Dutch-Canadian photographer Ryan Koopmans visited and captured the abandoned sanatoriums of Tskaltubo, a small town in western Georgia which is now populated by victims of war.

Koopmans told CNN Style, which published his photos and story about Tskaltubo sanatoriums, that the kids have this whole era as their playground.

The article reads that throughout the Soviet Era, the USSR built 186 comparable sanatoriums across the state, designed specifically for comrades in need of a rest and “Tskaltubo was one of the best”.

In 1991, when the Soviet Union crumbled, the sanatoriums were decommissioned…

A year after the fall of the Soviet Union, a bloody conflict broke out between government forces and separatists who fought for the independence of Abkhazia, a disputed autonomous republic in northwestern Georgia. Refugees from the war fled their homes in Abkhazia and discovered the deserted corridors of Tskaltubo”, read the article.

Koopmans’ series, therefore, mixes austere architectural studies with portraits of the people who, to this day, call the gutted sanatoriums their home. The original settlers have had children, and now grandchildren. Koopmans photographs the play of kids who have never known anywhere else.

Without light, heating or running water, the spa’s new residents “have had to adapt and create their own makeshift means of survival,” Koopmans said.

Read the full story here.

Photo: Ryan Koopmanas

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