Sirgala. Estonia. A Soviet mining town

Words
247
Reading
2 min
Listen
Play
4y

"Don't go to Vivikonna man, it is shit" said my local contact, "Everyone goes there and it is shit". "Go To Sirgala"

I went to Vivikonna: It was shit.

I also went to Sirgala: It was not shit.

SPG_8298.jpeg

It was very rustic and rural on the approach, no fancy combined harvesters, the harvest being done by hand.

SPG_8294.jpeg

Nothing more exciting than a bus timetable, and a domestic repair man offering his services

SPG_8280.jpeg

SPG_8295.jpeg

It was deathly quiet, except for the odd hound barking its bollocks off

sirgag.jpeg

Credit:Unknown

Sirgala, a town in Estonia now, just 24 miles from the Russian border, was constructed under Khrushchev as an overspill town of Vivikonna so as to house migrant workers,who came from all over the USSR to work in one of the many oil-shale mines in the area.

SPG_8296.jpeg

SPG_8285.jpeg

There are still residents here. happy to live amongst the decay, some I guess in modernised flats, others just happy to have a roof over their heads

SPG_8292.jpeg

SPG_8293.jpeg

Frustration was setting in

SPG_8289.jpeg

SPG_8290.jpeg

But when you do find an open door, there be treasure and decay a plenty

SPG_8262.jpeg

SPG_8277.jpeg

SPG_8276.jpeg 20-26-56-759.jpeg

SPG_8231.jpeg

SPG_8224.jpeg

That jacket looks so good it could have been hung up yesterday, surely not........

SPG_8278.jpeg

....and sleep in a bed like that too?

SPG_8261.jpeg

SPG_8236.jpeg

Bedtime reading for some

SPG_8275.jpeg

SPG_8274.jpeg

I am seriously loving that lamp shade.

SPG_8235.jpeg

SPG_8238.jpeg

Moving from room to room apartment to apartment a look into the life of others. seems strange how clothes and personal mementos are left behind.

to be continued

Sirgala. Estonia. A Soviet mining town | Ecency