TOP-8 abandoned architectural complexes of antiquity

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Relentless time and the advancing nature will always conquer that piece of space that people have left, no matter whether it is a majestic temple or a luxurious castle, a huge ship or a thriving city. Objects eventually turn into a special place that attracts with its ominous beauty and mystery, despite the fact that they have already acquired eerie outlines, where it is time to shoot horror films or doomsday scenes.

1. Shicheng Underwater City (Zhejiang Province, China)

The unique city of Shicheng (Shicheng City), which begins its history since the distant 670, by the will of fate turned into a mysterious underwater world. The growing human need for comfort and modern benefits has led to the fact that many even historically valuable places have gone under water due to the construction of a hydroelectric power station. So it happened with this ancient city, which has become the main attraction of Zhejiang province. But the biggest surprise is that all this beauty can not only be seen, but also touched the walls of ancient buildings.

As it became known to the editors of Novate. Ru, this kind of "Time capsule" is preserved under water much better than on the surface, because it is not subject to the influence of wind, natural disasters and cataclysms, as well as natural erosion.

2. Fishing village in the Shengsi archipelago (China)

The Shengsi Archipelago, located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, is made up of nearly 400 islands with a breathtaking landscape. On one of these pieces of land, on the island of Guki, many years ago, fishermen left a small village, which turned into a fabulously beautiful green paradise, because all the abandoned buildings were entwined with evergreen ivy, feeding on the life-giving moisture of stone walls.

Thanks to the stable year-round temperature of about 16 ° above zero and constant moisture, the green walls of the houses look so attractive that they have become a rather visited attraction, which attracts not only photographers and eco-tourism fans, but also thousands of fishermen, because there are rich fishing grounds here.

3. Temple complex of Angkor Wat (Cambodia)

Angkor Wat is a gigantic Hindu temple complex with incredible architecture, the first religious buildings of which began to be built back in the 6th century for the ruling elite and high-ranking clergy. For 600 years, its territory expanded, turning into a powerful temple complex, which at that time was called the "Location of Saint Vishnu". For some unknown reason, in the 15th century, all the priests and monks left the shrine, and since then it has been practically mothballed.

Literally a few decades later, it began to turn into a tourist attraction, which monks from all over the world tried to get to at first, and then a number of travelers followed. Portuguese monk, who at the end of the 17th century. lucky to see the majestic complex he wrote in his memoirs: “This is such an unusual structure that it is impossible to describe it with a pen, especially since it is unlike any other building in the world. He has towers and decorations and all the subtleties that a human genius can only imagine. Nowadays, all this unusual splendor attracts millions of tourists like a magnet, excursions for whom are conducted by real monks living on the territory of one of the temples.

Informative:The temple complex of Angkor Wat, covering an area of almost 2 hectares, consists of 3 religious buildings of a concentric rectangular shape. A striking example of Khmer architecture, closely intertwined with the Hindu canons of religious architecture, it belongs to the type of structure "temple-mountain", and the peak height of the central tower above the main sanctuary reaches 65 m. In addition to the fact that the complex is surrounded by a high stone wall, 30 m. From there is a moat filled with water, the width of which is 190 m. Only due to this circumstance, the unique religious building has survived to this day.

4. Statue "Christ from the Abyss" in the bay of San Fruttuoso (Italy)

Unlike other abandoned structures, which by the will of fate have become a kind of outcast, the statue of "Christ from the Abyss" was deliberately placed in the depths of the bay of San Fruttuoso. The idea of its creation belongs to the famous diver Duilio Markante, who, together with his friends, thus tried to perpetuate the memory of Dario Gonzatti, who died in this place, who became famous for the invention of scuba gear. It was during the testing of one of the experimental models that the first scuba diver in the world drowned.

It is noteworthy that this bronze monument with a height of 2.5 m was created from melted parts of sunken ships, orders of sailors, medals of athletes, which were donated by their owners to make a figure of Christ with hands raised to the sky. Despite the fact that the monument is located at a depth of 17 meters near the hard-to-reach shores of the San Fruttuoso Bay, which can only be reached on foot along the steep mountain paths, more than 2 million extreme lovers have already visited it. These people descend to the bottom of the Ligurian Sea to pay tribute to the memory of the world's first scuba diver.

5. Diamond quarry Mir in Yakutia (Russia)

The city of Mirny, located in Eastern Siberia, is home to the largest diamond pit in the world, which is also the second largest man-made depression on the earth's surface, after Bingham Canyon in Salt Lake City (USA).

Its volume and dimensions are impressive, because in just 35 years of existence (1955-1990), people managed to create a crater 525 m deep and 1.2 km in diameter, and in such a short time, 52.5 million tons of the most valuable raw materials! To get to the bottom of the quarry, the trucks had to go down and up a steep spiral road for 8 km. to each end. At the moment, this deposit is closed and the bottom of the pit is flooded with water, but this did not in any way affect the adventurers who want to see with their own eyes the grandiose funnel created by human hands.

Remarkable: The gigantic size of the funnel area causes a powerful downdraft air flow and for this reason, the airspace for helicopters was closed above its surface.

6. The ghost town of Pripyat (Ukraine)

This is perhaps the most famous ghost town in the world, which "became famous" for a terrible man-made accident that destroyed not only the settlement itself, but also many destinies. After the accident at the 4th power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the ghostly image of the once bustling city froze in a silent reproach to the people who allowed the most powerful release of radiation, which claimed more than one thousand lives and made a vast territory deserted.

Now this land and a deserted ghost town inspires the creation of computer games and filming, which are becoming so popular that thousands of adventure lovers every year strive to get here, despite the mortal danger.

7. Hotel Del Salto near Tequendama Falls (Colombia)

Colombia's El Hotel del Salto, erected near the famous 137-meter waterfall of Tequendama about 100 years ago, now leaves an eerie impression, creating the image of a haunted mansion from a chilling horror movie. Over the years, this once lively place with a luxurious interior and comfortable living conditions has turned into an ominous place, shrouded in frightening legends and stories, already literally overgrown with moss and covered with cobwebs. Moreover, such a deplorable state is caused not by the fact that the careless owner decided to abandon his brainchild, but by really strange events that took place before these places became completely abandoned.

At one time, it was such a luxurious place that it began to enjoy great success with moneybags and famous people. With great pleasure they went to these picturesque places on vacation, checking into a luxury hotel, but at some point terrible things began to happen to them. During their stay or immediately after leaving the hotel, visitors began to die mysterious deaths or commit suicide. Naturally, this turn of events had a very detrimental effect on the reputation of the institution, and it had to be simply closed.

Although most modern skeptics do not believe in the cursed place, believing that the stench that began to come from the waterfall, into the waters of which sewage was actively dumped, was to blame for everything, but, nevertheless, until now, no one has dared to return to its former glory hotel. Although there are more and more people who want to gaze at such an ominous place, and they even say that its walls still attract suicides, so there are more than enough fans to tickle their nerves.

8. Abandoned ship "Floating Forest" (Australia)

The ship "SS Ayrfield" was launched more than a century ago under the flag of Great Britain and has served the people faithfully for many years. At first it was a dry cargo ship, then it was used as a cargo ship that delivered ammunition during the Second World War, and at the end of the service - as a coal carrier. Unfortunately, 50 years ago, it was simply abandoned as unnecessary and left to rust in the harbor at Homebush, located west of Sydney.

Now the forgotten powerful steel machine 80 m long benefits, but not to people, but to plants for which it has become a safe haven. Growing mango groves and entire colonies of plants have created a real paradise that has begun to attract crowds of photographers and tourists eager to see the unique ship overgrown with lush greenery with their own eyes.