Abandonment can puncture one’s soul if seeing a home they once knew now empty and worn. But viewing abandonment from a more removed vantage point can provide an opposing affect. Chilling? Perhaps. But also beautiful in seeing how nature reclaims what was once taken or interrupted, how change in the only constant, and how we ought not get too attached to anything in this world due to its brevity.
The following photos were found on MyScienceAcademy.org and their piece: 30 Abandoned Places That Look Truly Beautiful. Other source material is linked via the place names.
CRACO, ITALY:
Nature reclaims a structure quicker if vegetation is a factor. Interestingly, this next one is also from Italy.
ABANDONED MILL FROM 1866 IN SORRENTO, ITALY:
From Italy to Ireland, vegetation reclaims another building.
AN OLD COTTAGE ON THE KERRY WAY WALKING PATH BETWEEN SNEEM AND KENMARE IN IRELAND:
And from lush forests to parched lands, a home gets eaten up the way things do in the desert.
KOLMANSKOP, NAMIB DESERT
Large, modern cities don’t empty out in such dramatic fashion. Nonetheless, it’s telling to see these population centers exist as shells of their former selves:
MICHIGAN CENTRAL STATION, DETROIT
It isn’t just natural disasters or economic downfalls that empty out buildings. Sometimes it’s grave errors:
PRIPYAT, UKRAINE
On a lighter note, sometimes events just end:
1984 WINTER OLYMPICS BOBSLEIGH TRACK IN SARAJEVO
Finally, these last three elicit eerier extremes:
EL HOTEL DEL SALTO, COLOMBIA
SUNKEN YACHT, ANTARCTICA:
NARA DREAMLAND, JAPAN
May we accept change, the temporary nature of everything. Use this understanding to let our guard down and go with life’s flow.
-Brandon