Urban exploration: 20 eerie photos of abandoned worlds

After exploring the world for his dream photography project, David de Rueda now has a rather disturbing collection of photographs. Here, he shares 20 pictures he took while exploring abandoned urban spaces.

“Nikon challenged me to create and complete my dream photography project, with my own imagination being the only restriction."

"[It] was an opportunity to challenge myself and push my urban exploration photography to another level. For me, the abandoned places of Europe’s recent past were an obvious choice. I see discovering the hidden side of such locations as a kind of modern archaeology that, when coupled with the artistry a photographer can bring, should capture the imaginations of many.”

An abandoned radar station in the mountains of Italy

A former concert hall in Tallinn, Estonia

A disused experimental power facility near Moscow, Russia

An old factory built during, St Petersburg, Russia

A former hospital in Pripyat, Ukraine

The waiting room in the remains of the Pripyat hospital, Ukraine

The city of Pripyat, Ukraine

Abandoned café in Pripyat, Ukraine

Old bus station, Pripyat, Ukraine

Sunrise from the top of Pripyat’s highest building, the Fujiyama

Inside the cooling tower of a nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine

The famous Ferris wheel, Pripyat, Ukraine

An abandoned power plant near Budapest, Hungary

Inside the abandoned power plant near Budapest, Hungary

A derelict train graveyard, Budapest

Buzludzha monument in Bulgaria

The congress room at the Buzludzha monument, Bulgaria

A long-forgotten wreck of a Douglas DC-3 aircraft, Iceland

Two relics of the Soviet space race in a huge abandoned warehouse, Kazakhstan

See more of David's photography here. Compare flights, find tours, book hostels and hotels for your trip, and don’t forget to purchase travel insurance before you go.