Tightly closed iron doors 10 centimeters thick that lead to the basement, equipment abandoned to the mercy of fate, personal and work belongings and medicines – this was the picture in an abandoned laboratory until 2015 and which was a branch of the Gromashevsky Institute of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases (was founded in 1896 with funds donated by Lazar Brodsky).
The latest data known to the public suggests that the main purpose of the laboratory was experiments on animals. The institute developed a cure for cancer, AIDS and other incurable diseases. To test the effectiveness of the drugs, laboratory workers infected animals with strains of viruses and after some time injected them with the next type of vaccine, hoping that it would help them survive.
It was quite scary inside the laboratory – most of the rooms were filled with metal cages where animals were kept, syringes and test tubes were lying on the floor, and the walls and ceiling were covered with mold and mildew. Also found in the attic were cages with hand-signed tags “AIDS” and “CANCER” and the date of infection and death of the test subjects. There are 2 doors in the basement: one is iron, which is hermetically sealed, and the other is ordinary wooden, but boarded up and with several barn padlocks.
The laboratory stopped functioning in the late 90s after a fire occurred there, when all the employees had to be evacuated, but the experimental animals were not, or the firefighters simply did not want to risk their lives for the sake of those who would die soon anyway. As of 2018, the former laboratory building has been completely renovated and now houses a medical facility.
Where was the abandoned laboratory?
Protasov Yar street, 23A