It is almost impossible to calculate the exact number of abandoned cities and villages in the vast expanses of the former USSR. New political, economic, and also geological realities have left many objects below the line of modern life.
Abandoned villages of Russia or abandoned military installations can be found in any region of the Russian Federation. But we will not go deep into the causes of this process, but simply imagine the abandoned cities of Russia, which have become silent ghosts of the past.
1
Old Gubakha. Perm region
Now a ghost town, and once the coal center of the Perm Territory dates back to 1778, when the first mines were laid here. Arriving in the region, researchers and workers settled in the village on the banks of Kosva.
The coal mining industry of the region developed rapidly, and in 1941 Old Gubakha received the status of a city. Schools worked, the House of Culture, a railway passed through the city.
But prosperity was short-lived. The coal deposit was quickly depleted, and in the early 90s people left the city, and he added to the list, which includes the dead cities of Russia.
2
Halmer-Yu. Komi Republic
In the early 40s, the geological expedition of G. Ivanov found coal here, which was so necessary for the Soviet state during the war years. In 1943, 250 people were already living in the village, and in 1957 the mine began to give the first coal to the hill.
Perhaps the foundation in this place of the city was immediately doomed to failure, because “Halmer Yu” in translation from the Nenets language means “River in the Valley of Death”. Local residents have long considered these places sacred, and brought here dead relatives to bury in the permafrost of the valley.
In 1993, due to unprofitability, the mine was closed, and two years later, riot police forces forcibly evicted from their homes.
3
Calendo. Sakhalin Oblast
In the 60s, development of oil fields began on Sakhalin, and settlements began to appear near them. So in 1963, the town of Kolendo oil industry appeared on the map.
The village got its romantic name from a nearby lake in the northern part of the island. The oil region was developing, but oil reserves were quickly depleted, enterprises closed, and people began to leave Colendo.
The 1995 earthquake put the last point in the history of the city, and the authorities decided to evict the residents. By 2002, not a single person was left in Colendo. Now it is a dead zone, but formally the status of the settlement has not been abolished.
4
Industrial. Komi Republic
At the end of the 40s of the last century, two mines began to be built on the site of the future urban village - “Central” and “Industrial”. By the name of the second in 1956, they named a new settlement.
Industrial, like many mining towns of the region, was directly subordinate to Vorkuta. By the end of the 70s, the population of Industrial reached the mark of 15 thousand inhabitants.
In the early 1990s, the coal industry was seized by the crisis, and the impetus for the closure of the city was the explosion in 1998 at Tsentralnaya Street, killing 27 miners. The dead 19 miners were never found, and only eight were raised to the surface. The mines were closed, and the city was gradually empty. Officially closed in 2009.
5
Anniversary. Perm region
The list, which includes Russian abandonment, continues to the Jubilee, founded in 1957. The city grew around the Shumikhinskaya mine.
It was the closure of the mine, which had not yet exhausted its resource, that led to the desolation of the city. Abandoned houses in the Jubilee are slowly being dismantled, and a prison colony was equipped at the industrial site of the closed mine.
There is in the abandoned city and its own attraction. In 1993, a native of Yubileiny gave the citizens of the self-propelled guns ISU-152. So the fighting vehicle stands on a pedestal in the midst of a crumbling city.
6
Iultin. Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Lost cities in Siberia appeared for various reasons, but basically, it was the closure of mining enterprises that feed settlements.
Yultin, named after Mount Ivyltin, dates back to 1937, when large deposits of polymetallic materials were discovered here. The future village, whose population in 1989 was almost 6 thousand inhabitants, began with two plywood houses and several tents.
Over time, the extraction of polymetals became unprofitable, and the map of abandoned settlements in Russia was replenished with a new object, when in 2002 the last residents left the city of Iultin.
7
Nizhneyansk Yakutia
For many years, starting in the mid-30s of the twentieth century, the village in the Yana Delta was the most important point of cargo delivery to the remote northern regions of Yakutia.
In 1954, construction of a large port began here, and next to it a village grew up, which was called Nizhneyansk. An airport runway of 1,700 m in length was lined up nearby.
In 2012, due to unprofitability, regular flights were not carried out at the airport, and the population of Nizhneyansk was relocated to other settlements.
8
Kursha-2. Ryazan Oblast
The name of the settlement was given by Lithuanian exiles, who were exiled by the tsarist government to the Meshchersky forests, and the area strongly reminded the exiles of their native Curonian spit.
With the advent of Soviet power, they began to harvest wood here, and from 1927 sent by rail to Vladimir and Ryazan. The workers' settlement began to be quickly upset, but in 1936 a terrible fire destroyed the settlement.
The fire came from the south, and took people by surprise. Out of a thousand inhabitants, no more than 20 people survived. Before the war, a large iron cross was erected on the site of the mass grave of loggers and members of their families.
9
Finwal. Kamchatka
The military town of Soviet submariners in the Bechevinsky bay was also called Bechevikha, and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky-54 was also classified.
The town was founded in the early 60s, and in 1971 12 large submarines of the Pacific Fleet were already based here. There was no ground connection with the village, but once a week a ship went here.
In the town there was a post office, a school, a kindergarten functioned. In 1996, the garrison was disbanded, and the inhabitants of Finwal were relocated, and the boats relocated to other bases. Now empty and almost destroyed houses are written off from the balance of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
10
Alykel. Taimyr Autonomous Okrug
The town of military pilots stands among the tundra near Norilsk, and according to some reports it was never populated.
The secrecy of such objects does not allow to collect complete information, but it is known that nine-story houses were intended for military pilots and members of their families. Piles stick out from the ground near the houses built, which testifies to the plans for the expansion of the town.
Times are changing, and with them, plans. The built town turned out to be unclaimed, and the houses lost among the picturesque landscapes turned out to be unpopulated.
11
Neftegorsk. Sakhalin Oblast
Until 1970, the city of oil workers in the Sakhalin Region was called the East, and the decision to build it near the oil field was made in 1962.
The short history of Neftegorsk ended in May 1995, when the residential and administrative buildings of the city were destroyed by an earthquake.
Houses could not stand strong shocks and literally took shape. It was decided not to rebuild the city, but to move the surviving people to other settlements.
12
Amderma. Nenets Autonomous Okrug
In 1933, a town was founded in the border zone, with the beautiful name Amderma, which means “walrus rookery” in Nenets.
The appearance of the working camp was due to the deposits of fluorspar, which began to be actively mined in the early 30s, and after the war discovered new deposits.
In the 90s, the extraction of a valuable mineral practically ceased, and people, losing a source of income, began to leave their homes. Many wooden two- and three-story houses are now empty, and in 2004 Amderma lost the status of a city.
13
Kadykchan. Magadan Region
In the Ayan-Yuryakh river basin there is an abandoned town, the name of which in the Evenki language means “Small Gorge”. Kadykchan began its history during the years of World War II. It was at this time that coal began to be mined here.
In 1996, a powerful explosion occurred at the mine, which killed 6 people. The accident brought great damage to the mine and decided to close it. Due to the lack of work, people began to leave these terrible places.
In 2010, the last inhabitants left the forgotten town, and today it is a ghost town of interest only to curious stalkers.
And we, in turn, are just curious stalkers and all interested who are invited to read an exciting article entitled “Caves. Mysterious and beautiful. ”
14
Charonda. Vologodskaya Oblast
In the XVII century, Pos. Charonda became a full-fledged city with its own cathedral, marina and good-natured inhabitants, who had settled in the white silence of the North.
Over time, the trade route began to lose its significance; by the 30s of the twentieth century, Charonda had practically lost its former significance. Houses were destroyed, the pier on Lake Vozhe fell into decay, the church collapsed, and the inhabitants began to leave their habitable places.
By the time of the collapse of the USSR, the city ceased to exist, but similar old dead cities attracted historians and entrepreneurs of the tourism business. But all the projects for the revival of the historical place remained on paper.
15
Mologa. Yaroslavl region
We finish our story with a city that can rightfully lead the list, which includes the disappeared cities of Russia. The settlement of Mologa, leading its history from the XII century, in 1777 received the status of a county town.
Once a remote village has become a thriving city. But the glorious history of the city, whose walls witnessed many historical events, ceased in 1941, when all the inhabitants were relocated from the city. The city, along with historical and architectural monuments, was completely flooded in 1946, with the expansion of the reservoir of the Rybinsk State District Power Station.
In recent years, due to lack of water, buildings began to emerge from the water, and the descendants of young people began to make boat trips to the flooding site.
By the way, on our site most-beauty.ru you can read
fascinating article about "TOP 10 countries that may go under water in the coming decades."
We slightly went beyond the usual Top 10 abandoned cities of Russia, and added this list to the cities of the central part of the country.
Empty and extinct cities attract directors, musicians, poets, writers and photographers who are looking for inspiration in these terrible places, and stalkers and other adventurers use them in search of new extreme sensations.