Elefanten (“The Elephant”) is the code name for the main civil defence bunker, which used to serve Stockholm and Sollentuna region, a unique time capsule from the cold war era. It was built to protect against a strike with conventional, nuclear or chemical weapons, and could accommodate up to 200 civil servants, required to keep the city of Stockholm running in the event of a major catastrophe.
Elefanten civil defence bunker
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Norra länken tunnels
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Norra Länken is a motorway tunnel between Karlberg and Ropsten area in Stockholm. The major part of the tunnel between Norrtull and Ropsten is still under construction, planned to be opened by the year 2015. Fortunately, someone left a door open, so let’s have a look inside!
The last shipyard in Stockholm
Beckholmen (Pitch island) in the middle of Stockholm is the last trace of the city’s once booming shipping industry. The small island used to be home to numerous tar boileries – one of Sweden’s primary export goods until 19th century, when Russia captured the Finnish part of Sweden leading to a serious shortage of raw materials. The industrial revolution with its steamships saved the day: a new shipyard was built here, soon joined by dry docks, large cranes and a prohibited military area.
Posted in feature, travel, urban exploration
Tagged abandoned, Beckholmen, Stockholm, Sweden, tunnels
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Christiania
“Christiania? It’s not what it used to be. You should go explore Nyhavn instead, they’ve got great beer there. Or take some photos of the Little Mermaid – most people seem to like it. Christiania is different now, and anyways, this time of day there are probably just cops there. Walking in pairs.
I had this nagging feeling of stumbling upon a big conspiracy, with people doing their best to stop me from exposing some deep, dark Danish secret. The sheer thought of Danes having dark secrets – apart from pastry recipes – would’ve seemed laughable just before I arrived to Copenhagen. I wasn’t so sure about that anymore. The young local software developer I stopped outside Copenhagen IT University had already spent five minutes trying to convince me to make a U-turn. It did sound like he knew what he was talking about.
Climbing to the top of Victoria Tower
Scandic Victoria Tower is a new high rise building in Stockholm area. The T-shaped tower is used as a hotel, which makes it the highest one in Scandinavia. It was built in Kista, the Silicone Valley of Sweden just outside Stockholm. Most major IT companies have an office in this area. The majority of all buildings in Kista used to be owned by Ericsson – but this has now changed, many offices are overtaken by IT startups and direct competitors such as Huawei. Evil tongues claim that the new tower was built to please business people from Asia: living in small buildings is considered to be below their dignity. Be it as it may, the local Swedish Manhattan has a grand total of two skyscrapers now.
Eriksdal tunnel
1930:s were turbulent times. It was the decade of The Great Depression; Nazism was on the rise, mass executions initiated by Stalin were taking place in Soviet Union and Gandhi embarked on his second public fast. Sweden was hit hard by the financial crisis, the country struggled to contain poverty and social unrest. Efforts were made to reform the welfare and criminal justice system, and big steps were taken towards the introduction of a public school and healthcare system. In 1937, same year as the Hindenburg disaster, Södersjukhuset hospital was built on top of one of the highest mountains in Stockholm, with a nice view over lake Mälaren. It became the biggest hospital in Scandinavia, and the largest building in Sweden at the time. The hospital had its own water pumps: city water system didn’t have enough pressure to deliver water all the way to the top of the mountain.
