Sochi's Pre-Olympic Sanatoriums • Lazer Horse

Sochi’s Pre-Olympic Sanatoriums

On November 30, 2014 by Tim Newman

Before the Olympics rocked up in Sochi and changed it for good, but not necessarily for the better, it was a bustling holiday destination. For decades Sochi had been the place to go if you had a bit of cash in your pocket and a penchant for beach bumming.

Sochi was also the place to go if you needed a little rest and recuperation. The so-called sanatoriums were the perfect location to ease your troubled anatomy and rest your lumbering limbs.

Photographer Rob Honstra and one of his buddies, Arnold van Bruggen, decided to check themselves into one of the largest of these sanatoriums – Metallurg. Honstra faked a jippy knee and Bruggen a heart condition. They spent some time in the faded but still superfluously grand Stalin-era building and took photos whilst they “healed”.

For years Metallurg and the other sanatoriums in the Sochi area have been wrapping their arms around local metal workers, feeding them sour cream dishes and lifting them briefly from the everyday grind. The photos below look dated, not just because of the decor and haircuts, there’s a kind of lonely, faded simplicity to them that harks back to the 50’s somehow, but all were taken in 2008/9.

Click here for Honstra’s official site…