Building of this place started in May 1948 and got finalised the following year. At the beginning the main building comprised of two floors and attic, cellar was added in year 1956. There were also cattle shed, barn and piggery/henhouse on the plot. The newest building on the plot is residential building for staff from year 1974.
In the early years, this place was aimed to be self-sufficient in terms of farming. Every resident, who was able to work the farm or take care of the animals, took part in sustaining the place. The farming ended in year 1972 and the place changed to be more like modern-day nursing home. In 1977, there was a renovation in the old main building.
In 1993, the nursing home moved to another location near the center of Salla and this place was left abandoned. Although the place is nowadays privately owned, there hasn’t been any activity in the main building since the closure. In the staff’s residential building there has been some temporary accommodation for berry pickers.
I visited the place with my friend Joonas in late August 2015. The atmosphere was calm, and at least in the daylight this place seemed to lack the eerie feeling that often surrounds abandoned nursing homes and hospitals.
General viewMoving nearerOne-floor wingWindows of resident rooms were small to minimize the escape of heat from inside to outside especially in the winter. Main entrance was clearly open…Wheelchair rampEnd of the higher wingFire escape ladder was thrown out of the window.Backside viewFireplaceA little bit of water damage on this corner…Small balcony and windowOne-floor wing from backsideThere seemed to still be some activity around staff’s residential building, which was built in 1974.Last shot outside before moving in…Presumably wallpaper on an old movable bed.Dining room / hall of some kind1970’s-style benchOpen fireplaceKitchenKitchen machineryDishwasherA container for diswashing detergentConnecting point between the kitchen and the dining roomSupportsDark corridor on the first floor, there were resident rooms on both sides.BathroomPouring poolComic stripOne roomOther sideThis room had peeling paint both on the ceiling and on the walls.Other side of the same room.Ventilation and heatA doorway to another bathroom……which had more space than the previous.Stairway with something curious on the wall……which, on closer inspection, turned out to be (or had been) a tree with presumably every resident’s name on its leafs at one moment of time.Curtains were still left on this second-floor room.The long corridor on the second floor was remarkably brighter than on the first floor.LandscapesThen we visited the attic…ReligiousOld televisionMechanical ventilation machineryMore of the same subjectAn interesting pile of books and postcards…Religious literatureHoly BibleA seemingly very old postcard to someone in mental hospital in Oulu, Finland.Christmas greetings to someone from Kemijärvi, Finland.Here the subject is also Christmas greetings.A Finnish thing: bunches of birch branches used when going to sauna.A traditional shoe of Finnish Sami PeopleWheelchair……at least one of the wheels was missing. This has presumably been the reason why it was left to this place. ClothesMagazinesEntering autumnMovableMechanical devices for sweeping wet floor were hanging from the support structure of the roof.Unknown electrical deviceA very old shoeBooksBedGeneral view of the atticSmall itemsTwo booksGlass bottlesBack to the first floor. Presumably this was a washing machine.MangleHeatingCloseupFinnish beer bottlesWater tanks for the circulating water heating systemOne of the main electric panels in the buildingConsumption of electricityCustom voltage meter… And simultaneously, last shot of this incredible place.
