A classic Soviet-era sanatorium complex on the riverbank in Mykolaiv, best known online for its eerily empty indoor pool with greenish water, cascading features and stark tiled surfaces, yet the entire location carries a deep, nostalgic liminality that extends far beyond the pool itself.
Built in the late 1980s by the local shipbuilding plant, Sanatorium Ingul sits at the confluence of the Southern Bug and Ingul rivers in a quiet park-like zone of the city. The complex includes a nine-storey residential block, treatment buildings, a dining hall, assembly hall, and outdoor grounds. The interiors retain much of their original late-Soviet institutional character: functional corridors, dated finishes, soft institutional lighting, and a quiet, slightly time-stopped atmosphere that many visitors find both calming and unsettling. The pool that made this location famous amongst liminal enthusiasts, is a therapeutic indoor bathing facility. When empty or sparsely occupied, its greenish water, uniform tiles, and cascading water features create one of the most recognisable real-world poolroom / liminal images on the internet.
Key features include:
- The iconic indoor poolroom with cascading waterfalls
- Late-Soviet modernist architecture (nine-storey main block + treatment facilities)
- Long institutional corridors and dated interior finishes
- Strong nostalgic, slightly eerie atmosphere throughout the complex
Photo credits: https://yandex.com/maps/org/sanatory_ingul/1062699381/?ll=31.996795%2C46.993457&z=16 , https://www.reddit.com/r/LiminalSpace/comments/1brw1ce/sanatorium_ingul/
