Leaving the shore of the Arctic Ocean the other day, I saw in the rear mirror the outlines of a local landmark - the abandoned school. I'm not sure that this object is suitable for the community theme, because in recent years it has rather turned into an “art” object, but let's try…
I managed to visit inside in December 2021. This school was built back in 1959, when the local fishing village was flourishing and the Soviet Union was bringing knowledge and science to every corner of its vast territory. At that time, this school was not inferior in its equipment and infrastructure to schools in the capital. But starting from the 90s, it gradually began to decline, like everything in this country. What can we say about a school in a village on the edge of the world with a population of 1,000 people…
In 2006, the school was mothballed and all the children were transferred to a new school in a neighboring village. The locals did not disturb the peace of this locked shrine of knowledge. People living here didn't need textbooks, chemical reagents, or old equipment. But everything has changed in 2014…
The film "Leviathan" by Russian director Andrei Zvyagintsev took the main prize at the 67th Cannes Film Festival. And the main character of this film was the devastation of the Russian hinterland in the far north, it was here, in Teriberka, that filming took place. The life of the abandoned school changed dramatically.
Crowds of tourists began to come here to see the edge of the world, enjoy the views of the northern ocean and the charm of the Russian depression. Yes, it's strange, all that the local edges can give to visitors is melancholy. There is a very fine line between the peace and tranquility of those who were born here and those who come here for the first time. We only look depressed, but we love our land. Visitors simply become depressed if they stay for a long time.
Anyway, let's go back to school (funny music from a youth comedy- No). At the peak of the tourist flow, its doors were opened and even tourist excursions were conducted here. Well, as we know, tourists love souvenirs, so a lot of things from the Soviet past were taken away for memory and now these rooms are almost empty.
Artists have also left their mark. It hosted an international festival in 2016 and even Pøbel splashed some creativity on those walls. From the abandoned building, the school has turned into the art object. And many visitors leave here a piece of their creativity. Someone a piece of their vandalism.
Some works impress with their relevance and atmosphere. Others are just inscriptions on the walls or small poems, or just "quotes" with a link to the author's Instagram - I don't really like it. I will try to translate several inscriptions under the photos.
Very picturesque view from one of the classrooms. Probably if you look at it for the entire period of study, it will cause nausea and despondency. But a fleeting glance is pleasantly caressed by wildlife.
The example of the creativity of one of the tourists on the next window. In fact, this is a very popular verse about the north. I won't be able to translate it with a rhyme, otherwise this post was in another community. But here's the general meaning:
My peeling grey house was repainted in yellow. I'm out of it observe the Aurora light with my open mouth. And it snow along the roads, And my nose turned red again, The world turned green above me, rose petals above me.
I've been used to this for a long time, But as soon as the night comes, I clean the window from the patterns And, as in childhood, I sit down. Well, never mind that snow drifts on the chest, and an icicle can kill,I repeat to myself casually "We are staying in the North to live."
Almost all the classrooms in the building are stripped to skeletons. There are no radiator batteries, the boards are torn off the floor. This was done not by tourists, but by local residents, who dragged building materials to their homes, after access to the school appeared.
I really like this bear art in the hallway. I do not know who drew it, but it looks very cool and appropriate. Initially there was no text above it, it was completed by another author. And this is the same verse that we saw on the window "We are staying in the North to live".
And this is the most popular wall for selfies, it is called “The girl from the north”. Strange, considering that a character from the movie "The Lovely Bones" is depicted here. The inscription means «It's cold here, but beautiful»
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the inscription "did you smile today?"
In general, the building looks very gloomy, because many of the windows are boarded up, and as I said earlier, almost all the decoration paneling was stolen, the rest was done by time.
Now it is difficult to determine which class belongs to which discipline, they are all empty. But before, you could instantly identify the purpose of the room by the objects in it.
This wall is definitely from the biology room. It's strange that no one stole them and put in a beautiful frame somewhere in the apartment in Moscow.
And here is the previously mentioned art by Pøbel. Judging by the department, it was a chemistry or physics classroom. In my time it was so, it is very convenient to demonstrate the experiments conducted on such a teacher's desk.
the inscription: "We have become those whom did not understand in childhood. North-Bitch."
There are a lot of abandoned textbooks, they gradually rot under the influence of dampness and tourist feet. Until 2014, they were kept here in almost perfect condition. With the visitors, not only fame has penetrated here, but also destruction.
You know what's the funniest thing. At one time, I studied from some of these textbooks. For example, this one- history of the ancient world. Nostalgia.
Someone left a whole poem on this door. I won't translate it, otherwise your brain will boil, nothing special. About happiness, sadness, butterflies and the frailty of being. Just so you understand that now almost every flat surface in this building is covered with this kind of "creativity".
The inscription "for cooked"
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On the first floor there is a school cafeteria. Very surprised that these wooden decorative panels are still in place.
plaque "Cabinet of History and Social Studies”
In the Soviet Union, they liked to paint the walls with characters from fairy tales, in my school there was something similar. And in the same place, next to the shop class.
Starting from the 3rd year of school, girls are taught cooking and household chores, and boys are taught carpentry, repair work and other men's things. I'm not sure that this is relevant now in our schools, but in 2005 it was still in effect.
And, as it turned out, in those years, boys were taught not only to do something with their hands, but also introduced to weapons.
This jar of strange liquid is in the wrong place. The plate says that this is a cell for the training machine-gun Kalashnikov. The echoes of World War II and the Cold War haunted the Soviet Union for a very long time
Here is a gym, was once… It is located in the basement and is very small. I don't know what they could be doing here. Probably classes were held here only in very bad weather. The rest of the time it was more convenient to do sports outdoors. If you're sweating a lot, you can take a shower.
By the way, it's not true that all of us here in the north love skiing, snowboarding and show ourselves well in these sports. In my class of 30 people, only me and another guy were engaged in biathlon. Everyone else hated skiing.
And finally, when leaving, take clothes from the wardrobe. Yes, this is a school wardrobe, and yes, it is normal that it is protected by a partition with a wire. You should have seen what a crowd of schoolchildren is capable of after the end of the lessons.
Unfortunately, wandering around the school then, I found not so much interesting. In just 7 years, from the treasury of the mothballed school, which is more than 60 years old, it turned into just a ruined building, with some graffiti.
I found a POST by the author who was here in 2011, just 5 years after conservation. Just look how many things were inside then and how well the interior was preserved.
This guy writes that in those days it was very difficult to get inside. Because the locals did not break the law and treated the building with respect, hoping that the school would still be opened, and immediately noticed any stranger who showed excessive interest in this building.
But then everything changed. Perhaps the popularity that this village received after the release of the film was useful, in general. Roads have become better, tourist infrastructure, earnings for locals. But for this school, it was the beginning of the end.