USSR Mountain Hospital, Georgia

USSR Mountain Hospital is a derelict medical complex in rural Georgia. Once this institute served hundreds of patients; today it stands abandoned and falling into ruin. Entering the hospital feels like travelling back in time and exploring the corridors of a USSR hospital.

I visited this hospital in 2022 during my Georgia-Armenia road trip.

A brief history of the USSR Mountain Hospital

The Mountain Hospital was constructed as part of the Soviet-era health care planning. This is quite a large hospital that would serve several towns in the surrounding region.

A newer, smaller hospital replaced the ageing Mountain Hospital around 10 years ago. Staff then transferred patients to the new site, abandoning this old hospital.

Exploring inside an abandoned Soviet-Era hospital

Reception area and USSR records room

A brightly lit reception holds a bench of four chairs that acts as a tiny waiting room. Behind the reception desk in the private staff area are shelves and boxes of patient records. Digging through some of the older collections reveals USSR‑era medical records from the 1980s. These are all stamped Минздрав СССР (Ministry of Health of the USSR). Many of these documents are labelled as ВСТОРИЯ РАЗВИТИЯ РЕБЕНКА, Child Development History.

Ruined operating theatre and wards

Unfortunately, a combination of looting and vandalism has nearly emptied the hospital. There are the remains of an operating theatre, unfortunately stripped of equipment. A dusty cardboard box in the corner still reads “Made in USSR”.

In the adjoining wards, there are many baby cribs of simple design with straight metal frames. Their style is reminiscent of cribs seen in old Soviet hospitals and in abandoned zones such as Pripyat. In some rooms these stand relatively neatly (and photogenically); in others they are in a jumbled pile.

Elsewhere in the hospital one room featured rows of bench seating, facing a wide desk at the front. The layout feels like this may have been an informal chapel or something similar.

Basement Murals and Reliefs

Lastly, the basement held the most unusual surprise and some interesting decorative murals and wall reliefs. Upon entering the space, there is an eye-catching golden and cobalt-blue starburst relief dominating one wall.

Adjacent lies a large mural in an ornate gold relief frame. The scene is an autumnal forest scene with apple trees heavy with fruit, their leaves turning golden. Hidden among the foliage are two men and two women. One woman holds a new-born baby; the other holds an apple. In the centre of this scene, a diamond-shaped gold frame surrounds a black void. Inside it, a skull. The combination feels symbolic, likely referencing Adam and Eve and the garden of temptation, with darker undertones.