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.
The Grand Theater in Lebanon
This formerly magnificent, abandoned theater, also called the Grand Théâtre des Mille et Une Nuits, is located in the city of Beirut in Lebanon. Built in the 1920s as part of a larger commercial center and featuring no less than 630 seats, it hosted both film productions and international performances from various countries, like the French Ballet des Champs-Elysées and legendary Egyptian singer Um Kalthoum.
In the image, one can see its uniquely decorated domed ceiling. During the Lebanese civil war, it suffered severe damage and went out of use.
The St. Nicholas Church in North Macedonia
The partially submerged St. Nicholas Church is located in the national park of Marvoro in North Macedonia, not next to, but inside the Marvoro Lake. This lake was artificially created in the 1940s when the Marvoro River was dammed, submerging some buildings in the area.
The St. Nicholas Church was the only one of those buildings to remain standing (well, kind of). The fact of it being submerged (or not) actually depends on the amount of rainfall the area gets. Surprisingly, when it's not submerged, people can come inside and have a look.
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.
Half-Sunken Church in Romania
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.