Ruins, destroyed and abandoned buildings, withered parks ... Sometimes, they attract much more than modern lifeless buildings. At least the fact that there was once life in the ruins. But time and weather did their job, and the old buildings did not have the same comfort. We suggest strolling through some of the most spectacular abandoned buildings.
1. Pidhirtsi Castle, Ukraine
The castle was built in the middle of the 17th century. The building was richly furnished, but all the luxury was destroyed during the First World War. However, something was saved by Roman Sangushko, who was the owner of the castle shortly before the war. Roman removed several valuable pieces of furniture from the castle and transported them to Brazil in 1936. The use of the Podgoretsky castle did not end there: after the Second World War, a tuberculosis sanatorium was located in the building. In 1956, a fire broke out that lasted 3 weeks and destroyed all inner beauty. The Lviv Art Gallery is trying to restore the castle, but no noticeable success has yet been observed.
2. Miranda Castle, Celle, Belgium
This castle was built in 1866 by an English architect. From the moment of construction until the Second World War, it was owned by the Lederke-Bofot family. Then the mansion was taken over by the Belgian railway company. And since 1991, the building has been empty.
3. Halcyon Hall, Millbrook, NY, USA
The mansion was built in 1890 as a hotel, but was closed already in 1901. However, the building was again in use after a few years: Bennett's school for girls moved there. For a while, students from wealthy families live in Halcyon Hall. Nevertheless, the school stopped developing due to the popularization of joint education. Since 1978, when the school went bankrupt, the house has not been used by anyone.
4. Lillesden Mansion, UK
The mansion was built by Edward Lloyd, a banker in the mid-19th century. The house was sold after World War I, becoming a public school for girls. But the school was also closed in 1999, and no one has been using the building for 16 years.
5. Bannerman Castle, New York, USA
And this mass was rebuilt by a Scotsman, Francis Bannerman in 1900. The castle became the vault that formed the basis of the Scotsman's business. And two years after his death, in 1918, an explosion occurred: 200 tons of ammunition detonated and, as a result, part of the building was destroyed. These are not all misadventures: in 1969, part of the roof and floors flared up and burned down. But even earlier, since 1950, the island is considered uninhabited: the ferry serving it sank during a storm. But that's not all. All that was left collapsed in 2009.
6. Manor in Muromtsevo, Russia
The estate was built by the architect Bortsov in the 19th century. The architect was the author of many French-style castles, but this manor is the most memorable.
7. Palace of Prince Said Hasim, Cairo, Egypt
The residence was created in 1899 by the architect Antonio Lazias. After a while, it was refurbished and became the best school for boys in the country. However, she suffered the same fate as the buildings described above: since 2004, no one has been using the mansion.
Miranda Castle, Celle, Belgium
These are naval fortifications located at the estuaries of the Thames and Mersey rivers that during World War II protected Britain from threats from the North Sea. Twenty-one towers are equipped with artillery pieces that shot down more than 22 German aircraft and 30 cruise missiles during the war. Since the 50s of the twentieth century, the forts have been abandoned - several attempts have been made to dismantle them, but these strange towers still stand off the coast of North Kent.
Hafodunos Hall Nursing Home
Hafodunos Hall is a once beautiful two-story neo-Gothic building with galleries and a spacious attic. Since the 40s of the twentieth century, it housed a women's boarding house, where young ladies were taught art, dance and housekeeping after the Second World War. Then, in the 70s, Hafodunos Hall was the last shelter for the elderly, but in 1993 the nursing home was disbanded, as the building no longer met sanitary and fire safety requirements. A fire broke out in it on October 13, 2004 - after that Hafodunos Hall was almost destroyed and completely abandoned.
Bodiam Castle
A real fairytale castle with round turrets, battlements and a drawbridge, located in the South East of England and built in the XIV century. Its founder is Edward Dalingridge, but since 1378, more than one owner has changed at the fortress. It is believed that this is one of the last true English castles that have survived to this day, however, Bodiam, although excursions are conducted there, is practically abandoned.
Ship SS Ayrfield
This is a forgotten vessel, located in Homebush Bay on the south bank of the Parramatta River, near Sydney, Australia. During World War II, the SS Ayrfield, built to transport coal in 1911 in Great Britain and reaching 80 meters in length, was used by the American troops as an ammunition transporter. It is not known how this happened, but the ship was abandoned, as a result, today it is something like a large artificial island.
Beijing "Wonderland"
Not far from the Chinese capital, there is another abandoned amusement park: its construction began in 1998, and it was assumed that Wonderland would become the largest entertainment center in Asia, but due to financial problems, the construction was soon “frozen”. They returned to it only in 2008, but, alas, the crisis broke out again, and as a result, almost 50 hectares are occupied by the unfinished princess castle and fabulous houses.
Yacht "Endless Sea"
Not so much the object itself as the photograph. Brrrr ... At the dacha of my parents, at one of the bridges over a tiny rivulet, a submerged boat lay under the shore. She was so creepy, but so attractive. That's why I liked this object. Underwater ghosts are generally my topic.
On April 7, 2012, a Brazilian research vessel with the beautiful name "Endless Sea" (Mar Sem Fim) sank in the waters of Maxwell Bay near the Shetland archipelago. The vessel, led by renowned journalist João Lara Mesquita, went to Antarctica to shoot a documentary, but got stuck in the ice and was eventually crushed by them. Fortunately, the TV presenter and four crew members were rescued by Chilean sailors, but the yacht went under water, where it remained until early 2013, when it was pulled from the bottom and towed to the dock for repairs.
Fishing hut
In the only alpine national park of Germany "Berchtesgaden", covering an area of \u200b\u200bover 210 km2 and included in the heritage of UNESCO, in the middle of the lake "lurked" a shaky fishing hut. It fits so organically into the local virgin natural landscape that it is difficult to imagine that this house was created by human hands.
Dutch island
Dutch Island is an island in the Chesapeake Bay (North America) that was once inhabited by humans, but is now completely deserted. The first inhabitants settled on it in the 1600s, and by the middle of the 19th century, the island was densely populated by peasants and fishermen, and by the beginning of the 20th century there were about 70 houses and 360 inhabitants, it had its own school, a church and even a baseball team. However, soon strong winds began to destroy buildings - the islanders were forced to move to the "mainland". And, in the end, in 1918 the last family left the island, and in 2010 the last building, built on the Dutch island back in 1888, collapsed.
Miranda Castle was built in 1866 by an English architect for the Ledekerke-Bofot family. The family lived there until World War II, when the mansion was taken over by the Belgian national railway company. It has been empty since 1991, in part because the owners refuse to hand it over to the municipality.
Bannerman Castle, New York, USA
Scottish immigrant Francis Bannerman bought the island in 1900 and built a castle there to store the ammunition that forms the backbone of his business. Two years after Bannerman's death in 1918, 200 tons of shells and gunpowder exploded, destroying a small portion of the building. Then, in 1969, part of the floors and roofs burned down in a fire. Since 1950, the island has been considered uninhabited because the ferry serving it sank during a storm. In 2009, the rest of the building collapsed.
And in pursuit ...
Glasgow also has a lot of spooky abandoned objects, for example, a lot of abandoned train stations. And kilometers of abandoned tunnels. One of the stations is located right in the botanical garden, in the prestigious area of \u200b\u200bthe city, and I walked by a thousand times and did not suspect that these trees with wire fencing are actually a hundred-year-old peron just below ground level. And another tunnel under the Clyde River, which was closed at the beginning of the last century due to the fact that it was even new, it was too creepy and people simply refused to use it. But two rotundas have survived at both ends of the tunnel, which are now something like eateries and restaurants.
Abandoned station in the botanical garden
Another commuter station, ground Possil station
Also in Glasgow there are many abandoned bridges or bridges that are hardly looked after.
The most famous in the city center, the bridge over which trees walk is the City Union Railway bridge 🙂 Recently we were driving past this bridge with my husband (right in front of it is the unfortunate pub that the helicopter fell on last week), and saw that the trees were removed from the bridge and it seems to be being restored.
In general, there are a lot of abandoned places in Glasgow. Only within a 10-minute walk from our current apartment there are a dozen of them - one school, kindergarten, an old mansion, a boarding house, again - a vacant lot with an indistinct structure in a video station or hangar. It will be necessary to go through and take pictures.
but the most luxurious place (why is it not in the rating ?? most likely because it is not mentioned on the Russian-speaking Internet), the abandoned mental hospital Gartloch Insane Asylum. When I was younger and childless, I really wanted to go and see. But on the forums they wrote that there is a strong security and they do not like anyone there, except for photographers with an official ID.
The hospital was opened in the first decade of the last century and worked until the end of the Second World War.
In his best years. Well, and a bunch of ruins of castles and estates ...
The destroyed once majestic buildings have their own charm. The façade falls into decay, the huge halls are home to insects and dust, and the elegant architecture is destroyed by time and weather. We offer you a selection of the most spectacular crumbling mansions.
(13 photos total)
1. Pidhirtsi Castle, Ukraine
This castle, built between 1635 and 1640, was once richly furnished, but during the First World War, soldiers destroyed all the luxury of the interior. Shortly before this, the castle passed into the ownership of Roman Sangushko, who took several valuable pieces of furniture from there and transported them to Brazil in 1936. After World War II, the Soviet Union used the castle as a tuberculosis sanatorium, but in 1956, the old building caught fire and burned for three weeks. As a result, all the beauty of the interior was lost. The Lviv Art Gallery is trying to restore the building, but so far no noticeable improvements have been observed.
3. Miranda Castle, Celle, Belgium
Miranda Castle was built in 1866 by an English architect for the Ledekerke-Bofot family. The family lived there until World War II, when the mansion was taken over by the Belgian national railway company. It has been empty since 1991, in part because the owners refuse to hand it over to the municipality.
5. Halcyon Hall, Millbrook, NY, USA
Originally, Halcyon Hall was built in 1890 as a luxury hotel, but it was closed already in 1901. However, the building took on a new lease of life when Bennett's Girls' School moved there a few years later, and the castle briefly became home to students from wealthy families. But with the popularization of coeducation, the school could not develop and went bankrupt in 1978. Since then, no one has been using the house.
6. Lillesden Mansion, UK
This mansion was built between 1853 and 1855 by a banker named Edward Lloyd. After World War I, the house was sold and became a public school for girls. It closed in 1999 and has not been used since then.
8. Bannerman Castle, New York, USA
Scottish immigrant Francis Bannerman bought the island in 1900 and built a castle there to store the ammunition that forms the backbone of his business. Two years after Bannerman's death in 1918, 200 tons of shells and gunpowder exploded, destroying a small portion of the building. Then, in 1969, part of the floors and roofs burned down in a fire. Since 1950, the island has been considered uninhabited because the ferry serving it sank during a storm. In 2009, the rest of the building collapsed.
9., Russia
The architect P. S. Bortsov built many castles in the French style in the 19th century, but the estate in Muromtsevo is considered the most memorable of them today.
And then, in Luxembourg, I managed to visit another castle - Vianden, which stood in ruins since the 19th century, but, thanks to the restoration work begun in the 1970s, is quite impressive.
Only it turns out that these castles are lucky. For there is a fairly large number of "ruins of the counts" that no one repairs, in which no one has lived for a long time, but still beautiful. (Of course, we are not talking about completely dead ruins, uninhabited a long time ago.)
And you think to yourself, oh, how did people build before, if even in this state these castles still have a soul and even in desolation they retain nobility and grace.
Chateau de Noisy, initially - castle miranda... It was built in 1866 near the town of Zell in the province of Namur, Belgium, by the English architect Milner for the wealthy and noble family Liedekerke-Beaufort, who lost their old family castle during the French Revolution and built a new one on the site of a small farm. The family owned the castle until World War II, during which it was given to an orphanage for the children of Belgian employees railroadHowever, in 1980, after a fire, it was returned to its previous owners. However, since then the Chateau de Noisy has remained empty. No one lives in the castle, the owners do not renovate it, but stubbornly refuse to sell it to the authorities of Zell, who are interested in restoring the beautiful local landmark. They say that Count Lidekerke-Beaufort is interested in negotiations only with the mention of an amount of 20 million euros or more, and this is on the terms of a "long lease" of the castle. The castle has a touch of Gothic mystery and mysticism: they say that the architect died as soon as he finished construction. Although the façade looks well-preserved, being in the castle is fraught with dangers, ceilings, steps and walls can collapse at any moment, floor coverings have long been absent.
On YouTube, you can also find videos filmed in the castle, for example, this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v\u003dSlAR74CcAfE
Hotel Rouge, also known as Chateau Rouge and Chateau Bambi (Hotel Rouge, Chateau Rouge, Chateau Bambi) in the municipality of Wanze in the province of Liege, Belgium. Once in its place there was supposedly a small monastery, built around 1100. In the eighteenth century, the estate changed hands many times, gradually the castle decayed and became completely unusable for living, and in 1885 it was finally demolished. A new building was erected in the Flemish Renaissance style, using some of the walls and fireplaces from the old castle. After the Second World War, it became a luxury hotel (according to another version - a nursing home), and since 2009 it has been empty, it is stated, "due to poor management." Apparently, it got its name from the red brick used in the construction.
But the interiors and exteriors are still luxurious, albeit with a touch of mold!
Lock Mesen (Kasteel van Mesen) , Lede, Belgium. Now this huge castle, with stables and greenhouses, is in the center of a vast public park, and is almost destroyed. The building was erected in 1749 by the Italian architect Giovanni Nicolo Servandoni for the Bette family (according to other sources - for the royal family, but this theory is a little doubtful for me. Please remind me who owned this part of modern Belgium in 1749? France? The royal family of Belgium, then appeared only in the 19th century ...) Apparently, after the French Revolution, the owners lost the estate, and the castle began to be used for the needs of the local industry - distilling alcohol, refining sugar, producing tobacco. In 1897, the castle was sold to a religious order who built an impressive neo-Gothic chapel there. After the First World War, the castle was turned into an elite girls' school, which existed from 1914 to 1970, where the daughters of the impoverished aristocracy and the military studied. The castle passed into the possession of the Belgian Ministry of Defense. In the end, neglect of the state of the huge ancient building led to its desolation. The fate of the castle has been hanging in the balance ever since. Too much money is required to restore it, or at least maintain it in its current state. Judging by the most recent blogs, which mention the Mesen castle, they plan to demolish it for the construction of a residential complex on this site ...
This part of the castle has almost been demolished ... 
Castle de Singes (Chateau de Singes), France. The name translates as "Castle of the Monkeys".
I did not find the exact location of the castle, built in the seventeenth century, there is only a mention of the fact that it is located in the uttermost rural wilderness and is, in a way, a rare gem for those who are keen on tourism associated with visiting abandoned historical monuments. The last owner could no longer maintain the building in good condition, but did not sell it, but lived there until his death in a single room, without central heating. Once upon a time horses were bred on the estate. The castle has been abandoned since 1976. 
The name of the castle, apparently, is somehow connected with the frescoes that miraculously survived in some rooms of the castle, which depict funny monkeys. 
Here you can watch a video about the trip to the castle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v\u003diSFXmEILksQ , filmed by some of the few tourists who have visited Château de Singes.
And in conclusion, I will say that there are VERY, very many such castles ... maybe because there are not so many rich people who are able and willing to take such treasures into "good hands". Absolutely no irony - the cost of such locks is estimated at millions of euros, and very often you need to spend no less on repairs. The state, be it France or Belgium, is also always in no hurry to act as a patron of the arts.
I also found links to absolutely stunning, no less beautiful and also abandoned castles in Russia and Ukraine. I wish some Abramovich would warm them up, eh? ...
5:00 am, the alarm goes off and the rays of the rising sun are on the horizon. Waking up in a tiny rented car somewhere in the south of France near a waterfall that could hardly ever compete with Niagara, I discarded the thought of continuing my sleep and completely concentrated on the goals of today, which should have gone down in the history of my relatively short life. And on this day I was to visit three abandoned French castles, whose prosperous days have long since sunk into oblivion. History is material - I realized this when I plunged headlong into the world of urban exploration - it is interesting to study a foreign country, but it is even more interesting to turn over long forgotten pages of the past. Gradually, object by object, the world of the abandoned began to open its doors wider to give me an amazing opportunity to visit a dimension where such a concept as time is completely absent. There are moments that, in principle, somehow justify my life. So the time has come to tell me about this wonderful day.
Photos and text by Marat Dupree 1. From the very morning a light rain began to drizzle, which, in general, was only in the hands of today, given its atmosphere. The first on the agenda was Castle Lumière - even at night, when I reached the small town, the headlights snatched out the empty eye sockets of the windows and outlined the silhouette of a sleeping giant. I really love visiting abandoned places in the early morning - so the opportunity to meet other lovers of the forgotten is minimal, and you can enjoy the atmosphere of the place alone, which everyone has their own. Descending from a rather steep hillock, I found myself at a building where an old Citroen, hidden from human eyes, was also languishing.
2. Also in this post I decided to experiment a bit with HDR. All European colleagues have long been practicing this style when photographing abandoned places. Without pretending to be photography perfect, I'll just leave it here.
3. I was not surprised when I saw that all the doors were boarded up tight. Using minimal acrobatic skills, I climbed the richly decorated stucco to the broken window and found myself inside. The rain drummed on the surviving windows, creating the right mood for this visit and transporting me to the past. A strange, aching, piercing feeling of emptiness and frailty of everything earthly settled in my heart when I found myself in this place and touched the things of people who had long gone into oblivion, as if reading a sad and tragic story ... But it was for this that I went here, to touch history and pass it through your soul and heart. I was greeted by an empty hall with a red carpet. Previously, there was a mirror here, but idiots are everywhere - someone broke it, and now all over the castle there are advertisements posted by volunteers with the general message “please don't vandalize here”.
4. Some of the painted windows are still preserved, and I can only guess how long it will remain intact. Of course, every time you visit a place, a rhetorical question arises - how could this have been abandoned?
5. I am asked if it is scary to wander in such places alone. I answer - not at all. Often, it is in private that I am maximally saturated with this place, when I am not distracted by the extraneous sounds of clicking shutters and other noise. I sat down on the floor, turned on atmospheric music and just silently watched this beauty. It is impossible to convey even a hundredth part of what I felt through the text, but believe me - such moments are very atmospheric.
6. I really like to process photos with a long delay, when such moments have already turned into memories. This makes it clear how much I was hooked on this or that place, this or that moment. Sometimes I want to relive these events ... I miss these times.
7. Having started to get involved in abandoned places, I lost a fairly large part of my audience. People did not have enough spectacular and dangerous shots, the abandoned seems to them boring and uninteresting. As I got older, I stopped needing to constantly develop adrenaline and found another occupation to my liking, and also realized that I do not want to follow the lead of my audience and take dangerous shots only because society wants it so, because I myself have lost interest in this occupation.
8. Each business must be treated with love, otherwise it will be posturing, directed to a commercial channel, and the “soul” of your stories will disappear somewhere. I have noticed how many in the pursuit of fame lose the main idea of \u200b\u200bsuch a hobby, and this already guarantees the loss of 90% of all general impressions. Having prioritized, I remained true to my hobbies - one thing grew into another, more meaningful and mature.
9. The main entrance is furnished very gracefully and refined, the hand of professional architects is visible. If earlier outsiders could get here with very great difficulty, now all that is needed is just to know the coordinates and catch the moment - the "shelf life" of many abandoned buildings is limited for many reasons: 1) the building can be demolished, 2) the building can begin to be restored, 3) the building can be guarded, etc.
10. Forged painted lattices take me into the world of luxury decadence. Stop, moment, you are wonderful!
11. Thus, I spent more than 2 hours in the castle, not in a hurry. In terms of the degree of impressions received during these 2 hours, I definitely justified myself a quarter of a year of ordinary life. Throwing in last time beautiful castle hall, I began to cover myself. Looking outside, I found a cute French town in the morning sun. Cozy
12. This is how the castle looks from the outside. The family coat of arms has long been covered with rust, and the garden has long been overgrown with ivy and thorns. With indescribable sadness, I drove on.
13. The next castle, Chateau du Carnel, was located on the territory of a nursing home. The castle is being actively restored, and it is possible that it has already begun to function. When approaching the castle, I was met only by its sad guards - sculptures of lions. One of them especially sunk into my soul. It is he who perfectly symbolizes the beautiful word decay - decline, desolation, desolation. But this lion was lucky - he went through a period of oblivion, and very soon he will see signs of life in his castle. Inside the castle itself, it is empty and very dark - all the windows are boarded up.
15. There are workers in the backyard who did not attach any importance to the fact that I was wandering around the protected area. Walking around the castle around the perimeter, I rushed further, to the last castle.
16. But with this castle, "Castle of the Monkey", not a very pleasant story is connected. Having parked near the church, I decided to take a shortcut to the castle through a small forest, which, as it turned out later, was obscenely overgrown with thorns. For 20 minutes, with difficulty breaking through its thickets and every second earning nasty scratches, I did not want to retreat - the top of the castle was visible, and it seemed that the goal was very close ... No matter how wrong, going even further, I realized that the trail from the trodden path irretrievably lost, and I will not go further. Selecting the best curses, I went back, and when I got out of this trap, I noticed with annoyance that there was no living space on me, moreover, I tore my jeans in three places. Swearing first of all at myself, I went around and soon saw that it was much easier to get here - from a country road.
17. It turned out to be not as interesting inside as in Chateau Lumière, but still atmospheric. In the main hall, the mirror miraculously survived - though not completely. Seeing myself in the reflection of the broken mirror, all sorts of symbolic and ironic thoughts crept into my head.
18. The main attraction of this place is the beautiful staircase. This is where the sights end)))
19. This was my express trip to the castles of France. Every day more and more abandoned places appear in Europe, and, alas, it is not always possible to find out the coordinates of really cool places. The most offensive thing is that some of them can "hold out" for just a month or two, and for Europeans, the standard option for spending a weekend is to take a car and arrange a ride through abandoned places. This way of life is very appealing to me. However, living in Moscow, of course, I often cannot arrange this, so each trip occupies a special niche in my heart. Abandoned places should not be trivial to visit, they must be passed through the heart and live in it for at least a momentary, but a moment, otherwise you are unlikely to be imbued with the amazing and stunning atmosphere of such places, wanting to quickly take a good shot and leave all the most interesting outside the lens.
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