This abandoned church in Geamăna, Rosia Montana is a sad but beautiful sight. At one point, the church had been flooded by a lake, so all one can see is its top half sticking out of the water.
Though the water surrounding it is polluted, it’s hard to deny the beauty of the lake along with the surrounding trees and mountains. Makes you wonder what it was like for churchgoers back in the day.
Underwater Prison in Estonia
The Rummu Prison in Estonia is now an attraction for beachgoers, but it used to be home to laboring inmates, slaving away in the quarry adjacent to the prison. It was built by the Soviet Union in the 40s and abandoned in 1991 when Estonia got its independence back.
The water that seeped into the quarry created a lake, filling up and sinking many of the prison's facilities. If you go there today, you could still see parts of the old prison sticking out of the water. Oh, and you could also snorkel to see the underwater ruins.
The Hachigo Royal Hotel in Japan
This abandoned hotel is located on Hachijō-Jima island, not too far away from Tokyo. It opened in 1963 as a luxury hotel and went through quite a few sessions of closing and reopening throughout the years until it finally closed down in 2006.
Today, it sits empty amid overgrown greenery. Visitors still come to the island for its attractive diving spot, but that's pretty much the only reason you'll ever see any tourists on this tiny island.
A Ghost Town in Italy
Don't you just love ghost towns? Well, we do. There's just something about looking at old buildings and imagining the life people led there. The medieval ghost town of Craco is located on a hilltop in the Basilicata region in Italy, overlooking the Cavone river valley.
Due to its location in a seismically active region, the town was highly prone to natural disasters. In 1991, when a number of landslides threatened Carco, its people ran away, and the town remained unpopulated since.
An Abandoned Fishing Island in China
This picture was taken in the Houtouwan village, located on Shengshan island in China. The island used to be home to a lively community of fishermen, but nowadays it sits empty.
Its brick houses, formerly homes to people of the community, are now abandoned and almost entirely hidden by greenery. It's hard to imagine actual people living and working there, but once upon a time, that was the case.