Kitten of Doom

I went out to visit the old abandoned sanatorium in Beelitz-Heilstatten last week.

Beelitz, as it is commonly referred to, has been abandoned since 2000.  Originally built as a tuberculosis sanatorium; it became a German military hospital in World War I (Hitler was a patient here in 1916) and in World War II was occupied by the Soviets.  Beelitz remained a soviet military hospital until 1995, and this will explain why there is a lot of Russian graffiti throughout the buildings – in fact, there was virtually no German graffiti.

The hospital complex was originally made up of 60 buildings, and some of these remain in operation today.

The abandoned section of the complex was used as a film set for The Pianist movie, and these days is still a popular destination for explorers or curious locals – we ran into six people whilst we were there.  Due to it’s popularity, the one building that is easily accessible is pretty trashed, and the other buildings are boarded up… but the boarded-up buildings look absolutely beautiful inside through their broken windows.

I loved the architecture of the buildings, particularly the balcony railings, as well as the interior ceilings.  The interior tiling was beautiful, and the buildings that were secured looked as though their interiors were still in pretty good condition.

One of my favourite Melbourne bands, Planet Love Sound, shot the video for their track On the Run here last year.  I know I’ve posted it before, but I’m going to post it again – they are beautiful.

Planet Love Sound – On the Run – music video from Planet Love Sound on Vimeo.

x Kitten of Doom.

~ by Kitten of Doom on August 2, 2012.

Posted in Europe, Things I see, Urban exploration
Tags: abandoned, beelitz, beelitz-heilstatten, berlin, hospital, military, On the Run, Planet Love Sound, sanatorium, soviet, tuberculosis, urbex