Frozen Apartments in the City Beyond the Arctic Circle ⋆ Russian Urban Exploration

I’ve never seen anything like this before! And if I had come to Vorkuta in summer, I wouldn’t have seen it either. For this to be possible, a number of factors must coincide:

As long as there is at least one apartment left in the block, hot running water is still turned on.

In Vorkuta and neighboring villages, water supply and heating work in a common circuit – in summer not only the batteries are turned off in the apartments, but also the hot water (cold water remains – because each flat has a heater).

While 2-3 months the pipes of hot water are empty, mains are maintained and repaired, radiators and pipes are looted from abandoned apartments. In theory, they are supposed to put some kind of plugs, but…

⚡ in autumn, with the beginning of cold weather, hot water returns to residential buildings – and abandoned apartments with cut pipes begin to drown!
⚡ and then frost comes ❄️

I told with illustrations how abandoned entrances and apartments look like, where the heat from hot water from burst pipes meets the frost from the street.

However, if the windows and Doors are closed, these abandoned dwellings are like a real sauna! Hot, humid steam lingers in the rooms and soaks the furniture, water puddles on the floor and trickles through the floors, dripping from chandeliers and outlets.

All of this looks scary by itself, but separately adding to the impression are the humming and glowing electric meters on the stairs. So, in addition to the water, there’s still electricity turned on! 🤯