Tskaltubo (წყალტუბო), Georgia. April 2024 Camera: Minolta XG-1 Film: Kodak Portra 400 Lens: Super Danubia MC 28mm F/2.8
This old Soviet spa town in western Georgia is home to 22 sanatoria. These beautifully ornate buildings have been, for the most part, abandoned and nature has begun to reclaim them.
The area has medicinal springs and became a spa resort and balneology center during the first years of the Soviet Union. The town was officially incorporated in the 1950s. In more recent years, following the collapse of the USSR, these sanatoria weren't visited as often and slowly began to decay.
But the term "abandoned" may be deceptive for these monuments. Of course, many people still live in the town of Tskaltubo, but also in the spas, which have also played host to thousands of internally displaced people fleeing conflict Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Whole families have built homes inside these old, grand pieces of Soviet architecture.