What would the world be like without us? How would our most emblematic buildings, our houses, parks... be if they were uninhabited? Would nature destroy them? The photographer Romain Veillon , dedicated for 20 years to capturing the beauty of abandoned places , has compiled in his new book ‘Green Urbex: The world without us’ more than 200 images that answer these questions.
“The book is divided into three parts: in the first, empty but intact places appear as if the humans have simply disappeared, only some dust covers the surfaces. In the second part, the walls appear cracked and decay is present in every room . Humanity left a long time ago... And in the last part, nature is slowly making its way on the human constructions and starts to climb back to the top. In a world full of ruins and vegetation, it is difficult to guess that humans lived there, ”he explains in an interview with Traveler.es.
In these places time stood still.
SCENARIOS FROM ANOTHER TIME
At Condé Nast Traveler we have spent years collecting some of his work, from the magic of the pagodas in Myanmar to the chilling Buzludja Monument in Bulgaria. The book was only a consequence of so many years going through unusual and disturbing scenarios.
"In ' Green Urbex' Recent photos appear, but also very old ones. It is always surprising to go back to an old forgotten file on the computer and rediscover a job from the past. It's like revisiting the locations and remembering everything that happened during the visit,” he adds.
Abandoned houses, why do they attract us?
In 'Ask the dust', his first book published five years ago, he had been wanting to add some images, so he thought it was a good time to think of a new volume of photographs that would present, with improvements, some places abandoned as houses, castles, palaces, churches, factories, amusement parks, hospitals, railways, greenhouses and schools.
“There are 13 very particular places with a special focus and some interesting facts, such as the amusement park Nara Dreamland in Japan, which was created to look like DisneyWorld (in fact, it has the same castle) because the owner fell in love with the original during a trip to the US, but since he did not have the authorization to build it, he was left halfway”.
It also tells us the story of constant casino in Romania. “It has an incredible art-nouveau style. The architecture there is simply beautiful: the main hall has a shell-shaped window; and inside, you can still find huge chandeliers, paintings, and ornaments that belonged to some of the wealthiest families of the time,” he explains. The casino had a glorious past during the two world wars but it was abandoned in the 90s after having been a restaurant, hospital and cultural house. “I am glad that they are currently restoring it and that it will have a new life soon!”
‘Green Urbex: The world without us’
See photos: the 45 most shocking abandoned places in the world
WILL THEY DIE OF SUCCESS?
Abandoned places have experienced a growing interest in recent years, social networks have been used by photographers, specialized in this field, have made themselves known. And not only professionals, but also teenagers have become fashionable to enter abandoned spaces through videos on Instagram or Tik-Tok.
But why? Romain does not give some clues. “ I feel that people have the impression of entering something forbidden . Photography also gives us the feeling of instantly traveling back in time. We all love to imagine what could have happened when that place was full of life.”
But the success of this fashion also has a price, and that is that many of these places where silence has peacefully reigned, and where apparently there was an order, the order established by the passage of time, have been altered by vandalism . “With the increase of people exploring abandoned places also comes vandalism: a castle that stood intact for twenty years will be littered or burned down in a month, while many objects will disappear. I guess there's nothing to do except keep them secret so people don't destroy them.".
Green Urbex
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