An old bobsleigh track, a boat graveyard, a used-to-be famous sanatorium, ghost towns, ruins of palaces and estates as well as other curious spots are embraced by this list.
When visiting abandoned places, we recommend you to be careful and treat other people’s property well.
The Northern Forts of Liepaja are a part of the city fortress built at the beginning of the 20th century to protect the local naval base.
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In November 1908, its construction was recognized as a strategic mistake and the fortress was destroyed. Until 1994, this territory was restricted for visitors and tourists, but since them, the remains of the forts can be attended free of charge at any time.
Irbene is an abandoned military town near Ventspils.
In Soviet times, it was Inhabited by the workers of the “Zvezda” secret radar center and featured its own cultural centre, school and post office.
In the nineties, all the workers left the city, and the station was placed at the disposal of the Institute of Engineering Sciences of Ventspils University College.
The city itself is completely neglected. Here you can walk through empty school rooms or check out the apartments where Soviet officers once lived.
If you like the thrilling atmosphere of abandoned places, we recommend to take a look at Irbene on the way to Ventspils or its famous telescope.
The cemetery dates back to the 1960s when the Soviet army decided to limit fishing in the coastal area. This led to a decrease in the population in the villages. Many boats were abandoned in the coastal dunes; now they are gradually growing into the woods.
“Bridge to Nowhere” appeared in 1940, during the construction of the Tukums – Kuldiga railway line. But the branch was never completed, and the bridge remained alone in the middle of the field.
In 2008, the bridge was included in the European list of “Unusual Cultural Heritage”.
The once popular healing spa with a sulfur spring is now in a completely neglected state.
Featuring a beautiful old park, a picturesque stream and abandoned colourful buildings with broken windows, this place is popular among lovers of abandoned places and local teenagers.
The main building used to host the baths, and still has some remains of showers and pools. Its windows are currently boarded up, with darkness reigning inside.
The toboggan run was built in 1978 at the initiative of the famous Latvian luge, Roland Upatnieks. It is located near the sports gymnasium in Murjani on the banks of the Loya River.
Now the track has some defects, but a bunch of old simulators and other sports equipment has been preserved on the territory.
This is an abandoned mill of the 19th century built at the eponymous river Vaive. The mill dam got broken due to a flood in 1998, and since then, a waterfall always keeps flowing at the floodgates.
In the neighborhood, you will find picturesque natural places: small caves, rocks and woods.
Vecgulbene Manor, or White Castle, decorated with numerous sculptures and artistic ornaments, is an architectural monument of national importance built in the style of a Roman villa in 1763. Later, in 1859, Heinrich Johann Gottlieb von Wolff added side buildings, a four-story tower with an observation deck and a small two-storey tower.
White Palace burned down in 1904. During the fire, most of the building, the interior and the high tower were almost completely destroyed. Once the palace was partially restored, it was destroyed again during the Second World War.
The abandoned missile base is a former Soviet Army facility with empty buildings, hangars, underground bunkers, huge warehouses and launch pads. The place is also unique in terms of hosting a particular dismantled monument: the head of Lenin. In Soviet times, it was installed on the central square in Aluksne.
Guided tours are regularly organized on the base territory.
Lazberg Manor (or Fianden) was first mentioned in the 16th century. At that time, the knight Buhol was its owner; in 1798, Baron Johann Gottlieb von Wolf bought the estate.
In the 1950s, the castle housed a cultural center, and later – apartments and a warehouse.
The building is now badly damaged; the tower and a small part of the facade have survived.
Kuprava is the smallest Latvian parish resided by 405 declared residents in 2015. In fact, their number is even smaller, since people actually do not live here.
When the country gained independence in 1992, the local pipe plant closed. Because of this, most of the residents faced firing and were forced to leave their city.
Nowadays, not only the plant is in a dilapidated state, but also many residential buildings. That is why Kuprava is known as a ghost town.
Preili Manor Complex with one of the most fabulous city parks in Latvia is an architectural monument of national importance.
This park acquired the form of a romantic landscape garden in the middle of the 19th century. Previously, there were many more outbuildings, sculptures, flower bridges, tea houses and gazebos with exquisite furniture.
Now, on the bank of one of the ponds, in the center of the park, you can see the ruins of a neo-Gothic stable.
In addition to the stable and the castle, a gate with pointed arches, a goalkeeper’s house and a chapel have survived till nowadays. The castle itself was restored not so long ago, in 2015. To this day, renovations are being conducted there.
This asymmetrical castle with turrets, a small balcony with columns, a distinctive staircase and roof structures is called one of the most beautiful manors in Latvia built in the 19th century. It just can’t help but attract attention, intertwining elements of the Renaissance, Classicism and the Middle Ages, creating a unique ensemble.
The castle was built in 1890 – 1892, according to the project of the chief architect of Daugavpils, Wilhelm Neumann, and used to belong to August von Etingen.
Unfortunately, the interior inside the castle has not been preserved, and the outbuildings and auxiliary buildings are abandoned.
Access to the castle may be prohibited as the castle is located on the territory of an orphanage.
Material prepared by Juliana Iljina (Facebook: Places to travel in Baltic States; Instagram: jusjka)
