Abandoned amusement park

The contrast between abandoned man-made stuff and the unstoppably growing nature fascinates me to no end. At an abandoned playground you get the added aspect of missing joy and childrens’ play — eerie, spooky, yet intriguing.

In Scandinavia, and in Sweden especially, there was a boom of amusement and theme parks during the 80s. Strong competition combined with the economic collapse in the 90s, caused many of these to be shut down. Often, the closed parks were left as they were — perhaps the owners were hoping to re-establish the parks, or maybe the financial strain of disassembling the constructions was discouraging. Nature has since been taking over many of these places, with locals protesting because of the hazard these derelict constructions present. I am quite careful in analyzing the state of each jungle gym and other constructions before climbing onto them (or not)! During my weekend in Sweden with two photographer friends I visited the park pictured below.

Pictures are taken with Sweet 35 and Edge 80; please click thumbnails to view larger:

Added later: From what I’ve heard, the jungle gyms in this place have been taken down since our visit, but the huge water slide still remains.