Urban Exploration – Heavy Machinery Plant – Cluj-Napoca

This plant has been created in 1970, during the most prolific years of the communist regime in Romania. It put the basis for a then state of the art factory producing energy oriented equipments: household boilers, industrial boilers, equipments for thermal centrals…

From 1976 it was extended its domain to metallurgic tools for iron casting foundries, shortly followed by steel foundries and the production of tools allowing hot steel manipulation and casting. Meanwhile, the whole site kept being modernised with internal railways, production of pure oxygen, laboratories for mechanical and chemical tests, mechanical presses for car parts casting, hydraulics engineering…

In 1985 around 8000 employees were working in this factory. After the fall of the communist regime, the needs of heavy machinery felt down dramatically, the plants started to close one after another and the factory got split in 8 different companies. In 2002, only 617 employees were still working there, leaving a big part of the site totally empty.

Of course, the whole site is not empty, there are still companies running their business there. But if has become a highly recommended spot for urban exploration. Even if it has been abandoned quite a long time ago, and despite the obvious traces of decay, the building has been kept quite clean. I can’t wait to come back, and explore the remaining factory that are waiting to have some activity again, even if it’s just photography 😉

The forgotten factory. Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 2017.

There’s nothing like a hall that is almost 200 meters long…

The forgotten factory. Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 2017.

…by 30 meters high.

The forgotten factory. Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 2017.

The dismantling left some scars, and a few victims.

The forgotten factory. Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 2017.

On the right, the initial hall. On the left, the extension built in the mid 80’s.

The forgotten factory. Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 2017.

The control center for cranes and railways activities.

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The forgotten factory. Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 2017.

A view of the extension.

The forgotten factory. Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 2017.

Behind, the second hall of the complex. Another urban exploration target 😉

The forgotten factory. Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 2017.

The heavy lifting cranes. The can move freely across the whole hall. Only one remains.

The forgotten factory. Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 2017.

Close up of the control center.

The forgotten factory. Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 2017.

The showers. “Keep it clean” is painted on the wall. Quite an irony.

The forgotten factory. Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 2017.

Time to leave for today, but for sure I’ll be back. There is still a lot to explore!

That’s it for this first urban exploration photo essay. Keep in touch for more updates if you love old abandoned buildings, rust and decay!

All the photos in this essay are available as signed, limited edition prints with certificate of authenticity, printed on high quality Hahnemühle paper. Go to the shop, or contact me for a quote!