

Reflections in a box filled with water.

Light shines through the dust in the air.

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ghost ship Hamen (SE)

‘MS Hamen’ is a Norwegian ship laying on the Swedish side of a fjord between the two countries. It is a historic vessel built as a steam powered vessel in 1949 in UK originally named ‘SS Pompey Power’. It was then owned by the British Electricity Authority in London. In 1960 it was sold to Rederi A/S Orion in Drammen (Norway) and renamed ‘Tandik’.

It is the only one left of its kind that was a common cargo ship in the years after the war traveling the north European waters. In 1963 it was fitted with a 9 cylinder diesel motor engine and renamed ‘Hamen’. It has status as listed and many historians hope it will be saved and restored. The ship was decommissioned in 1986. The Swedish government has wanted it removed for years, but nothing has happened. Oil leaks and other hazards makes the neighbors angry. Last year the ship almost sank and laid very low in the water. On the first picture you can see the brown parts on the back which was under water. Divers came and welded the hull and managed to raise her again.

I’d wanted to see the inside of this vessel for a long time and with the help of two experienced climbers we managed to get on board. It was an awesome day. The inside was far better than I expected, even if the rooms where tiny and difficult to shoot. The decay was perfect and there were lots of old stuff laying everywhere. Since the ship is so difficult to access, there was no vandalizing and graffiti anywhere as far as I could see. We spent around five hours on the ship and went happy home afterwards.

Some of the pictures are tilted. Since the vessel itself laid with an angle in the water, I couldn’t agree with myself if I should take the pictures in the natural tilt the ship had, or straight it up (angle my camera) to get a cleaner shot.

Since the ship was supposed to me moved many years ago, it’s difficult to say when it would happen. Probably very soon. I’m glad I was on on board taking pictures of this historic ship. When they chop it to pieces (which they probably will since restore it seems like a really big undertaking), my pictures might be the some of a very small collection of people that have documented the inside.

The ghost ship from the outside.

Finally on board.

Standing in the front looking towards the bridge and the back of the old freight vessel.

On the rusty deck looking forward.

Close up on the old wheels that once moved the large covers over the forward cargo hull.

Entering the very decayed bridge.

Where the captain once stood.

Close up on the vessel controls.

Buttons.

Standing in the back of the bridge room looking forward.

To the right was the wooden medical cabinet.

Empty boxes that once had medical supplies.

“Legebok for sjøfolk”, or in English: “Medical Dictionary for sailors”.

Communcation and map room.

Communication device in great shape in contrast to the rest of the ship.

Old derelict stuff on the wall.

Alarm button.

Bridge details.

View from bridge level port side.

View from starboard side.

“Haugesund”

Stair from bridge deck (top) to the deck below.

This deck contained a living area with dinner table to the left, and the captains cabin just below the bridge.

From captains dinner/living room.

Captains cabin.

Another view from captains cabin. He had his own office (straight ahead), toilet and a small hallway.

Captains office with lots of papers, books and newspapers.

Old newspaper – Bergens Tidene from January 1987.

A book from 1973.

Some freight orders I suppose.

There was a few more cabin on the deck below the captains cabin. This one…

… and this one.

Down in the cargo hull. Amazing room actually. Full of rust and nice light coming from a partly open cargo hull hatch.

Two winches at the back of the ship.

Chimney and a very rusty stair.

At the rear end of the ship looking forward. Plants and vegetation was growing on the side.

The galley at the back.

The corridor below was pitch black and the only light came from these openings in the ceiling on top of the stairs.

One of the cabins in the aft section.

A small library or day room. The yellow box was full of books.

Another room from the back. Nice tiles.

And last but not least, the engine room with the 9 cylinder diesel motor.