Don't Forget Your Past

February 24, 2013 8:57 AM

Photos of 30 Beautiful Abandoned Places and Modern Ruins. Each place identified below.

1. The Valley of the Mills, Sorrento Italy
2. Eilean Donan Castle, Scotland
3. Hudson River State Hospital, New York
4. Tunnel of Love, Klevens, Ukraine
5. Cooling Plant, Belgium
6. Point of Ayr Lighthouse, Wales
7. Supermarkert, Goražde, Bosnia
8. The Hotel del Salto, Tequendama
9. House of the Communist Party on Mount Buzludzha, Bulgaria
10. Keelung City, Taiwan
11. Port Richmond Power Station, PA
12. Curon Venosta, Reschensee, Italy
13. Wreck of the Mar Sem Fin, Ardley Bay, Antartica
14. Christ of the Abyss statue, Malta
15. Blue Ceiling (likely Chateau de Noisy, France)
16. Boy's Reform School, Nova Scotia
17, Communication Station, Mt. Kissavos, Greece
18. City Methodist Church, Gary Indiana
19. Herdman's mill, Northern Ireland
20. Norwich State Hospital, CT
21. City Hall Subway Stop NYC
22. Wreck of the Arbutus, Dry Tortuga, FL
23. Nara Dreamland, Japan
24. St Dunstan-in-the-East Church, London
25. Saint Etienne le Vieux, France
26. Villers-la-Ville Abbey, Belgium
27. Buchanan Castle, Scotland
28. Lavoir à Charbon Factory, France
29. Château Clochard, France
30. Chemin de fer de Petite Ceinture Railroad, France
31. Lawndale Theater, Chicago
32. Villa Amélie, France
33. Roller coaster (likely Chippewa Lake Amusement Park, Ohio)

More ruins at: Remains of a past grandeur on Flickr
Forgotten Places on Pinterest
Abandoned Porn on Tumblr

posted by Potomac Avenue (24 comments total)

If I identified any incorrectly please let me know!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:58 AM on February 24 [1 favorite]

The yacht in Antarctica was the most chilling (pun not intended) photo. The underwater statue of Jesus with the starfish stigmata (left hand only) was pretty cool as well.

I love the abandoned rollers coasters as well.

Nice post
posted by EJXD2 at 9:07 AM on February 24

This is a terrific post, thanks for taking the time to put it together.
posted by codacorolla at 9:07 AM on February 24

The stream through St. Etienne le Vieux looks photoshopped. The google satellite view of the church does not show a stream near the church.
posted by stargell at 9:21 AM on February 24 [1 favorite]

Not sure what you mean - I'm not seeing a stream in the photos, either, stargell.
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:31 AM on February 24

stargell, looks like you're right. The photographer on Pinterest says: "A collage from 4 photos (taken by me, thats a fact :) ) and put together in Photoshop to create an ultimate abandonned place, which will be taken over by nature and the next playfull generation; children."
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:32 AM on February 24 [1 favorite]

Ah, I see - the numbered photos here are different from the photos in the main link, and the St Etienne in the main link is the composite/shopped one.
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:39 AM on February 24

Holey trinity

Well, it's abandoned--you've got to expect that.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:46 AM on February 24 [1 favorite]

These are prettier than the average Tumblr set of ruinporn photos, and have a lot more churches. A lot of church architects would be rolling over in their graves, except they are in Heaven composing archly humorous songs on their harps about the Follies of Man.

Most of these (power plants excluded) derive their beauty from the greenery slowly overtaking them. So I would say they are as much about teleology as entropy, had teleology not been declared dead 400 years ago. Hey! Anybody got a photo of teleology? It must look pretty ripe.
posted by kozad at 9:53 AM on February 24 [2 favorites]

Wow, these are beautiful. I've always had a huge thing for ruins and abandoned places, and there are several here that I'd never heard of before. Thanks for posting!
posted by Jelly at 9:59 AM on February 24

Many of these are lovely, but I really wish someone would uninvent fake-HDR Photoshop/Lightroom filters.
posted by dersins at 10:09 AM on February 24 [3 favorites]

There are great.

I expect the Tomb Raider and Uncharted development houses have sent out their emergency response teams to be the first to get these into games.
posted by biffa at 10:24 AM on February 24

Excellent post, and thanks for linking that Pinterest. I'm always looking for interesting things to follow.
posted by immlass at 10:44 AM on February 24

If you'd like to know how things are running over in Gary, Indiana / City Methodist Church these days:

Side note: Starting in late August 2012, if you called city hall asking about photographing in Gary, you were informed that there is a $50 per person fee to photograph any abandoned building in Gary. Yes, $50 per person. As of today (10-26-2012) nobody in Gary seems to know how long this fee is good for (A day? A week? A year?) or even where to pay it. City hall employees tell me that, it IS being enforced, and police have been instructed to arrest anyone without the permit. However, I have not been able to verify this. I have called several times. Some people state there is a fee, others say there is not, and others do not know.

posted by NolanRyanHatesMatches at 10:45 AM on February 24 [1 favorite]

This is a great post to wake up to. Thanks, Potomac Avenue.
posted by homunculus at 11:19 AM on February 24

I appreciate the post, but I dunno. I used to really like urban ruins, but the older I get, the more many of these photos seem like images of heartbreak and waste. I imagine things like how the last minister and his / her former parishioners must feel about having had to give up on maintaining that church, and how much poverty must exist in the community for them to have had to make that decision. If the river got so polluted that the hotel was abandoned, many regular people in the area must be suffering from polluted water; what a shame that the water quality wasn't protected. I want whoever built that power plant to dismantle it and clean up any dangerous contamination that exists there. Maybe I'm overly sentimental today, but these make me think about who gets to abandon properties and just walk away from problems, and who doesn't, and what it's like to be part of the group that remains.
posted by salvia at 11:29 AM on February 24 [9 favorites]

I found the "Supermarkert, Goražde, Bosnia" to be the spookiest, because artillery shells.
posted by benito.strauss at 11:40 AM on February 24 [1 favorite]

Man I am usually pretty jaded about this sort of thing but a lot of these places are genuinely gorgeous-looking. Wonderful.
posted by Scientist at 4:22 PM on February 24

I'd love to ride or walk through the wonderful green tunnel and visit the Point of Ayr. I suppose sleeping overnight in the lighthouse is out of the question?

Apparently, you could purchase it and sleep there, but on second thought, maybe not.
posted by BlueHorse at 4:52 PM on February 24

Wow.

The "eyes" in this one must be on purpose.

Just image walking towards that altar with guilt in your heart, even decades after the belief has died.

Would be an epic design destination for any top tier western first person RPG.
posted by porpoise at 9:42 PM on February 24

Eilean Donan is neither abandoned nor ruined. The current castle was rebuilt on the ruins of the old. I can say this with some certainty as my lineage is Clan Macrae.
posted by Molesome at 3:56 AM on February 25

St. Dunstan's is an amazing place. Steps from the Tower of London, hemmed in by modern office buildings, is a bombed out church, left as a reminder of inhumanity.
posted by OHSnap at 5:49 AM on February 25

I've been to Eilean Donan. It's very nice, but I've certainly been to more atmospheric places in Scotland.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:20 AM on February 25

It's amazing to think the Valley of Mills is actually right in the middle of Sorrento!
posted by twamoran at 8:14 AM on March 19