Scattered across East Germany are countless abandoned Kulturhäuser, guesthouses, and ballrooms silent witnesses to the social life of the former GDR/DDR. These buildings once formed the beating heart of towns and villages, where people gathered for theater, dance evenings, weddings, political meetings, and film screenings. Often combined with restaurants or even bowling alleys, they served as places of both leisure and ideological education.

Most built between the 1950s and 1970s, with architecture ranging from classical to functional socialist styles, these venues exuded a certain grandeur. Think richly decorated ballrooms with chandeliers, wooden paneling, and pastel-colored ornaments. But after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, this cultural network lost its purpose. Many of these buildings fell into disrepair, were closed down, or simply forgotten.