Although they reveal a post-apocalyptic appearance, there is something beautiful about abandoned places. A dark beauty - ruins forgotten by time, which once vibrated with the lives and dreams of generations, all thrown by the wayside and rotting. But sometimes, the entropy of decay gives way to something breathtaking.
Whether by the hands of man or the slow movement of nature's tenacious claws, some ruins end in a surreal twilight between past and present, life and death. I'm Donato de Paula, narrator of Mistérios do Mundo, and here are 10 of the most incredible post-apocalyptic places on the planet. If you like the video, don't forget to like, subscribe to the Mistérios do Mundo channel and turn on notifications.
Beelitz Military Hospital, Germany A rotting carcass of deserted corridors and empty patient wards, this military hospital treated the first victims of new weapons, such as machine guns and mustard gas, used in the First World War. At the time, he also treated a young soldier named Adolf Hitler, who had been blinded by a British gas attack and wounded in the leg in the Battle of the Somme. The success of the operations would set the stage for the site to once again be used as a field hospital, treating Nazi wounded during World War II.
Occupied by the Russians in 1945, it served as a Soviet military hospital for the next 50 years. It may be abandoned today, but not completely; Empty bottles and trash scattered on the ground suggest that disparate groups of opportunistic looters, weekend wanderers, curious travelers, and inspired photographers are drawn to the decaying aesthetics of a dying place. Kolmanskop, Namibia Brightly colored wallpaper peeling off the walls, dilapidated houses now flooded under tons of sand.
. . this is Kolmanskop, a ghost town in the Namib Desert, in the middle of a region known as "the forbidden zone.
" The discovery of diamonds at the beginning of the 20th century led to a horde of prospectors settling in the region, founding a city that would be abandoned as quickly as it was born. At its peak in 1912, Kolmanskop had produced one million carats that year, or nearly 12% of the planet's total diamond production. The city was so rich that it was the first place in the southern hemisphere to have an X-ray machine - to check that the miners were not stealing any diamonds.
A few years later, the city, which was built and maintained under strong racist German colonial violence, saw the Namibe people rebel against the colonizers. The Germans did not want to share their wealth with the indigenous people, retaliating with violence and causing the first genocide of the century. Thousands of Africans were killed.
Kolmanskop was only completely abandoned in 1956, when diamonds became scarce, and since then, dunes have entered the ghost town's doors and balconies, once and for all covering up a dark and forgotten history. Six Flags, United States Severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Six Flags, once a profitable and busy amusement park, has been abandoned ever since. Several of the rides and structures are still standing, a testament to New Orleans' resilience.
Demolition proposals have since conflicted with ideas for developing the park, but while all plans are held up by exorbitant costs, it remains the perfect setting for a horror film, and a ghostly reminder of one of the greatest natural disasters in U. S. history.
United. Abandoned Charleroi Power Plant - Belgium In the Belgian city of Charleroi resides an abandoned power plant, whose magnificent cooling tower still looms over the city, no longer generating electricity but providing many dystopian views. Built in 1921, it was one of the largest coal-fired power plants in Belgium.
The water, left in the cooling tower, was cooled by the wind blowing from the portals at the base of the tower, releasing undulating columns of hot air. After years of service, a report concluded that the plant was responsible for 10% of total carbon dioxide emissions in Belgium. Therefore, Greenpeace protests in 2006 gave the plant a lot of negative attention and it was closed a year later.
At the moment, the future of the plant is unknown. An attempt to demolish it was made in 2006, but it remains to this day, perhaps as a reminder of all the development it brought to the country in the last century. Model Prison - Cuba Empty since 1967, the Model Prison still radiates despair and paranoia.
Inspired by the Panopticon, its oppressive architecture was designed to create a feeling of constant, invisible omniscience. Commissioned in 1926 by dictator Gerardo Machado, the prison's most notable inmate was named Fidel Castro. Years later, with Fidel's rise to power, the place became a prison for political dissidents, counter-revolutionaries, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, or any Cuban opposed to the country's new political regime.
Now a museum, visitors can experience the forbidding atmosphere still present in these echoing corridors and empty cells. House of the Communist Party - Bulgaria In the 70s and 80s, the Communist Party was strong in Bulgaria. To honor the movement's leaders, as well as create a space for meetings and rallies, the government built a huge monument atop a high peak in one of the mountain ranges.
The former headquarters of the Bulgarian Communist Party is as scary on the outside as it is on the inside. The disc, along with its 70-meter tower, had the help of more than 60 Bulgarian artists and architects, while thousands of workers and volunteers were involved in the construction process. Following political changes in 1989, many of the iconic communist-era monuments were dismantled, looted and vandalized, leaving them to disintegrate over time.
And this communist UFO, doomed to oblivion, was one of those monuments. Maunsell Forts, United Kingdom Jutting out of the waters of the Thames Estuary, Maunsell Forts slowly rust under the influence of water and time. Built in 1942, these fortified towers were designed to provide anti-aircraft fire during World War II.
After being deactivated in the late 1950s, several of the structures were reoccupied by pirate radio stations that broadcast against the government. But for the past three decades, the forts have remained abandoned and largely unknown. The forts are now in various states of decay, and attempting to enter them is probably unwise, if not illegal.
Underwater city of Shicheng, China Few places this old show such a great level of preservation. This incredible Chinese underwater city is a time capsule that transports us hundreds of years into the past. The ancient city, translated as Lion City, was the political and economic center of the eastern province of Zhejiang, but was flooded in 1959 following the construction of the Xin'an River Hydroelectric Station.
This real-life Atlantis attracts a handful of divers willing to explore in detail buildings that date back to Ming and Qing Dynasty architecture. Ryugyong Hotel, North Korea Unoccupied, closed and unfinished, the 105-story shell of the Ryugyong Hotel is a scar on Pyongyang's skyline and North Korea's pride. Construction began in the 1980s but stopped several times due to lack of funds.
Once proudly featured on North Korean stamps , this empty hotel was soon eliminated from official photos. Despite almost two decades of abandonment, construction resumed in 2008, but between comings and goings, the huge hotel remains a ghost building, and it is a mystery when the first customer will stay at Ryugyong. Which of these places caught your attention the most?
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