Originally opened in 1899 as a cement factory it was taken over in 1939 to produce bauxite for the Nazi war effort. After the war the soviets dismantled the plant and it remained unused until 1950 when it was repurposed to produce animal feed and phosphates for farming, becoming concerned primarily with agricultural chemicals by the 1970s. As for many things in East Germany, reunification eventually led to the winding down of the factory which finally closed in 1999.
More recently the buildings have occasionally found a new lease of life as filming locations, a Rammstein video was filmed there, and The Monuments Men with George Clooney. Also episodes of Homeland and even some of The Hunger Games are alleged to have been shot there. There's a superfluous set of wooden stairs that I suspect are a stage prop and heap of hard white stuff that may have been some sort of scenesetter too.
This place had been on our must see list for a while, partly because the buildings look spectacular and because there are some notable works by German street artist Ken Plotbot, whose work looks so well in locations like this. A lot of the buildings are a shadow of their former selves and you really need to look where you're walking as there are holes in the ground as well as in the floors.
The explore itself was quite leisurely until security arrived, I would say we had covered about 60% of the place before they drove in. To be fair they didn't particularly try to catch us, but we made a steady exit anyway.
Hopefully we'll get back to do the rest next year.
P.s. It's literally years since I've posted a report, please let me know if it's FUBAR cheers!
More recently the buildings have occasionally found a new lease of life as filming locations, a Rammstein video was filmed there, and The Monuments Men with George Clooney. Also episodes of Homeland and even some of The Hunger Games are alleged to have been shot there. There's a superfluous set of wooden stairs that I suspect are a stage prop and heap of hard white stuff that may have been some sort of scenesetter too.
This place had been on our must see list for a while, partly because the buildings look spectacular and because there are some notable works by German street artist Ken Plotbot, whose work looks so well in locations like this. A lot of the buildings are a shadow of their former selves and you really need to look where you're walking as there are holes in the ground as well as in the floors.
The explore itself was quite leisurely until security arrived, I would say we had covered about 60% of the place before they drove in. To be fair they didn't particularly try to catch us, but we made a steady exit anyway.
Hopefully we'll get back to do the rest next year.
P.s. It's literally years since I've posted a report, please let me know if it's FUBAR cheers!
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