Monday, July 11, 2016

The Abandoned Town of Novoaleksandrovka


You know the best thing about living in a communist turned capitalist country? All the abandoned places you can explore. Maybe that's just me. Hey, I was a history major in college who minored in Facebook stalking, so maybe finding and exploring places is just naturally fun for me. There are so many abandoned places in Ufa. Unfortunately, many of them are outside of the city and I don't have a car to get to them. While Novoaleksandrovka, in the North of Ufa, isn't technically abandoned since there are some factories alive and running, most of the city is empty. 
I asked my friend a while ago if he knew of any abandoned places in Ufa and he told me about Novoaleksandrovka. I was immediately intrigued. It took me a while to actually get the chance to go and find out exactly where it was located. Thank goodness for Google Maps satellite view. I asked my friend, Elizabeth, if she would be interested in going and to my surprise she was all for it. We had to take one of the suburban buses to get there, and everyone was so kind to us. One girl basically asked for Elizabeth's autograph and another offered us some baked goods. 
Once a town of 45,000, there was a mass exodus of people from Novoaleksandrovka sometime in the second half of the twentieth century, although my research failed to show me when exactly it occurred. Due to the large number of factories in the area the town was seen as too dangerous for a residential city. People moved out but all the structures remained. I read that the one above used to be a school but later served as a hospital. Legend has it there was an illegal abortion clinic somewhere in the town. I'm not disappointed we didn't find it though because it makes me a little nauseous to think about. 
We didn't go inside any of the buildings due to the fact that most of them were in terrible shape and could fall apart at any moment. I'd like to go back to the city sometime in late fall when there isn't so much vegetation and we won't be eaten alive by mosquitoes. I have a feeling we barely scratched the surface of the town and I would like to see what else is hidden there. If you would like to see more pictures of what some of the buildings look like on the inside you can see them here. If your interested in seeing what the city looked like when it was still a city this video offers a tour of the abandoned town as well as photos of it's once lively past.

I'll admit I'm often scared to go into abandoned buildings. How would you feel about going inside? Would you hesitate to go into one or would you jump right in?

4 comments

  1. Great shots! Scampering through abandoned things is one of the first things that drew me to the Eastern bloc, and it doesn't disappoint. I find it so fascinating to think about these buildings in a greater historical context. Novoalexandrovka looks like a great place for a stroll!

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    1. I feel the same way. It's amazing how so many of these abandoned places still exist.

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  2. My ultimate abandoned building adventure would be the former Bulgarian Communist Party headquarters in Buzludzha. While I have never been to Bulgaria, the draw of this building is it's other world/spaceship like structure from the outside and fading Communist murals within its interior.

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    1. I would love to see that building too! There are so many amazing buildings in Eastern Europe.

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