Sanatoriums seem to have a long tradition in the Baltic States where "caring for the soul" has for long been seen as a part of the healing- and recovery process. Given today's upswing in spas and turn-inwards-and-spoil-yourself kind of institutions, one can certainly say that it was ahead of time.
This grand ruin of the Kemeri Sanatorium outside Riga in Latvia is a spectacular one. My own mental picture of a sanatorium is very much a peaceful and aesthetic place, but this one is certainly a different breed. Although I don't have much of history about it, it is obvious that it was built during the Soviet era, maybe around 1960 or so. One can guess that it was not for the average Latvian-SSSR citizen, but rather a premium resort reserved for the political elite and military top-brass, most likely exclusive for native Russians.
Today, there are few if any traces left of this past glory. In a short moment of fantasy, I could close my eyes for a second and get an image of a grim Babushka-like nurse pushing a wheelchair carrying a PTSD-struck Red Army colonel with empty, hollow eyes, just arriving from service in Afghanistan. An omnipresent odor of a chlorine-phenol like detergent and spotless shining floors give a stark contrast to the overall sparse and meager premises, hit by years of neglected maintenance and lack of resources. A wall calendar tells us that is is May 20, 1986.
*bing* - eyes opened, back to reality. In front of me is just an empty concrete shell with rubble everywhere. Nothing - and I really mean NOTHING worth even a single lat can be found anywhere. Cables, pipes, ladders, windows, wood, tiles, reasonably intact bricks – everything has been taken away by looters.
Just like the church once made the churches grander and bolder as an expression of its structural power and influence, it strikes me that the main objective of the Soviet architecture must really have been to give the average citizen a sense of its own individual insignificance. Standing in front of these enormous concrete structures is really stunning and trying to really capture the vastness with a camera from the ground is somewhat futile.
