Abandoned Places: Poignant Reminders of the Past

On our show today, we’ll embark on a reflective journey to visit a few abandoned sites around the world. The castle community of Burj Al Babas, Türkiye, was once a promising housing development featuring a luxurious group of 732 identical chateaus, complete with mansard roofs, turrets, and grand entrances. In 2019, the community was abandoned. The Crumlin Road Courthouse in Belfast, Northern Ireland was built in 1850 and was once the site of many judicial activities. However, during the 1960s, the Courthouse became too small to accommodate the local county council’s increasing administrative responsibilities and was finally closed in 1998.

Hirta located in Scotland is the largest island in the remote St. Kilda archipelago. However, beginning in the late 1800s, tourism posed a threat to the traditional lifestyle of the islanders, and the local unfavorable weather led to the island finally being abandoned by the residents in the 1930s. Built in 1901, the Hulme Hippodrome in Manchester, UK, was once a popular venue for concert hall performances and shows, as part of the Broadhead Circuit music hall chain. However, the theater was closed in 2018.

The Kangbashi District of Ordos City in Inner Mongolia, China, was built in 2004 to accommodate a million people, but remains largely unoccupied. Craco, a medieval town located in the Basilicata region of Italy, was inhabited as early as 540 BC by the Greeks who immigrated there. Eventually the town was abandoned completely in the 1980s after an earthquake. One of the world’s most known abandoned cities is Prypiat in Ukraine (Ureign).

The abandoned buildings and cities are a testament to the changes and upheavals of our world. They help us remember that everything is temporary, as even the grandest structures can decay and crumble. They invite us to ponder the consequences of our human actions and the legacy we wish to leave behind.