7 abandoned places left deserted and strangely beautiful

BY TIM CHESTER, UK From Mashable

LONDON — There’s an odd and melancholic beauty to abandoned places. Whether deserted after a disaster or shuttered and left to rot after their inhabitants move on, they stand quietly as a reminder of what came before.

A new book, “Abandoned Places: 60 stories of places where time stopped,” has rounded up 60 such places across the globe. These are seven of the most captivating.

This deserted church in Poland (above)

There hasn’t been a congregation in the The Giersdorf Church in Poland since the mid 1940s. Thousands of churches were destroyed by bombs or tanks during World War II, but a few survived, and Giersdorf’s resplendent, if crumbling, interior still inspires awe.

 

This sandy ghost town in Namibia

Nothing but sand — and a few camera-toting tourists — has occupied the buildings of Kolmanskop, Namibia, since the 1950s. A former mining town in the Namib desert, the area boomed for a few years after the discovery of diamonds in the ground, but before long the jewels dried up and the inhabitants disappeared, too.
IMAGE: ALAMY/BRIANAFRICA

This shuttered quarantine island in New York

From the 1880s to the 1960s, North Brother Island was home to a medical facility and housed patients with various infectious diseases, from smallpox to scarlet fever, typhus and leprosy over the years. Abandoned in 1963, the island, which is not far from the fringes of the Bronx, now plays host to a variety of birds.
IMAGE: WILL ELLIS

This former prison in Pennsylvania

Eastern State Penitentiary used to house some 450 prisoners within its imposing walls. Constructed in 1829, it was the largest public structure ever built and inspired awe among those who saw it, including Charles Dickens on a tour of the U.S. While no executions took place here, several people died within its walls and it’s said to be haunted. It was abandoned in 1971.
IMAGE: ELLIE TERAMOTO/ALAMY

This amusement park in Ukraine

Pripyat in Ukraine was abandoned after the Chernobyl disaster of 1986, and will be left untouched by human development for centuries. The local theme park, which was due to open at around the time of the accident, has since become an emblem for the event, its deserted ferris wheel and bumper cars a frozen reminder of the awful power of nuclear technology. The scene was also used in a ‘Call of Duty’ video game.
IMAGE: DARMON RICHTER

This sanatorium near Berlin

Rusting beds and surgical lamps remain in Germany’s Beelitz Sanatorium, but the doctors are long gone. While parts of the huge complex have been restored since it was abandoned in 1995, the rest is unlikely to be reopened any time soon.
IMAGE: WAN FUNG LAW/FLICKR

This theme park in New Orleans

The destructive force of Hurricane Katrina brought the life of Six Flags to a halt. After it was closed in 2005, the owners wrangled with insurance companies for some time, before ownership was eventually transferred to the city in 2010. Since then, the park has been used in several major movies, including ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ and ‘Jurrassic World.’
IMAGE: DARRELL RHODES MILLER

“Abandoned Places: 60 stories of places where time stopped,” £20, is published by Harper Collins and out now.

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