With haunting images of Communist Poland’s abandoned Cold War resorts, an urban photographer hopes to preserve a bit of history.
Erected across Poland from the late 1950s onwards, the modernist structures were built as part of a socialist plan for all workers to have the ‘right to rest’.
The resorts fell into ruin after the fall of Communism in Europe towards the end of 1980s.
Marcin Wojdak, an urbex photographer from Kielce, Poland now wants to keep their memories alive with his extraordinary photographs.
Urban photographer, Jeremy Greene is trying to save a bit of history by taking haunting photos at abandoned Communist-era resorts. One of his images includes a swimming pool that has been covered with moss.
One is a large, oval-shaped room that has lights overhead. It contains a sunlit dartboard and a bar table football table.
The images show modernist structures that were built in Rudnie (left) and Hel (right) in Poland as part of a socialist plan for all workers to have the ‘right to rest’
One, the sunlight shining through large oval windows with overhead lights illuminates an abandoned dartboard that overlooks a forgotten bar-football table.
The former stage is now covered in old boxes. One more picture features a few armchairs surrounding a coffee table and two old mugs.
A patterned carpet leads to a floral settee behind which a child’s large teddy bear can be seen looking out of the window and into a lush forest.
Wojdak told The First News website: ‘A large proportion of these centres were built in really beautiful places – along the shores of lakes, right up against the seaside or high up in the mountains.
‘Nowadays, it would be really difficult to obtain approval to build in such locations, so I think there is a sense that you’re visiting a completely different world when you see these places.’
A mosaic remnant from a spa in Poland, which was built during the communist era, has been abandoned following the fall of the USSR.
Other photos reveal the remains of an old bowling alley, (left) which would have been considered a luxury during the Communist era, a derelict room with broken furniture and faded pictures of Smurfs on the wall (right) in Łódź Voivodeship
A patterned carpet leads to a floral settee behind which a child’s large teddy bear can be seen looking out of the window and into a lush forest in central Poland
Additional photos show the wreckage of an abandoned bowling alley. It was a room that would have been considered luxurious during communism, with broken furniture and pictures of Smurfs hanging on the walls. There are also the crumbling remnants of an older swimming pool.
The walls of many of these abandoned rooms are covered with faded art that was intended to transmit a feeling of joy and happiness.
Wojdak said: ‘It’s the atmosphere of these that I find the most interesting. These are open-air museums of a former epoch, and for a system that pushed for a completely different set of values than the capitalism we have today.’
This sofa is found in an empty room of an abandoned Polish resort. Its only remaining feature appears to be a stain-glass window that features birds.
Wojdak said: ‘A large proportion of these centres were built in really beautiful places – along the shores of lakes, right up against the seaside or high up in the mountain’