1. Graun Church Tower, Lake Reschen, Italy
Lake Reschen in Tyrol, Italy, is actually man-made, and was created in 1950 in order to provide nearby towns with electricity. This resulted in a 14th Century church being swallowed up whole - apart from the bell-tower, which is still visible today. It appears to float in the middle of the lake.
2. Buzludzha Monument, Bulgaria
This monument was built in the 1970s to commemorate socialist communism. However, it wasn't long before the Buzludzha monument was abandoned. In 1989, socialist communism began to disintegrate around the world, and the monument was left alongside it.
3. Maunsell Sea & Air Forts, Thames and Mersey estuaries, United Kingdom
These forts look like something out of a post-apocalyptic movie, but they were actually built back in the 1940s to protect England's estuaries from any invasion attempts from the Axis powers during the Second World War. They are named after Guy Maunsell, the civil engineer that designed them. They were abandoned just a decade later, but they were later used for pirate radio broadcasting.
4. Abandoned Submarine Base in Balaklava, Ukraine
The Cold War saw two superpowers, the USSR and the USA, bring the world to the brink of nuclear war. This abandoned submarine base is a timely reminder of how touch-and-go things were back then. It was only given to the Ukraine by the Russian Federation back in 2000. It has since been turned into a museum.
5. Michigan Central Station in Detroit, Michigan
Detroit has been a city in decline ever since the 1950s, and this once-glorious train station is emblematic of the city's fall from grace. The Amtrak rail service stopped running through the station in 1988, and was abandoned thereafter.
6. Athens Olympic Village, Athens, Greece
The whole world knows the desperate financial situation that Greece is in, so it's maddening to see the waste that followed the 2004 Summer Olympics held in the country. The Olympic Village, which was built specifically for the games, was abandoned right after they ended.
7. Prora, Rügen, Germany
Before Adolf Hitler decided to invade Poland in 1939, he ordered the construction of the largest resort in the world. The three-mile-long resort was never actually used for the purpose it was built for, and it remained abandoned for several decades. It's now being transformed into a luxury resort.
8. Mys Aniva lighthouse, Sakhalin Island, Russia
Protruding from the rocky coastline of Sakhalin Island, a Russian island near Japan, is the Mys Aniva Lighthouse. It was built by Japanese engineers back in 1939, and used by both the Japanese and Russian militaries. Despite its eerie appearance, the lighthouse is popular with urban explorers.
9. Dome Homes, Marco Island, Florida
These strange domes were actually constructed as a vacation home for a retired oil producer. Although they once stood on Marco Island, erosion has led them to move and settle in their current location just off the coast. Hurricane damage and the necessity for the installation of a seawall resulted in the property being abandoned.
10. Ryugyong Hotel, Pyongyang, North Korea
Few places are stranger than the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, and this hotel is a testament to that. The 105-story Ryogyong hotel has been under construction since 1989, with work stopping and starting ever since then. It's widely believed to be the tallest unfinished building in the world.
11. New York State Pavilion, Flushing Meadows, New York
A dream team of architects was assembled for the construction of the 1964 World's Fair complex. Philip Johnson, Richard Foster and Lev Zetlin designed the complex, which includes observation towers, a theater and a tent with a cable suspension roof. Although it has been abandoned for decades, the complex is set to welcome visitors once again in 2019 following the completion of a massive restoration.
12. Nara Dreamland, Nara, Japan
During the early 1960s, the Japanese decided that they wanted to create their very own version of Disneyworld. Dreamland, on the outskirts of the ancient city of Nara, was what they came up with. It welcomed visitors for well over 50 years, but dwindling interest meant that its doors had to shut for good back in 2006.
13. Centro Financiero Confinanzas, Caracas, Venezuela
Often referred to as the "Tower of David" , this skyscraper was intended to be a financial center, with construction starting back in 1990. Sadly, one of the project's main investors died in 1994. Coupled with an economic downturn, this led to the project grinding to a halt. Squatters took over the building in the subsequent 20 years, but they were kicked out by Venezuelan authorities in 2015. The building remains in limbo.
14. Craco, Italy
Founded in the 8th Century, Craco fell victim to various natural disasters during the latter part of the 20th Century. A landslide struck in 1963, and this was followed by a flood in 1972. The town was abandoned after an earthquake in 1980, and is now only accessible through a locked gate while on a guided tour.
15. Hotels in Varosha, Famagusta, Cyprus
Once popular with the likes of Elizabeth Taylor and Brigitte Bardot, Varosha is a stark reminder of the Greco-Turkish conflict that raged on the island of Cyprus during the 1970s. Following the Turkish occupation of the area, the many beachfront hotels that were once popular with tourists now lie abandoned.
