The inevitability of war, in-turn means the inevitability of infrastructure to support such conflicts.
I am in The Czech Republic to study the repurposability of now abandoned military and war-time infrastructure. The reason i chose this location specifically was because of both the heavy Nazi and Soviet occupation that took place in the 20th century. Due to the fact that both the Nazis and the Soviets control was mainly in Europe, the centrality of the Czech Republic mean that the remnants of the two occupations lie abundantly on the Czech landscape. In fact during the control of the Soviet Union, the Central Group of Forces (CGF), which was the prominent military force located in central Europe, with 4 of the 5 main divisions existing in the Czech Republic. The head quarters of the CGF being outside of Milovice, a small town located about 30 miles East of Prague.
During the Cold War this based housed two very large divisions, The first being the 15th Guards Tank Division and the second being the 131st Mixed Aviation Division. That being said, this base is incredibly vast being around 1600 acres containing around 15 large house blocks, 44 aircraft bunkers, a mixed variety of other buildings and a 1.5 mile long runway that is wide enough for jets to take off in formation.
This was my first visit to this site where I was able to photographically document a lot of what is still left there along with being able to get a sense for the spatial qualities of the place. While I was there I discovered that there are currently parts of the base that are being used. On the north side where the majority of the houseing blocks are located, there are 4 blocks that are being used as apartments. Im not sure when they were first renovated or even if they have been in use since the closing of the base. Another thing that exists on the site is a company that uses a couple of the old buildings, though I am not sure exactly what they do. The last formal use of the site is that of a few private aviation groups that use the runway to fly a number of ultralight aircraft that they house in a few of the bunkers remaining on the site.
The surreal feeling that I got from being at this site was overwhelming. Being interested in military actions and abandoned places since I was young, I was always intrigued by areas like this and was fond of exploring them. Seeing a site such as this though, that served the same purpose as ones in the United States but being controlled by Russia, a world power on the opposite side of the spectrum was nothing less than incredible.
two of the 44 bunkers located on site. While some are used for the aviation groups, most have been used as party spots for local kids, riddled with beer bottles and Graffiti. The rest have been left pretty much untouched and some were closed up, apparently being used as storage but i was unable to tell exactly.
The runway on the site. Spanning 1.5 miles in length and just over 520 feet in width.
Another bunker with the doors left open.
The are the posts that were used to fence in the site, they are around 7 feet tall, spaced 10 feet apart. they held a series of barbed wire strands, however this one has had it pulled out.
A winch that was used for closing the last few feet of this bunkers door. This is the only one that I saw on the sight so I am not sure if it was something original to the site or if it has been brought here after the closing of the base.
I am unsure of what this was but it appears to have been a very well fortified tunnel system. I may have been one of the original entrances to the base. Besides the two tunnels there is only a small room located inside that door way.
A close up of the tunnel entrance. The origin of the holes around the top are very curious.
The control tower located to the north of the runway, emptied of all the consoles and controls.
One of three styles of housing blocks on the base. There were only a few of these and they were located very close to the runway.
To the right is the main style of housing and the style in which the current apartment buildings were created from. In the middle is a tower, two of them are on the site and I am unsure of their original use.
Interior of a building which purpose is unclear.
An old garage/
Interesting artwork on the side of one of the housing blocks.
I feel as though the graffiti was placed next to this hole for a reason. This led to the basement of the building, which is how I entered the building.
A view of the basement.
0 comments:
Post a Comment