Photographer Danila Tkachenko traveled across Russia documenting the abandoned buildings, monuments and military craft of a once imagined utopia. His pictures of these snowbound relics look like possible sets for a Star Wars movie or images for a book by J. G. Ballard—Myths of the Near Future?

The photographs form part of his project Restricted Areas, which examines “the human impulse towards utopia, about our striving for perfection through technological progress.”

Any progress comes to its end earlier or later, what’s interesting for me is to witness what remains after.

Many of the places Danila photographed were until recently kept secret, having never appeared on any maps or public records.

Restricted Areas won Danila top prize at CENTER’s Director’s Choice Award earlier this year. See more of Danila’s work here.
 

 

Airplane – amphibia with vertical take-off VVA14. The USSR built only two of them in 1976, one of which has crashed during transportation.

Former mining town which has been closed and made a bombing trial field. The building on the photo shows the cultural center, one of the objects for bombing.

Deserted observatory.

The world’s largest diesel submarine.

Headquarters of Communist Party.

“Bulgaria” ship lifted from underwater, 122 people drowned on it.

Sarcophagus over a closed shaft which is 4 km deep – was one of the deepest scientific shafts in the world at the time.

Monument to the Conquerors of Space. The rocket on top was made according to the design of German V-2 missile.

Ruins of experimental laser system “ZET”.

Excavator on a closed quarry.

Ground station for spacecraft control.

Memorial on a deserted nuclear station.

 
H/T the Guardian.