As we’re currently living through historically significant times, we thought we’d pay tribute to places that have been left behind in history, yet played a historically significant role, with the series, Abandoned Vienna.
Ok, so this abandoned location is not actually in Vienna, yet rather amongst the trees of the surrounding Wienerwald (translation: Viennese woods). Hiding away in the forests of the countryside near Vienna lies the remains of the Unterdambach Blindenheim (A home for the blind).
Constructed in 1996, this once state-of-the-art facility was built to accommodate blind Jewish people following World War 2.
The now abandoned site – featuring a chapel, a Kegelbahn (translation: bowling lanes), a library and a pool – was all designed to be a small self-enclosed town for the visually impaired.
With time, medical breakthroughs and a new, more inclusive approach to the differently-abled, the need for such a facility of this scale became void. Slowly, as residents passed away, or moved out, it began to shut down, one floor at a time. It finally closed its doors in 2014.
Today the massive building sits virtually empty, awaiting its next chapter in life. With a handful of rooms currently in use by religious groups, and a few mysterious residents residing in otherwise abandoned wings, the Blindenheim has become a centre of various local urban legends.
Want to explore the Blindenheim for yourself once the Coronavirus has left Austria to return to (some version of) normal? Contact moritz.
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