Pripyat, Ukraine
Photographers from around the world visit Pripyat, Ukraine to snap shots of abandoned classrooms and scattered possessions
The city of Pripyat was abandoned in April 1986 after one of the reactors at the Chernobyl power plant went into meltdown
Hashima Island, Japan
James Bond fans will recognise Hashima Island, also known as Battleship Island (Gunkanjima), as the lair of 007’s enemy in Skyfall
More than 5,000 of people lived here until April 1974, when a coal mine shut down and the concrete island was abandoned
Oradour-sur-Glane, France
Destroyed by the Nazis during World War II, the village of Oradour-sur-Glane was the scene of the massacre of 642 residents in June 1944
The village has been left untouched since the massacre, and a new village built nearby is home to more than 2,000 people
Varosha, Cyprus
The shores of Varosha were once graced by glamorous film stars such as Elizabeth Taylor and Brigitte Bardot, but are now deserted
Varosha was abandoned when the resort was invaded by Turkish troops, and today is fenced off and still occupied
Bodie, California
SHARE PICTURE
The town of Bodie, California, is a classic example of a settlement that thrived during the gold rush and was left to wither and die
The Wild West town had just a handful of residents in the 1940s and was named a historic park in 1962 after it was abandoned
Imber, England
SHARE PICTURE
This village on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire was evacuated in December 1943 as Allied troops prepared for the invasion of Europe
SHARE PICTURE
Imber remains a training ground for British soldiers, although it opens to tourists usually around Bank Holidays and Christmas
Kolmanskop, Namibia
Family homes that were abandoned are now filled with sand in Kolmanskop, a once prosperous mining town deep in the Namib Desert
The German-style village flourished after diamonds were discovered in 1908, but its decaying homes have been left to rot
Port Arthur, Tasmania
The former convict settlement at Port Arthur is now a World Heritage Site and Tasmania’s most popular tourist attraction
Even though Port Arthur's prison closed in 1877, a new community grew around it and thrived over the next century
Fordlandia, Brazil
Fordlandia, in the Brazilian rainforest, was created by Henry Ford in 1928 as a rubber plantation that would feed his Michigan factories
The industrialist hoped to instil the American way of life in his Brazilian workers, but the project was abandoned by the end of World War II
Pyramiden, Norway
Named after a pyramid-shaped mountain, Pyramiden, Norway was a Soviet-era coal mining town that was officially abandoned in 1998
Most of its buildings are still intact and it is owned by a Russian firm, and there have been efforts to transform it into a tourist hub
Spinalonga, Greece
Run-down and left to the elements, this settlement was a leper colony until 1957, five years before the island was deserted
Today, tourists can walk around Spinalonga’s ruined buildings, which were once home to lepers, and take in spectacular views of the sea
