What a 200-year-old glass factory looks like now, which supplied many research institutes in the Soviet Union

Decay and devastation. Glass tubes are scattered in heaps in crumbling cases and even on the street. Most of the buildings have no windows or doors, but some are still boarded up. And during an unauthorized walk through the territory, they accidentally met an employee who said that the plant was still operating.

We really wanted to look at the old buildings of the plant and find deposits of lump glass, which, according to the testimony of those who climbed earlier, is there (well, and other glass at the same time).

Glass Druzhnogorka

In 1801, the enterprising and wealthy German Riting founded a glass factory not far from St. Petersburg, and a rather large settlement grew up around it.

The village was rich with its own school and street lighting, and the plant itself received various awards at exhibitions. But what can I say, Karl Bulla himself came to photograph the plant, and this is already an indicator of status and level.

Glass factory in the USSR

After the revolution and nationalization, the plant was developed until the 1980s. He was one of the main suppliers of chemical and laboratory glassware to various research institutes. Not only cones were made here, but also pharmaceutical dishes and glasses for quartz lamps. But even before the 1990s and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the plant began to "hand over".

After the nineties, he passed into private hands, and by 2005 he was bankrupt. But, as it turns out, it has not completely disappeared.

2021 year. Behind Lenin is the same Hardware Shop as in the picture of K. Bulla

I managed to visit the territory of the plant in the spring of 2021. It is conditionally guarded, and even (like) one of those who climbed into the building was caught and handed over to the police.

Abandoned glass factory now

In reality, only the entrance gates are guarded, and there is no fence around the perimeter. I propose to take a walk through the buildings that were available for inspection, and at the same time I will tell you where we finally found glass stones (not at all where we expected).

Let's start with Hardware. This old case attracts attention both externally and internally. The main entrance is boarded up, but there are enough zalazov, what's inside?

Shabby walls, scary stairs, but everything is pretty strong and, despite the devastation, beautiful.

In some places on the ground floor there is a real trash heap - here are broken glass and boxes with pharmaceutical vials, glass stoppers for bottles and even whole ribbons of uncut sponges for washing dishes.

But on the second floor there are ballrooms, each with its own atmosphere (thanks to glass blocks).

There are also remains of glass products on the second floor. Lots of piles of glass tubes and something else.

We were surprised by the strange constructions in one of the halls of the Equipment Department. Whether it is a fire extinguishing system, or something else, it is not clear. But there are watering cans in the ceiling all over the room.

And the windows overlook the entire territory of the plant. From here, by the way, it was clear that there are employees here, and a little later it turns out that the yellow building on the right is the operating part of the plant.

Factory view. The yellow building, as it turns out later, is the current building of the plant.

After examining the equipment, we go further. Somewhere else there must be magical green corridors, mountains of bubbles and the coveted lumps of glass.

On the way, we meet a young fellow employee, who clearly does not care about us, and we decide to ask him about the security. The guy recommends not to go into some buildings and not to get caught by the guards.