Ghost Town Paradise on the Coast of the Black Sea

This is what is left of Gagra, a resort city on the Black Sea coast.

With its climate close to subtropical, Gagra was a popular health resort in Imperial and Soviet Russia among Russian elite. It was a paradise with its pleasant climate, a royal palace and a number of buildings in an eclectic variety of styles from around Europe. The park that surrounded the resort was also very popular with tropical trees and even parrots and monkeys imported to give it an exotic feel.

Gagra had a population of 26,636 in 1989, but all-out war erupted between 1992 and 1993. Hundreds of thousands of Georgians were expelled from their homes or massacred. Gagra turned into a ghost town due to "ethnic-cleansing and mass expulsion of ethnic Georgians from Abkhazia."

50 Beautiful Examples of Urban Decay Photography

Urban decay photography is the technique of photographing abandoned and rundown buildings. In many cases the buildings haven’t been abandoned for more than a few years. Often illegal, photographers of abandoned buildings typically bypass “no trespassing” signs to capture these spectacular shots.

The characteristic dark and somber coloring sets the mood of these once populated structures. Now they stand as mere memories of the past, luckily to have even one lone photographer wandering their halls once again.

Take a look and get inspired by 50 Beautiful Examples of Urban Decay Photography below.