The Abandoned, Discovered

This will be my last post in my short series of photos taken in an abandoned paper mill outside of Berlin, Germany. The first two parts of the series are entitled Searching for Monsters and The Search for Monsters Continues. Not to worry, these monsters (and a few new ones!) will make an appearance again in future posts. =)

IMG_0289

IMG_0290

IMG_0244
The back part of the factory on a gloomy winter day

IMG_0262

IMG_0284-2

IMG_0331

IMG_0305

IMG_0369
The entrance to the factory grounds

The Search for Monsters Continues

This is a continuation of my previous post, Searching for Monsters. These photos were taken at an abandoned paper mill factory called Papiermühle Wolfswinkel, right outside of Berlin, Germany.

IMG_0314

IMG_0235
One of the main warehouses

IMG_0231

IMG_0252
Found this guy lurking on one of the lower floors. He doesn’t look too happy with our flashlight on him!

IMG_0254

IMG_0316
Luckily I didn’t wake the two bat monsters hanging there on the left
IMG_0315
We always had to watch our step, there were holes everywhere!

IMG_0324

Searching for Monsters

This past Monday, after much research, my friend and I decided to check out an old abandoned paper mill in the town of Eberswalde. It’s a small town about an hour outside of Berlin. We weren’t exactly sure how it would go, as this was both our first time sneaking into an abandoned building to take photos.

There is a lot of history about this factory, which I will only touch on very very briefly. Heegermühler Papiermühle was built in 1762 by Daniel G. Schlotter. In 1876 the factory underwent reconstruction and modernization. From 1928-1929 there was an emergence of a huge hall (reinforced concrete) and it contained the most modern paper machine in Europe. In 1945, the factory downgraded. The factory had a new owner in 1946, with its name changing to Papiermühle Wolfswinkel. In 1994, the factory went bankrupt and shut down. I found this short timeline at Papierfabrik Wolfswinkel (In Deutsch).

The factory is actually quite big, containing a central building and small buildings surrounding it. After sneaking through some posts, my friend and I wandered around for a little while until we heard a dog barking. It sounded very close, as if it were in one of the empty buildings. My friend and I froze and stared at each other. “Where do you think it came from?” I whispered. We walked around part of the building and suddenly saw people carrying some belongings into a section of the mill. My friend approached them and gave a greeting, “Hallo, Guten Tag!” After a few minutes of talking with them, he returned back to me and explained that they were the owners of the abandoned factory. They said it was ok to go around and take pictures, but to stay towards the front of the mill and to be careful of  the bad conditions of the buildings. We spent 3 hours exploring all the fantastic street art in the abandoned factory. We would’ve stayed longer, but it started to snow and the temperature was slowly dropping. There were so many things to take pictures of, I’ll be sharing more photos for the next few days!

It was a fun adventure and my friend and I hope to do a lot more exploring of abandoned buildings around the Berlin area!

IMG_0213
It’s a decent sized mill. This is just a side of the central building.
IMG_0198
This was the very first monster we spotted. He was a sneaky fella!
IMG_0207
We turned around and came face to eyes with this little shy guy!

IMG_0211

IMG_0218
These slabs of concrete had little windows painted on them making it look like grundgy apartment buildings. They were so detailed that I actually thought a little person would stick their head out of a window to say hello!

IMG_0223

IMG_0237
We discovered this monster, in all his glory, in another part of the mill. I believe he and his little dragon rule this room.

IMG_0230