Urban explorers are an international community of anonymous artists who seek out abandoned structures

The teacher's specialist subject is evident as a frogs, animal hearts and snake eggs sit preserved in glass jars

The classroom is a frozen in time as children's desks, textbooks and blackboard chalk remain intact and untouched

Socialist propaganda and iconography was found hidden inside leather-bound folders in the basement and attic

The New Zealand urban explorer photographer traveled through sites of importance to Bulgaria's socialist period

Village sources told the explorers that the school closed around the time of the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991


An International urban explorer has shared his stunning photographs of a Soviet-era biology classroom in Bulgaria - complete with jars filled with various body parts of dead animals - frozen in time.

The images, taken by an anonymous New Zealand photographer known as 'Gunner', show the classroom as it used to be in the country's communist era, with long-abandoned children's desks, science textbooks and blackboard chalk.

'I was kindly hosted by fellow explorer photographers in Bulgaria who took me to sites of importance to Bulgaria's socialist period over the course of two weeks, including the abandoned classroom,' Gunner told Daily Mail Australia.

Frozen in time: Frogs, animal hearts and snake eggs sit preserved in dusty glass jars by the classroom's window

Bird taxidermy: New Zealand urban-explorer photographer traveled through sites of importance to Bulgaria's socialist period

Abandoned: Village sources told the explorers that the Bulgarian school closed around the time of the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991

An old Bulgarian world map is found among other teaching aids inside the abandoned classroom

Animal biology: Gunner said he delighted in bringing each one out of its cupboard, staging it in the window and watching daylight shine through tinted alcohol'

An old gas mask is found in a dark cupboard in the abandoned Bulgarian classroom

Mushrooms: Fungi are preserved and used as a teaching display in the abandoned Bulgarian classroom

Gunner is part of an international community of anonymous artists who explore and document abandoned man-made structures.

'When we see a sign that says ‘Danger: Do Not Enter’, we understand that this is simply a shorthand way of saying ‘leaving protected zone: demonstrate personal accountability beyond this point.'

Village sources told the explorers that the Bulgarian school closed around the time of the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Frogs, snails, snake eggs, and animal hearts sit in preserved glass jars and act as clues as to what the classroom's specialist subject was.

'We delighted in bringing each one out of its cupboard, staging it in the window and watching daylight shine through tinted alcohol. Their fragility made me happy to have documented them before they vanished to demolition, vandalism or macabre theft,' Gunner said.

A Bulgarian historian who has explored other abandoned schools told Gunner to look for socialist iconography hidden in the basements and attics.

'According to the historian, teachers at this Bulgarian school were told to destroy all artifacts relating to the Soviet era, instead they stowed images of Lenin, the communist flag and other left-leaning iconography in the basement and in the attic.'

Gunner said there is a myth perpetrated in newspapers that explorers feel the environments 'as haunting, eerie, ghostly, but in reality, they are just exotic and stimulating landscapes in which to make visual art.'

'Leaving the classroom I felt a mixture of emotions, somber at the way Bulgarian society was visited by suffering and division both under fascism and socialism.

'Fascinated by the opportunity to document a slice of that history, and determined as an outsider to make no comment about preservation, restoration and heritage: Bulgaria's culture is Bulgaria's business,' Gunner said.

Human anatomy: A lifesize plastic model of a human torso was found in a room - sitting on top of a communist flag

Gunner claims in 1987, the teachers at this Bulgarian school were told to destroy all artifacts relating to the Soviet era

Gunner said he found socialist iconography hidden inside folders in the classroom cupboards, attic and basement

Rabbit anatomy: A model shows how children would be taught about the biological make-up

Artifacts: Bottles of mysterious powder remain inside the classroom and are labeled in Bulgarian

Cobwebbed poster: 'Socialist iconography was hidden inside folders in the classroom and attic and basement'

Apothecary: Lotions and potions used for experiments inside the classroom remain intact since the early 1990s

Biology: Dusty models of human torsos where also discovered inside the school

Experiments: Frogs and snails remain were found in test tubes. Photographer Gunner believes 'this teacher wanted her or his students to know their world and themselves'



