Säter Asylum, Sweden September 2012

The Asylum is part of a live hospital site in Säter, with a 5 meter high wall surrounding the gardens behind, after a few attempts and still no luck we decided to look elsewhere and hey presto another entrance point and we were in. After a while inside this lovely building we heard a womans voice saying "Jag kan här röster, finns det någon där" ('i can here voices, theres someone in there'), Tassadar decided to try his Swedish and explained in half English and half Swedish that we were here taking pictures of a beautiful building, and the woman left us too it.

History

Säters hospital opended in 1912, there were 37 buildings and space for 830 mentally ill patients.

The "permanent/closed pavilion" was created for particularly challenging patients from all over the country (Sweden). There was room for 27 patients who were cared for by 16 nurses. The term "permanent/closed pavilion" meant that it was escape proof, including barred windows and walled exercise yards. In addition, there was increased surveillance.

1980: The Swedish mental hospitals begin to close down. The term "permanent/closed pavilion" is changed to "special section". 1989: Säters permanent pavilion/special section was closed down