Lier Psychiatric Hospital – second visit (NO)

One year after my first photo exploring trip to this abandoned institution for the insane, I was invited to join a couple of great guys for an explore and some photographing. On my last trip I used my Canon 400d with at cheap wobbly tripod. Those pictures can be seen in this blog post and black and white shots on Flickr. This time I brought along my Canon 5d m2 and my new Manfrotto tripod (bought for the Berlin trip). I have learned a lot more about photography this year, and together with better equipment I’m quite pleased with my new pictures. The ones here are not edited – look at this set for larger and more artistic shots.

Now back to the abandoned hospital. We spent four hours walking through tree buildings. Sad to see that vandals has destroyed the place even more. Can’t understand why some people always has the urge to destroy places like this. Apart from that the place has become even more popular among photographers so in many rooms furniture and objects was staged and ready to be shot. I have heard rumors about increased security around the buildings, but we didn’t encounter any problems.

So here is some new shots. For history and more information about the place, read my first post regarding this location.

Bedroom

Psychiatric ward

Photographed this machines last time as well. And they are still there with no damage. Amazing.

Room in the attic with bed, chair and hat rack. Lots of nice paint peeling.

No photo exploring trip without a corridor shot.

Window shot

Amazingly nice sofa standing on a room on the top floor

“Chair next to window” shot. Detail shot here.

Suitcase probably belonging to one of the patients that never left the place alive

Massage bench left behind

Strange (probably staged) room suitable for those who needs to pray.

Examination table and red chair

Green showers

The notorious motorized wheelchair standing at almost exact same place as last year.

Green chair and sturdy window

There were a lot of empty patient rooms. All with nice colored walls.

Kitchen somewhere on top floor

Decayed closets

Bed next to window in the ward

Chair standing on the loft

Some kind of Siemens machine moved outside in the rain. Labeled “Isotherm 514″.

Dikemark student dormitory (NO)

The brick building is one of the newer buildings at Dikemark that were built around 1970 but is now completely abandoned. It was originally a dormitory with school part for nursing students. It was closed in 1990. It was used as an immigrant asylum during the war in the old Yugoslavia. During that time the building was quite vandalized and it is perhaps why it stands empty today.

The student dormitory building

Statue on the parking lot

The entrance

Exterior 1

Exterior 2

They really don’t want anybody to enter

Growing through

Mailbox to the school

A stair outside

The terrace

Part of the building

Old truck

The pictures below are from some of the other Dikemark hospital buildings. Some are still in use but they are closing down and all activity will cease in 2011. What then happens to Dikemark is uncertain. Most of the buildings are empty and it is important to preserve buildings before it falls together as in Lier.

Dikemark opened in 1905. Christiania (former name of Oslo) community bought Dikemark farm in 1898 farm to build a replacement facility for the city’s oldest asylum, Christiania Sindsygeasyl. The area was beautiful, suitable for power generation with waterworks and agriculture – the perfect place to treat patients. The farm gave patients something to do that was important for recovery, said doctors.

Dikemark was raised using the “colonization principle” where each department had its own building. It reminds me of a village where the houses (about 21 houses in 1910) are scattered around with roads in between. This meant that patients received a lot of fresh air when they were walking between buildings. In the 70ties-80ties there were 900 patients and 1500 employees here.

Administrative building

Dikemark building

These buildings are quite beautiful