It’s roots firmly in the 19th century, this sleepy town just south of Berlin was not only home and HQ to German high command through both world wars, but also played a crucial role in grooming the Reich’s elite, the olympic sports teams, and housing up to 75,000 secretive Soviets during Russia’s occupation of Germany. Today only ruins remain, and with bunkers below as numerous as buildings above ground you’d be hard pushed to find a site more richly steeped in history.
Hidden behind the sleepy village of the same name, Krampnitz was originally built for the German cavalry and later used the Soviet army for pretty much the same thing. Today it’s a vast complex of trashed barracks, overgrown parade grounds, and rusting machinery, but it also presents some photogenic secrets for those inclined to keep digging.
Located just 30 minutes south of Berlin, Beelitz Heilstätten is an urban explorer’s paradise. The former tuberculosis therapy centre features 64 architecturally fascinating buildings in various states of decay / vandalism, and has a long history speckled with famous patients such as Hitler and Honecker. What a lovely destination for a day in the snow …
I can’t walk past an abandoned building, even on holiday, even if it’s raining and I know the pictures will be rubbish. This was very much the case with Antigua and the Half Moon Bay Hotel, though something I couldn’t guess as we walked up the beach in a storm was how much filth we’d uncover once we started poking around the history behind this place. A tale of corruption, scandal, and global fraud; this rabbit hole goes deep…
Mortuaries are irresistible to freaks like me. I clump them under ‘hospitals’ as an important part of the Urbex Big Five; asylums, hospitals, military, industrial, and religious sites. They’re also few and far between, being either part of an active site or one of the first places to fall victims to looters as soon as they enter a derelict state. My advice? Get in.
Our third day in the exclusion zone starts with the now familiar breakfast, blue skies, and bright sunshine. Conditions aren’t ideal for the brooding images I had hoped for as we planned this trip, only Darren is happy since the weather couldn’t…
Our first full day in the Zone was to be an intense mixture of photography and education, even if we had no idea what was in store for us as Darren and I ate a familiar breakfast (same as last night’s dinner…
Started by a determined young French aristocrat smuggled to British shores, Laverstoke Mill went on to manufacture paper for England’s bank notes. Today it’s the home of Bombay Sapphire gin. Join our intrepid photographer on a cold May morning in 2010 for a tour with a difference.