Abandoned sanatorium in Tskaltubo Georgia

Tskaltubo

As a photographer, I have an urban photography project, I visit abandoned places and shoot with a model. I do it in Budapest, where I live, and if possible, while I am travelling, for example, in Kyrgyzstan, where I lived for two months.

I want to say that it's illegal and hazardous to enter abandoned buildings/places, so please don't take this post as an invitation to do the same.

During my trip to Georgia, you can read about it here and here, on the last day I visited the city of Tskaltubo. It is close to Kutaisi and reachable in 20 minutes by taxi and marshrutka. Because it was a last-minute decision, I visited the place alone, so no portraits.

Tskaltubo is a spa resort in west Georgia, it is known for its radon carbonate mineral springs, whose natural temperature of 33-35 °C (91-95 °F) enables the water to be used without preliminary heating. The first bathhouses were built as early as the 1870s. Tskaltubo was especially popular in the Soviet era, attracting around 125,000 visitors a year. The territory of Tskaltubo was acquired by the state in 1931, and by the 1950s 22 sanatoria and hotels were erected, Josef Satlin visited Tskaltubo at least twice.

Tskaltubo's spa industry collapsed with the Soviet Union in 1991, and most of the buildings were left abandoned, in 2012 some sanatoria were purchased by private, and in 2018 a project was launched to make the biggest spa destination in Eastern Europe, but none of the 15 sanatoria owned by the state has been refurbished. In 2022 a project is starting to redevelop Tskaltubo, but from what I saw it is not still active.

In Tskaltubo is possible to visit 16 sanatoriums and 5 bathhouses, I don't know if all of them are easy to visit or even if it is possible to enter, I visited one sanatorium and I tried to enter two, but in one people were living and in the other, I saw a car outside and I didn't want to get in trouble. All these three are really easy to get in.

I want to be clear, the city is not abandoned, currently, the spa receives around 700 people a year. People displaced from Abkhazia are living there, even second-generation, the living conditions are not ideal, even if the occupied sanatoriums appear to have electricity and running water.

I visited the sanatorium Iveria, it was the first place I checked and a part of the fence was down so entry into the building was quite easy, I was not alone in the building, there were other explores and I think it is the main attraction of the urban exploration in the city.

Sanatorium Iveria was built in 1962, and it is completely abandoned, it was quite easy to enter and go around to the top level. It was sold to investors in 2017 and is slated to be demolished and replaced with a new hotel. The main entrance hall with a large round opening in the ceiling is really characteristic of this place. 

I am fascinated by abandoned buildings because they tell a lot about humanity and our recent history. I try to imagine what it was like before the place where I am and which kinds of people frequent it and what they were doing there.

I didn't plan this visit to Tskaltubo, on the last day of the trip to Georgia I had free time so I decided to go there. During my trip, I saw a lot of abandoned buildings around the country and can be that I will go again to Georgia with that specific topic, and have shooting with models.