Abandoned Fairy Tale Camp in Russia
Once there, we found this abandoned summer camp to be overgrown, and easily accesible. I decided to crawl in under the gate. Under the desperate barking of dogs, we entered the territory. Then I heard someone call out to me. A man in the distance threw down a huge pile of straw and marched in my direction.
- What, he asks, are you doing here?
-Yes, I say, I want to take a walk, see the place and shoot some photos. Who are you? Mister!
We talked. He told me how in the nineties he first leased and then bought this camp. He drove out local bandits from here and was going to open a resort lodge with a ski slope here, but did not pull together enough financing. Now he does not know what to do with all this. The territory is huge. This year, he was fined six thousand from the city for the overgrown hogweeds. And the truth is hogweeds, here in the area, is everywhere. Teenage lovers here regularly are climbing in the backside, they use it sorta like a lovers lane. But many vandals sneak in as well. They broke the apparatuses and fixtures through out the camp. He called the police, but it has become kinda a problem for the the local town. For a fee we agree to a tour. And he starts to walk around the territory. He does not understand why people come to the camp to graffiti, break and destroy everything that they come across.
I saw an amazing prophetic meaning in some of the local sculptures and things left behind. See for yourself below:
Helpless fish with huge eyes on the shabby walls are silent and simply release air bubbles. Squids, starfish and other inhabitants of the deep sea give the impression that we are under water in a flooded world. A child on the crest of a wave, a symbolic monument to children who were "washed away" from here in the nineties. Some donkey banging his head against the wall. Library with empty shelves and books on the floor in several layers. And finally, a huge octopus that stuck out tentacles from the corners of the building and squeezed a deserted, ruined building in them ...
Pioneer camp "Fairy Tale" was built in the Soviet years for the children of the employees of the publishing house "Children's Literature". It is noteworthy for its amazing, and in places, even insane design. Unusual sculptures and sculptures made of concrete are installed throughout the territory. The pioneer camp has its own ski slope, a bomb shelter, four sleeping buildings, a kindergarten, several houses for workers, a large central building with a kitchen, dining room, library, club and cinema hall.
