I am a relative noob to the world of Urbex, but where I lack in experience, I make up for in time spent in internet K-holes. I’ve already built quite a list of places I’m keen on tresspassing – here are the five that are currently top of mind. Or, rather, the five that are currently living in my pipe dreams – I don’t have immediate plans to visit any of the places on this list, though I’m thinking that may have to change in the near future (especially looking at the Eastern Balkans…)
1) Gunkanjima/Hashima, Nagasaki, Japan
I wrote about Gunkanjima (or Hashima) a couple of weeks ago when it was granted UNESCO World Heritage status, and about what that possibly means for the future of UrbEx. All of my thoughts on the matter aside, the complex still looks like it would be incredibly fascinating to explore, preferably with a killer camera. The site is also home to some really interesting (read: sad, depressing) history – from Japan’s late industrial revolution. Essentially, during the era of the Japanese empire/Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, the powers that be in Japan “imported” labor from parts near and far (mostly Korea and Manchuria) to mine coal on the island. The Mitsubishi corporation purchased rights to it after World War 2, and continued operations there (along with sketchy employment practices) until the late 1970s. No doubt heavy thoughts would accompany the visit, as well as thoughts of one’s own safety while traipsing through 1920s constructed high rise apartments that have clearly seen better days.
I hate knowing that I’ve been a short boat ride from this drool-worthy industrial decay on three non-consecutive occasions but have never made it there (despite the fact that when I was there, it was still off limits to tourists) – if/when I’m in Japan again, I’ll be sure to make a stop.
2) Cazino Constanta, Romania
The Cazino Constanta begs for HDR photography. Definitely not haunted, whatsoever.In addition to loving UrbEx, I am also a lover of Art Nouveau architecture – and when you can combine the two, I am a happy, happy camper. I recently learned of the in my various internet wanderings and have not been able to get it off my mind. I am crushing, hardcore.
Located in the Black Sea resort city of Constanta, Romania, the casino dates back to 1910, though a casino has been present in its current location since the 1880s. The architect who built it, Petre Antonescu, based his design off contemporary casinos of the time on the French Riviera. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at things), the casino fell into disuse after the fall of communism, and only a shell of its former glory remains. The inside looks as majestic as the outside, though as of December 2014, Still, I’d add Constanta to an Eastern Balkan itinerary if it meant getting up close and personal with this aging beauty – and who knows if there’d be someone I could slip a few lei to who’d then look the other way while slipping inside…
3) Buzludzha Communist Monument, Kazanlak, Bulgaria
Much has been said about this gorgeous 1980s creation by my personal go-to’s on Bulgarian Urbex know how (Yomadic and The Bohemian Blog) – but it bears repeating. This building is fucking ridulous and straight out of my wildest Communist excess dreams. Sitting on top of a mountain in Central Bulgaria, it is said that on a clear day you can see Greece from the top of the buildings tower. The building is relatively new for members of this list, having “just” opened in 1981, but where it lacks in age it certainly makes up in personality. This baby is home to beautiful, largely intact mosaics on the inside (scenes of Bulgarian Communist history, hurrah!), and a healthy dose of graffiti on the outside – giving the visitor a nice blend of old and new, let’s say. It was the potential to see and explore this building that almost had David and I traipsing across Bulgaria for a week at the beginning of our honeymoon next month.
4) The Derzhprom, Kharkiv, Ukraine
Second to last on my list is this fantastical skyscraper complex in Kharkhiv, Eastern Ukraine – called the Derzhprom. The complex itself looks like it’s fresh out of some dystopian thriller movie, probably directed by Zack Snyder. Every time I open up a picture of it, I start blasting metal in my head – and not some mamby pamby American metal, either. Like hardcore, Slavic metal of indeterminate origin. It was built as the House of State Industry for the Ukrainian SSR (when Kharkhiv was the capital of Soviet Ukraine) between 1926 and 1928, and is most famous for its series of interconnected skybridges connecting the skyscrapers of varying heights. I would love to get lost in there for half a day. Then I’m pretty sure, I’d like to be rescued.
The Derzhprom, like my next choice, is a place that could prove rather difficult to visit these days, thanks to civil unrest in Eastern Ukraine. That said, I’m sure I’ll make it there someday – perhaps on that around the world trip I can’t stop fantasizing about.
5) Ryugyong Hotel, Pyongyang, North Korea
So, a big part of getting to see the Ryugyong Hotel would be getting to Pyongyang in the first place – good thing Kim Jong Un is doing a bang up job updating the North Korean capital’s airport. But seriously, I heard about this building back when I was aimlessly working toward a useless M.A. in Korea Studies, and have been kind of obsessed with it since. The North Koreans are obsessed with being the biggest/best/tallest/meanest at whatever they do, and Stalinist architecture is no exception. Hell, their rip off of the Arc de Triomphe is 10m taller than the one in Paris for the express reason of being bigger – I think they’re compensating for something…lack of food, maybe?
I digress…Anyway, the Ryugyong Hotel is a place that I nearly certainly will never be able to visit due to various sanctions on travel in North Korea for American citizens – and I am of a pretty solid political stance that travel to North Korea is a fundamentally bad thing that I will never do…again. So until Kim Jong Un wakes up one day and decides to feed his people and stop systematically denying them the most basic human rights, I’ll just stare at pictures of this 105 story, perpetually unfinished megalith.
