Exploring a Long-Abandoned Crematorium

This article originally appeared on VICE Romania

Less than one percent of Romanians are cremated after they die. In fact, cremations in Romania are so rare that there’s only one working crematorium in the capital city of Bucharest – a city with a population of more than two million. For comparison, London – with a population of 8.7 million – has more than 20.

Religion plays a big part in this. More than 80 percent of Romanians are Christian Orthodox, and that faith doesn’t encourage cremation. According to its doctrine, the body should be preserved so it can be resurrected on the day of the Last Judgment, with some in the church even calling cremation a pagan ritual.

Unlike most Romanians, 30-year-old photographer Mihai Petre grew up in a neighbourhood that had a crematorium at the heart of its community. Built in 1928, Cenusa was one of the oldest facilities in the Balkans, and it carried out cremations until it closed in 2002. I met with Mihai to explore this now derelict building, which is central to his childhood memories.

“Growing up, my neighbourhood was covered by the smoke of this place, so I’ve always been curious about it,” Mihai told me as we walked around. He explained that the children raised around Cenusa told each other ghost stories about secret tunnels and all the scary things that were supposed to go on in the facility. “There were a lot of urban legends about it,” Mihai said, “but when we went to check it out now and then, all we’d find were spiders and dust.”

Since its closing, Cenusa has been left abandoned. A waste, if you ask Mihai. “Every decorative piece you see here has its own meaning, and a lot of them were not used to alleviate mourners’ grief, but to make it even stronger.” He hopes the local government will find a way to preserve it, by renovating the place and turning it in a museum.

Scroll down for more of Mihai Petre’s photos of the inside of Cenusa crematorium.