What used to be a place of fun and excitement, with more than 600,000 visitors each year enjoying the various indoor and outdoor pools, is now a vandalized urban ruin, full of graffiti and rats.
Blub, the abbreviation for Berliner Luft und Badeparadies (Berlin Air and Bathing Paradise), opened in February 1985 in the Neukölln district of Berlin, quickly gained national attention for being one of the most attractive recreational centers in Germany.
Back in the 90’s, Blub used to be one of the coolest water parks of West Berlin Photo Credit
Bulb was made with high investments Photo Credit
It opened in 1985 at the cost of over 40 million Deutschmark Photo Credit
This place was filled with waterslides, fountains, white-water canal, a sauna garden, and a fitness center Photo Credit
It covers an area of 35,000 square meters Photo Credit
The center used to attract around 600,000 visitors per year Photo Credit
The park was filled with fountains, waterslides (including one 120-meter “Great Slide”), a sauna garden, whirlpool, a water canal, a sauna garden, and it became one of the most beautiful recreational areas in West Berlin.
However, this 35,000 square meters bathing paradise was cursed by its location. It was built just 100 feet from the Teltow Canal, and presumably, a rat infestation led to its closure by the authorities.
It is said that he water park was cursed Photo Credit
The number of visitors has drastically declined Photo Credit
It closed after being infested by rats which entered through the nearby Teltow Canal Photo Credit
Left to rats and graffiti since its closure in 2005 Photo Credit
The site is planned to be redeveloped Photo Credit
By the end of 2020, this place will be gone forever Photo Credit
The pool area closed in 2005, and the “Al-Andalus” sauna facilities stayed open for a few more years, but in 2012, after the number of visitors started to drop, everything was closed down. Over the next years, there had been several fires, and the last one was in 2016 destroying parts of the buildings which made the place completely inaccessible and unsafe.
Today the site is owned by a German investor group called H-Group and their plan is to demolish the entire place and build over 400 luxury apartments.