The Soviet Union was a huge power with the same large-scale projects in a variety of industries. Unfortunately, history has developed in such a way that not every one of these projects has been implemented.
But it also happened that completed project and it seemed that such a promising project turned out to be unnecessary and fell into decay over time. In this review, about 13 mysterious, frightening, and in some places frankly creepy places on the territory former USSR.
1. Ball near Dubna
A protective dome that was accidentally dropped.In the forest near Dubna, in Russia, a huge hollow ball with a diameter of about 18 meters can be found. Finding it yourself will be salty, but the locals are always willing to tell you how to get to the local “attraction”. From a bird's eye view, the ball can be mistaken for a UFO, but in reality it is a dielectric cap for a parabolic space communications antenna. The cap was transported by helicopters, but during transportation the cable burst. It turned out to be too problematic to take out the dome. It is made, by the way, of fiberglass honeycomb structure. Any noise is repeatedly amplified in it and a powerful echo is emitted.
2. Khovrinsk hospital
It's funny, but the hulls are reminiscent of a biological threat sign.
Eleven-story abandoned, unfinished hospital in Moscow. Traditionally, it falls into all sorts of unofficial ratings of the most terrible places on the planet. The construction of a multidisciplinary hospital began in the 80s. It was designed for 1,300 beds. They stopped construction after 5 years, when all the buildings had already been erected. Ironically, for all subsequent decades, the Khovrinsky hospital does not save, but cripples and takes lives. Homeless people, drug addicts and thrill-seekers have been “registered” here for a long time. Accidents on the territory of patients are a sad reality.
3. Crimean NPP
Completely plundered.An unfinished nuclear power plant, which is located near the city of Shchelkino. The first design calculations were made in 1964. Construction began in 1975. It was assumed that this nuclear power plant will provide electricity to the entire Crimean peninsula. It was also supposed to be the starting point for the further development of industry in these places. The first reactor was planned to be launched in 1989, the construction went on without any deviations. However, the shaken economy of the USSR, together with the tragedy on Chernobyl nuclear power plant put an end to the Crimean project. At that time, more than 500 million Soviet rubles were spent on the station, and the warehouses had materials and equipment for another 250 million Soviet rubles. All this was stolen in the following years. It is worth adding that the Crimean nuclear power plant was included in the Guinness Book of Records as the most expensive power plant of this type.
4. Balaclava
Today this object can be visited by everyone.
In 2003, for the first time in 46 years of its existence, the Balaklava submarine base appeared for the first time on public display. Today it is exclusively tourist facility, and once the base was one of the most secret objects of the Soviet Union. Submarines were located in a huge underground complex. The base could withstand a nuclear attack with the most powerful charges and was built in case of an atomic war. The base consists of a water channel, a dry dock, numerous warehouses different profile and buildings for military personnel. The object was closed in 1994, after the last submarine was withdrawn from it. Long years the pride of the Soviet Union was simply stolen.
5. Object 221
The reserve command center is abandoned and plundered today.
Not far from Sevastopol, in addition to the already mentioned base for the repair of submarines, you can find another once secret object of the Soviet Union. We are talking about a bunker - object 221. It had many names, but behind all of them was a reserve command post of the Black Sea Fleet. You can find an object under the village of Morozovka. It was real underground city. Construction began in 1977. The object lies at a depth of 200 meters, where 4 floors of buildings are located. The total area of the underground part of the complex is 17 thousand sq.m. To date, the object is completely looted and ruined.
6. Nuclear lighthouse at Cape Aniva
The unique lighthouse is idle and almost completely plundered by marauders.On Sakhalin, you can find Cape Aniva, where a unique atomic lighthouse is located. The lighthouse is nine stories high. Previously, up to 12 people could be on duty in it. Today, this once unique complex is completely looted by looters and does not function.
7. Missile complex "Dvina"
The Soviet legacy is flooded.The collapse of the Soviet Union "gave" the former republics a huge arsenal of various weapons, including silos. So, under the capital of Latvia, in the forests, you can find the once unique, secret Dvina launch complex. It was built in 1964. This is a huge complex consisting of bunkers and silos, most of which are now flooded. Visiting the complex is highly discouraged due to the remnants of extremely poisonous rocket fuel there.
8. Workshop No. 8 of the Dagdiesel plant
This is not Fort Boyard, this is, once, a super secret workshop.
In Kaspiysk, in Dagestan, you can find a unique factory workshop built right on the water. The workshop belonged to the Dagdiesel plant. Built for testing marine species weapons, in particular a variety of torpedoes and missiles. The plant was unique for the USSR. It was built on a pit with a volume of 530 thousand cubic meters, which was dug out with the help of special shells. An “array” was installed in it, on which an all-metal 14-meter structure was later lowered. The total area of the constructed workshop exceeds 5 thousand sq.m. The station was equipped for permanent residence and work. However, by the mid-60s of the XX century, the project was curtailed as unnecessary due to too rapidly changing trends in the field of weapon design. Since then, the building has been abandoned and gradually destroyed by the Caspian Sea.
9. Lopatinsky phosphate mine
The mine is almost stopped, plundered and abandoned.
Not far from the city of Vokresensk, in the Moscow region, you can easily find a huge phosphorite mine. This deposit is unique in Europe and the largest. The first developments here began in the 30s of the XX century. All types of bucket-wheel excavators worked in numerous quarries: caterpillar, rail and walking. Rail excavators had special equipment to move the rails. Since the 90s, the mine has been practically abandoned, the quarries are flooded with water, and expensive special equipment is simply rotting under open sky.
10. Station for studying the ionosphere
Today, this scientific facility is visited only by stalkers.
In Zmeev, a district of the city in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine, you can find a unique station for studying the ionosphere. It was built almost before the collapse of the USSR. She was a direct counterpart American project"Harp", which is deployed in Alaska and is successfully operating to this day. The Soviet complex consisted of several antenna fields and one giant parabolic antenna with a diameter of 25 meters. Unfortunately, after the collapse of the union, no one needed the station. Today, incredibly expensive scientific equipment simply rots or is stolen by stalkers and non-ferrous metal hunters.
11. Northern Crown
The most sinister hotel ever.
Initially, the Severnaya Korona Hotel was called Petrogradskaya. Construction began in 1988. The hotel is famous not for its beauty, but for the huge number of accidents during construction. The popularity of the complex was not added by the fact that Metropolitan John died of a heart attack within its walls, immediately after the lighting of the building.
12. Particle Accelerator
The USSR could have its own collider.
The USSR could have its own hadron collider. A unique complex began to be built in the Moscow region, in Protvino in the late 80s. As it is not difficult to guess, the collapse of the USSR actually put an end to scientific project. A 21-kilometer tunnel was already completely ready for the collider. Equipment has even been brought into the facility. Work continued after, but very sluggishly. Financing was literally enough only for lighting the tunnels that were falling into disrepair.
13. "Oil Rocks"
A real city on the water.In Azerbaijan, you can find a real sea city. We are talking about the so-called "oil stones". It appeared after Soviet geologists discovered huge oil deposits in the Caspian Sea in the 1940s. Thanks to the development of mining, a whole city appeared on embankments and metal overpasses. Power plants, hospitals, nine-story houses and much more were built right on the water! In total, there were about 200 platforms with residents on the water. The total mileage of the streets was 350 km. However, the cheap Siberian oil that appeared later put an end to local production, and the city fell into decay.
After the collapse of the USSR, the young states inherited many once powerful military and scientific facilities. The most dangerous and secret objects were urgently mothballed and evacuated, and many others were simply abandoned. They were left to rust: after all, the economy of most newly-made states simply could not pull their maintenance, they turned out to be of no use to anyone. Now some of them are a kind of mecca for stalkers, "tourist" objects, visiting which is associated with considerable risk.
"Resident Evil": a top-secret complex on the island of Renaissance in the Aral Sea
During Soviet times, a complex of military bioengineering institutes was located on an island in the middle of the Aral Sea, engaged in the development and testing biological weapons. It was a facility of such a degree of secrecy that most of the employees who were involved in the maintenance infrastructure of the landfill simply did not know exactly where they worked. On the island itself, there were buildings and laboratories of the Institute, vivariums, equipment warehouses. In the town for researchers and the military, very comfortable conditions for living in conditions of complete autonomy. The island was carefully guarded by the military on land and at sea.
In 1992, the entire facility was urgently mothballed and abandoned by all the inhabitants, including the security of the facility. For some time it remained a "ghost town" until it was reconnoitred by marauders, who for more than 10 years removed everything that was thrown there from the island. The fate of the secret developments carried out on the island and their results - cultures of deadly microorganisms - still remains a mystery.
Heavy-duty "Russian woodpecker": radar "Duga", Pripyat
The over-the-horizon radar station Duga is a radar station created in the USSR for early detection launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles by launch flares (based on the reflection of radiation by the ionosphere). This gigantic structure took 5 years to build and was completed in 1985. The cyclopean antenna, 150 meters high and 800 meters long, consumed a huge amount of electricity, so it was built near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
For the characteristic sound on the air emitted during operation (knock), the station was named Russian Woodpecker (Russian Woodpecker). The installation was built to last for centuries and could successfully function to this day, but in reality, the Duga radar station worked for less than a year. The object stopped its work after the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Underwater shelter of submarines: Balaklava, Crimea
As they say knowledgeable people- this top-secret submarine base was a transit point where submarines, including nuclear ones, were repaired, refueled and replenished with ammunition. It was a gigantic complex built to last for centuries, capable of withstanding a nuclear strike, under its arches up to 14 submarines could be accommodated at the same time. This military base was built in 1961 and abandoned in 1993, after which it was dismantled piece by piece by local residents. In 2002, it was decided to arrange a museum complex on the ruins of the base, but so far things have not gone beyond words. However, local diggers willingly take everyone there.
“Zone” in Latvian forests: Dvina missile silo, Kekava, Latvia
Not far from the capital of Latvia in the forest are the remains of the Dvina missile system. Built in 1964, the facility consisted of 4 launch silos with a depth of about 35 meters and underground bunkers. A significant part of the premises is currently flooded, and visiting the launcher without an experienced stalker guide is not recommended. Also dangerous are the remains of poisonous rocket fuel - heptyl, according to some information, remaining in the depths of the launch silos.
"Lost World" in the Moscow region: Lopatinsky phosphorite mine
The Lopatinskoye phosphorite deposit, 90 km from Moscow, was the largest in Europe. In the 30s of the last century, it began to be actively developed open way. At the Lopatinsky quarry, all the main types of bucket-wheel excavators were used - moving on rails, moving on caterpillars, and excavators walking with an "added" step. It was a gigantic development with its own railroad. After 1993, the field was shut down, leaving all expensive imported special equipment there.
The mining of phosphorites has led to the emergence of an incredible "unearthly" landscape. The long and deep trenches of the quarries are mostly flooded. They are interspersed with high sandy ridges, turning into flat, like a table, sandy fields, black, white and reddish dunes, pine forests with regular rows of planted pines. Giant excavators - "absetzers" resemble alien ships rusting on the sands in the open. All this makes the Lopatinsky Quarries a kind of natural and man-made "reserve", a place of increasingly lively pilgrimage for tourists.
"Well to hell": Kola superdeep well, Murmansk region
The Kola superdeep well is the deepest in the world. Its depth is 12,262 meters. It is located in the Murmansk region, 10 kilometers west of the city of Zapolyarny. The well was drilled in the northeastern part of the Baltic Shield exclusively for research purposes in the place where the lower boundary earth's crust comes close to the surface of the earth. AT best years 16 research laboratories, they were personally supervised by the Minister of Geology of the USSR.
Many interesting discoveries were made at the well, for example, the fact that life on Earth arose, it turns out, 1.5 billion years earlier than expected. At depths where it was believed that there was no, and could not be, organic matter, 14 species of fossilized microorganisms were found - the age of the deep layers exceeded 2.8 billion years. In 2008, the facility was abandoned, the equipment was dismantled, and the destruction of the building began.
As of 2010, the well is mothballed and is gradually being destroyed. The cost of restoration is about one hundred million rubles. There are many implausible legends about the “well to hell” associated with the Kola super-deep well, from the bottom of which the cries of sinners are heard, and the hellish flame melts the drills.
"Russian HAARP" - multifunctional radio complex "Sura"
In the late 1970s, as part of geophysical research near the city of Vasilsursk Nizhny Novgorod region built a multifunctional radio complex "Sura" to influence the Earth's ionosphere with powerful HF radio emission. The Sura complex, in addition to antennas, radars and radio transmitters, includes a laboratory complex, an economic unit, a specialized transformer electrical substation. The once secret station, where a number of important studies are still being carried out today, is a thoroughly rusted and battered, but still not completely abandoned facility. One of the important areas of research carried out at the complex is the development of methods for protecting the operation of equipment and communications from ion disturbances in the atmosphere of various nature.
Currently, the station operates only 100 hours per year, while at the famous American HAARP facility, experiments are carried out for 2000 hours over the same period. The Nizhny Novgorod Radiophysical Institute does not have enough money for electricity - for one day of work, the equipment of the test site deprives the complex of the monthly budget. The complex is threatened not only by lack of money, but also by theft of property. Due to the lack of proper protection, "hunters" for scrap metal now and then make their way to the territory of the station.
"Oil Rocks" - a seaside city of oil producers, Azerbaijan
This settlement on overpasses, standing right in the Caspian Sea, is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's oldest oil platforms. It was built in 1949 in connection with the beginning of oil production from the bottom of the sea around the Black Stones - a stone ridge barely protruding from the surface of the sea. There are drilling rigs connected by overpasses, on which the settlement of oil field workers is located. The settlement grew, and during its heyday included power plants, nine-story dormitory buildings, hospitals, a cultural center, a park with trees, a bakery, a lemonade production workshop, and even a mosque with a full-time mullah.
The length of overpass streets and lanes of the sea city reaches 350 kilometers. There was no permanent population in the city, and up to 2,000 people lived there as part of a shift shift. The period of decline of the Oil Rocks began with the advent of cheaper Siberian oil, which made offshore mining unprofitable. However sea town still did not become a ghost town; in the early 2000s, capital repair work and even started laying new wells.
Failed Collider: Abandoned Particle Accelerator, Protvino, Moscow Region
In the late 80s, the construction of a huge particle accelerator was planned in the Soviet Union. Podmoskovny science Center Protvino - the city of nuclear physicists - in those years was a powerful complex physical institutions attended by scholars from all over the world. A ring tunnel 21 kilometers long was built, lying at a depth of 60 meters. He is now near Protvino. They even began to bring equipment into the already finished accelerator tunnel, but then a series of political upheavals erupted, and the domestic “hadron collider” remained unassembled.
The institutes of the city of Protvino maintain the satisfactory condition of this tunnel - an empty dark ring underground. The lighting system works there, there is a functioning narrow-gauge railway line. All sorts of commercial projects were proposed, such as an underground amusement park or even a mushroom farm. However, scientists have not yet given up this object - perhaps they are hoping for the best.
The number of abandoned cities, villages and villages on the territory of the former USSR cannot be accurately calculated. The political, economic and geological transformations of our state over the past 100 years have created a host of objects that are now left out of modern reality.
Abandoned cities in Russia formed a new layer of apocalyptic culture that arose at the turn of the millennium on the waves of the increasingly popular themes of the End of the World, the Mayan calendar, Vanga's predictions and big-budget Hollywood blockbusters. Now abandoned cities are actively used to create scenery for man's eternal fear of the Apocalypse. Musicians, photographers, "filmmakers", writers, stalkers and other people come here in an effort to find inspiration and drink "dead water" from the stream of something invisible and infinitely mysterious.
Alternative and extreme types of tourism are also gaining momentum. Standard attractions, exhausting with an abundance of information about themselves, attract fewer and fewer travelers. The modern tourist is slowly turning into a researcher chasing some kind of metaphysical "non-standard". Endless opportunities to share your "finds" via the Internet only contribute to the desire to stand out, unique and separate from the other "crowd".
Today we would also like to turn to the topic of abandoned cities. Topics for Russia and the countries of the former USSR are truly inexhaustible, and, moreover, extremely exciting and intriguing. Let's digress for a few minutes from the fear of these silent "ghosts" and slowly walk along their quiet, deserted streets.
1. Halmer-Yu (Komi Republic)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Khalmer-Yu.
Miners' village. Eliminated during perestroika due to the closure of coal mines.
Now the territory is used as a military training ground, the call sign "Pemba". On August 17, 2005, during a strategic aviation exercise, a Tu-160 bomber carrying Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin launched three missiles at former home abandoned village culture.
2. Old Gubakha (Perm Territory)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Old Gubakha.
An abandoned mining village near a depleted coal mine. High degree of destruction of buildings.
3. Industrial (Komi Republic)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Industrial.
Mining village. In 1998, an explosion at a local mine claimed the lives of 27 miners. The bodies of 19 of them were never found. The mine was closed, the village was empty.
4. Jubilee (Perm Territory)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Jubilee.
5. Iultin (Chukotka Autonomous Okrug)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Iultin.
6. Kolendo (Sakhalin region)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Kolendo.
7. Nizhneyansk (Yakutia)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Nizhneyansk.
8. Fin whale (Kamchatka Territory)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Finval.
9. Alykel (Taimyr Autonomous District)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Alykel.
10. Neftegorsk (Sakhalin region)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Neftegorsk.
11. Kursha-2 (Ryazan region)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Kursha-2.
12. Mologa (Yaroslavl region)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Mologa.
13. Charonda (Vologda region)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Charonda.
14. Amderma (Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Amderma.
15. Korzunovo (Murmansk region)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Korzunovo.
City of pilots and gunners. Yuri Gagarin served here in the 1950s.
16. Kadykchan (Magadan region)
Abandoned cities of Russia: Kadykchan.
A ghost town whose inhabitants mined coal for the Arkagalinskaya GRES.
17. Pripyat (Ukraine)
Abandoned cities on the territory of the former USSR: Pripyat.
18. Chernobyl-2 (Ukraine)
Abandoned cities on the territory of the former USSR: Chernobyl-2.
An abandoned city, and previously the military lived here, serving the Soviet over-the-horizon radar station "Duga" for an early detection system for intercontinental ballistic missile launches.
19. Sharp-eyed (Belarus)
Abandoned cities on the territory of the former USSR: Ostroglyady.
The ghost village was resettled after the Chernobyl disaster.
In the USSR, many secret facilities were built for defense and scientific departmentsVitaly Ovchinnikov
After the collapse of the USSR, many once powerful military and scientific facilities were inherited by the new young states on the territory of the former USSR. The most dangerous and secret objects were urgently blown up, mothballed and evacuated, and many others were simply abandoned. They were left to rust: after all, the economy of most newly-made states simply could not pull their maintenance, they turned out to be of no use to anyone. Now some of them are a kind of "mecca" for "stalkers", and a kind of "tourist" objects for extreme people, visiting which is associated with considerable risk.
About some of them this note
“RESIDENCE OF EVIL: A SECRET COMPLEX ON THE ARAL SEA.
During Soviet times, a complex of military bioengineering institutes was located on an island in the middle of the Aral Sea, engaged in the development and testing of biological weapons. It was a facility of such a degree of secrecy that most of the employees who were involved in the maintenance infrastructure of the landfill simply did not know exactly where they worked. On the island itself, there were buildings and laboratories of the Institute, vivariums, equipment warehouses. Very comfortable conditions were created in the town for researchers and the military to live in conditions of complete autonomy. The island was carefully guarded by the military on land and at sea. In 1992, the entire facility was urgently mothballed and abandoned by all the inhabitants, including the security of the facility. For some time it remained a "ghost town" until it was scouted by marauders, who for more than 20 years removed everything that was thrown there from the island. The fate of the secret developments carried out on the island and their results - cultures of deadly microorganisms - still remains a mystery.
HEAVY POWERFUL "RUSSIAN WOODWORKPER"
The "over-the-horizon" radar station Duga is a radar station created in the USSR for the early detection of launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles by launch flashes (based on the reflection of radiation by the ionosphere). This gigantic structure took 5 years to build and was completed in 1985. The cyclopean antenna, 150 meters high and 800 meters long, consumed a huge amount of electricity, so it was built near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. For the characteristic sound on the air emitted during operation (knock), the station was named Russian Woodpecker (Russian Woodpecker). The installation was built to last for centuries and could successfully function to this day, but in reality, the Duga radar station worked for less than a year. The object stopped its work after the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
UNDERWATER SHELTER SUBMARINE
According to people in the know, this top-secret submarine base, codenamed "Object 221" in Balaklava, was a transit point where submarines, including nuclear ones, were repaired, refueled and replenished with ammunition. It was a gigantic complex built to last for centuries, capable of withstanding a nuclear strike, under its arches up to 14 submarines could be accommodated at the same time. This military base was built in 1961 and abandoned in 1993, after which it was dismantled piece by piece by local residents. In 2002, it was decided to arrange a museum complex on the ruins of the base, but so far things have not gone beyond words. However, local diggers willingly take everyone there.
"ZONE IN THE FORESTS OF RUSSIA"
Not far from the capital of Latvia in the forest are the remains of the Dvina missile system. Built in 1964, the facility consisted of 4 launch silos with a depth of about 35 meters and underground bunkers. A significant part of the premises is currently flooded, and visiting the launcher without an experienced stalker guide is not recommended. Also dangerous are the remains of poisonous rocket fuel - heptyl, according to some information, remaining in the depths of the launch silos.
Exactly the same mines were located in Transcarpathia, in the areas of the cities of Stryi and Brody, near Kostroma, near Kozelsk and in other regions of the country.
"WELL TO HELL" or the Kola superdeep well.
The Kola superdeep well is 12,262 meters. It is located in the Murmansk region, 10 kilometers west of the city of Zapolyarny. The well was drilled in the northeastern part of the Baltic Shield exclusively for research purposes in the place where the lower boundary of the earth's crust comes close to the earth's surface. In the best years, 16 research laboratories worked at the Kola superdeep well, they were personally supervised by the Minister of Geology of the USSR. Many interesting discoveries were made at the well, for example, the fact that life on Earth arose, it turns out, 1.5 billion years earlier than expected. At depths where it was believed that there was no, and could not be, organic matter, 14 species of petrified microorganisms were found - the age of the deep layers exceeded 2.8 billion years. In 2008, the facility was abandoned, the equipment was dismantled, and the destruction of the building began. As of 2010, the well is mothballed and is gradually being destroyed. The cost of restoration is several hundred million rubles Many implausible legends about the “well to hell” are associated with the Kola super-deep well, from the bottom of which the cries of sinners are heard, and the drill bits are melted by hellish flames.
"OIL STONES"- a seaside city of oil producers in the Caspian Sea
This settlement on overpasses, standing right in the Caspian Sea, is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's oldest oil platforms. It was built in 1949 in connection with the beginning of oil production from the bottom of the sea around the Black Stones - a stone ridge barely protruding from the surface of the sea. There are drilling rigs connected by overpasses, on which the settlement of oil field workers is located. The settlement grew, and during its heyday included power plants, nine-story dormitory buildings, hospitals, a cultural center, a park with trees, a bakery, a lemonade production workshop, and even a mosque with a full-time mullah. The length of overpass streets and lanes of the sea city reaches 350 kilometers. There was no permanent population in the city, and up to 2,000 people lived there as part of a shift shift. The period of decline of the Oil Rocks began with the advent of cheaper Siberian oil, which made offshore mining unprofitable. However, the sea town still did not become a ghost town; in the early 2000s, major repairs began there and even began laying new wells.
THE FAILED SOVIET COLLIDER.
Near the city of Protvino, Moscow Region, there is a giant unfinished and now abandoned particle accelerator.
The Protvino scientific center near Moscow in Soviet times was a city of nuclear physicists, a powerful complex of physics institutes, where scientists from all over the world came. A ring tunnel 21 kilometers long was built, lying at a depth of 60 meters. He is now near Protvino. They even began to bring new equipment into the already finished accelerator tunnel, but then a series of political upheavals of the nineties broke out, and the domestic "hadron collider" remained empty, not mounted.
The institutions of the city of Protvino somehow maintain the satisfactory condition of this tunnel - an empty dark ring underground. The lighting system works there, there is a functioning narrow-gauge railway line. All sorts of commercial projects were proposed, such as an underground amusement park or even a mushroom farm. However, scientists are not yet giving this object to "businessmen" - they are hoping for the best.
The USSR has long been in the memories, some nostalgic, some sad. However, the existence of the communist state is still reminded of the numerous relics remaining from those times - grandiose structures that are slowly collapsing under the influence of time.
We present to you top 10 most unusual abandoned objects of the times of the USSR.
Object 825 GTS is a legacy of the Cold War, when both took measures in case of a possible nuclear strike. To create a submarine base, the military chose a quiet secluded bay in Balaklava.
The construction took place in the strictest secrecy: the rock was drilled and taken out at night, after which it was flooded into the sea, and Balaklava was made a closed city. Huge building ( with total area 9600 m2) became unnecessary after the collapse of the USSR and was not protected. For ten years (from 1993 to 2000), non-ferrous metal hunters took out everything that was possible.
Now the base has a Cold War museum with a real (albeit ultra-small) submarine, several expositions and an arsenal courtyard. In 2013, he celebrated his tenth anniversary, and the anniversary was attended not only by adults (submariner veterans, representatives of the military and authorities, former workers of the underground plant), but also by schoolchildren.
9. Bunker in Wünsdorf, Germany
The hallmark of the small German town of Wünsdorf is a bunker built by the Germans before the start of World War II. After the victory, the Soviet command rebuilt it, made it anti-nuclear and placed in it the headquarters of the command of the USSR air forces in Germany.
At other times, the population of Wünsdorf numbered up to 60,000 Soviet soldiers. Until September 1994, a regular train ran from the city to Moscow. Together with the last squad, which left on September 8, 1994, Wünsdorf left the so-called reclamation battalion.
Now the bunker is the main tourist attraction of the city, where excursions are regularly conducted.
8. The village of Pyramiden, Western Svalbard, Russia
For a long time (from 1946 to 1998) the Pyramid coal mine was the northernmost operating mine in the world. For miners in the conditions of the Arctic, a whole city was built, including residential multi-story houses, swimming pool, library, greenhouses, livestock farms, artificial lakes With drinking water and a sea water pool in the sports center. There were times when up to 1000 people lived in the city.
In 1997, it was decided to close the mine - coal production became too expensive due to difficult geological conditions, plus that arose back in the 70s in coal seams the fire complicated the development of the deposit. Now the Pyramid is a tourist attraction, where ships from Russia and the Scandinavian countries regularly go.
7. Accelerator-storage complex, Protvino, Russia
UNK, or, as they used to call it, the Protvino collider (younger brother) is one of the latest large-scale projects of Soviet science. Its construction began in 1983, and in 11 years a huge tunnel was drilled deep underground (21 km long, 5 m in diameter) with ventilation, lighting and auxiliary premises for laboratories and equipment.
And then the collapse of the Soviet Union broke out, and the construction began to lack funding. But it was necessary to close the tunnel into a ring, otherwise nearby people would have suffered from its collapse. settlements. What to do with him now is unclear; it is expensive to remake for use in any other purpose, but even just pouring UNK with concrete costs a lot of money.
6. Ventspils International Radio Astronomy Centre, Latvia
Unlike other relics of the Soviet era, the fate of the observatory has developed successfully - it is in demand, is used for scientific purposes and is about to enter the radio interference network of Europe.
Although before the collapse of the USSR, the purpose of the complex was purely military - intercepting signals from military bases and satellites, as well as monitoring satellites. For the sake of maintenance and protection of the station, the village of Irbene was even erected, in which two thousand military personnel and members of their families lived.
Curiously, the radar in Irbene is one of the most interesting tourist sites in Latvia.
5. Kola superdeep well, Murmansk region, Russia
A well with a length of more than 12 km is another titanic monument to Soviet science, which became unnecessary after the cessation of existence Soviet Union. This is one of the deepest places on earth. Its drilling began in 1970 and continued for several years due to repeated accidents, in which the drill string was jammed with rock. And when trying to lift, part of the column broke off.
In the old days, up to 16 laboratories worked with the well, and the Minister of Geology of the USSR personally monitored its functioning.
It was the Kola well that served as the basis for the urban legend about the “well to Hell”. Since the end of the 90s of the twentieth century, a bike has been circulating on the Internet that at a depth of 12 thousand meters, the microphones of scientists recorded terrible cries and groans of souls suffering in Hell. This legend formed the basis of Dmitry Glukhovsky's story "From Hell".
Now the state does not need a well - it is too expensive. Both she herself and the complex serving her continue to slowly collapse. The restoration will cost 100 million rubles.
4. Skrunda-1, Latvia
One of the many military camps, abandoned after the collapse of the USSR. Skrunda-1 was created in order to maintain a radar station that tracked the launch of ballistic missiles by NATO countries. The military unit, which was located on the territory of the town, disguised itself as a concrete factory. Therefore, she was given the name "Combine".
The fate of the military complex is unenviable - in 1995, after the withdrawal of Russian troops, the station was blown up, and the military camp fell into disrepair. Now part of it is used by the Latvian military forces to practice combat in the city. And the rest of the Latvian authorities unsuccessfully tried to lease, and then simply abandoned.
3. Oil stones, Azerbaijan
Oil Rocks is the world's oldest oil platform (started in 1951). Why is the platform there - it's a whole city on stilts, where the Soviet government tried to create all conditions for oil workers, including multi-storey residential buildings, hospitals, baths, a bakery, a soft drinks factory, a cinema, and even a park with trees.
The total number of platforms is more than 200, and the length of the streets is up to 350 km. The deposit is alive, and the village is actively used - it is inhabited by up to 1000 people working on a rotational basis.
2. "Duga", Chernobyl-2, Ukraine
In second place in the ranking of the most famous abandoned objects of the times of the USSR is another large-scale military structure. This radar station, located nearby, was engaged in tracking the launch of ballistic missiles. Until now, the antenna masts left from it are an impressive sight - huge, standing in a row.
Of course, the Duga object was top-secret, so the Soviet topographic maps in its place was a kind of "pioneer camp".
During operation, the station emitted a characteristic knock on the air, which is why the Western military gave it the nickname Russian Woodpecker (Russian woodpecker). In the West, they even considered the Russian Woodpecker as a Soviet experimental weapon and studied the station's ability to influence people's minds and change the weather. And the foreign press frightened readers with the fact that the Russians would be able to destroy up to 5 American cities a day, broadcasting destructive radio pulses.
However, after the accident at the nuclear power plant, US residents were able to breathe easy. The terrible "Russian woodpecker" was mothballed, and all equipment was removed from it.
1. Buzludzha, Bulgaria
In the 70s of the Bulgarian communist party It was decided to build a memorial complex dedicated to the Bulgarian revolutionaries on Mount Buzludzha. The builders did not limit themselves to one palace - a whole complex of buildings (mainly tourist ones) was erected next to it.
Once upon a time, holidays were held there, festivals were held, shock workers were awarded, and so on. During mass events, free transport was organized for people from nearby cities and villages, and food and drinks were sold at reduced prices.
After the demise of Soviet Bulgaria and the beginning of modern Bulgaria, the memorial house, like many relics of those times, was completely plundered. Moreover, they stole not only valuable metal, but even stone cladding. Now only pieces of the mosaic left on the walls remotely remind of the former splendor.
