petrila, a town about halfway between bucharest and the serbian border, was a mining town until 2015. according to one article, petrila’s mine had been in operation for 156 years, and without the mine, there is no significant economic activity in the town at all.

naturally, photos like this look better in black-and-white.

from the looks of it, parts of the mining operating had been left to fall apart for longer than a year, but who knows.

for the former miners, life goes on. these guys aren’t sitting alone at home at 10 on a friday morning.