SHUMEN CENTRAL CITY SQUARE [BG]

Exploration #283 Shumen central city square. Conceived in the late 1980s, the Central City Square of Shumen was an ambitious urban megastructure designed to redefine the city center. Interrupted by the political collapse of 1989, the project was never completed and remains one of Bulgaria’s largest unfinished socialist-era constructions.

Designed as a revolutionary civic complex, the project aimed to integrate commercial, administrative, and social functions into a single architectural system. Plans included shops, a hotel, restaurants, cafés, municipal offices, and ceremonial halls, all connected through a vast, multi-level concrete structure extending across an entire city block. At its core stands an imposing 18-storey tower, rising from a six-storey base embedded into the terrain. The complex was conceived with underground levels, tunnel-like passages, and direct connections to nearby buildings such as the Hotel Madara, reflecting a highly modernist vision of urban continuity and functionality.

The redevelopment of the surrounding city center was carried out in parallel, incorporating symbolic elements linked to Bulgarian history. Sculptural motifs and architectural details echoed the nearby Monument to the Founders of the Bulgarian State, creating a cohesive ideological and visual narrative rooted in national identity rather than explicit political symbolism.

However, the fall of the Bulgarian Communist Party in 1989 led to economic instability and the abrupt abandonment of large-scale state projects. The Central City Square became one of many unfinished constructions left behind, though none matched its scale or ambition. Today, the structure stands as a striking example of failed utopian planning—an unfinished vision of a self-contained urban center that reflects both the aspirations and the sudden collapse of late socialist architecture.

SANATORIO DI BORNO [IT]

Exploration #252 Sanatorio di Borno. These buildings were constructed in the early 20th century, initially as a summer colony. With the outbreak of the First World War, like many other buildings in the valley, it was transformed into a recovery hospital for wounded soldiers.

After the war, the buildings were remodelled and renovated and in 1934 the Borno Sanatorium, named after ‘Gaetano Bonoris’, was inaugurated. The sanatorium was intended for the treatment of patients suffering from tuberculosis, dividing them into wards for men, women and children. With the discovery, spread and use of penicillin to treat tuberculosis, all sanatoriums were gradually decommissioned.

The Borno sanatorium was closed in the 1960s, and little by little the forest took over the surrounding area.

BATHHOUSE No.5 [GE]

Exploration #228 Bathhouse No.5. Bathhouse No.5 was one of the nine thermal baths located within the large central park of Tskaltubo (წყალტუბო), the town located in west-central Georgia designated as an important balneotherapy centre by the government of the former Soviet Union.

Tskaltubo has always been famous for its healing mineral waters and radon bath treatments. The centre focuses on balneotherapy for circulatory, nervous, musculoskeletal, gynaecological and skin diseases. The first balneological baths were opened around 1870 and in 1925, the first sanatoriums and curative structures were built. Development continued apace and in 1931 the town was designated a balneotherapy and spa centre by the Soviet government. Tskaltubo was one of Stalin’s favourite holiday resorts: he had a private swimming pool in Bathhouse No. 9, which is still in use today and not far from the abandoned Bathhouse No.5.

During the Second World War the hotels were used as hospitals, but after the war Tskaltubo became one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Soviet Union. Moreover, it was not only a luxury holiday for the rich, but spa treatments could also be prescribed by doctors and provided free of charge to the poorer population. Four trains arrived daily from Moscow. There were about 5,000 beds in 19 hotels and sanatoriums and up to 1,500 people a day underwent treatment.

The independence of Georgia in 1991 and the fall of the Soviet Union at the end of December 1991 caused the Tskaltubo spa industry to collapse. Without guests, most hotels and resorts were forced to close. Buildings were abandoned and fell into disrepair.

In 1992, a war broke out in neighbouring Abkhazia. More than 200,000 displaced Georgians fled the conflict and about 10,000 of them found refuge in the empty buildings of Tskaltubo. It was supposed to be temporary accommodation but today, almost 30 years later, these makeshift flats have become permanent homes for new generations of families. The condition of the buildings is extremely poor even though they still possess the magnificence of Soviet architecture. A couple of former structures, Hotel Medea and Hotel Imereti, are still so incredibly photogenic that they host multiple wedding photo shoots during the summer months. Bathhouse No. 5, on the other hand, is just a skeleton of mouldy, peeling walls within the large city park.

In Tskaltubo there are other former thermal bath like the Bathhouse No.8.

CIMITERO DI STAGLIENO [IT]

Exploration #202 Cimitero di Staglieno (testo italiano a fondo pagina). The monumental Cimitero di Staglieno is the largest burial place in Genova. It is one of the most important monumental cemeteries in Europe and is considered a true open-air museum. Illustrious sons of the Ligurian capital and other famous people are buried there, including one of the fathers of the Italian homeland, Giuseppe Mazzini, the Prime Minister and partisan Ferruccio Parri, and the composer of the music for the Italian anthem, Michele Novaro.

Work began in 1844 and the building was opened to the public on 2 January 1851. After various extensions over time, it now covers an area of around 330,000 square metres. Along the hill above it, monumental chapels in Gothic, Byzantine, Neo-Egyptian, Art Nouveau, Mesopotamian and Neoclassical styles can be found.

Genoa’s main cemetery has undergone a decline over time, also due to its size, while retaining its charm. The old tombs and sculptures are now greyed by dust, smog and overgrown shrubs. Although left abandoned, they remain equally full of grace and perfect in structure, remaining one of the best examples of the funerary art with which the Genoese bourgeoisie of the 19th century flaunted its opulence (source: wikipedia).

CERTOSA MOTTA GROSSA [IT]

Exploration #193 Certosa Motta Grossa. In 1903, following laws suppressing monastic orders, the Carthusian women’s community of Bastide Sainte Pierre at Montauban in the French Garonne had to abandon their convent and seek refuge in Italy. The Prior General at the time, Father Michel Baglin, had to buy the ancient medieval castle of “Motta dei Trucchetti” at the request of Father Martin, superior of the seminary of Pinerolo, and a great benefactor of the nuns until his death. The Carthusian nuns thus moved into the ancient castle in 1903.

Major renovation work began in October 1903 and was carried out under the direction of Don Roch Mallet, procurator of the Grande Chartreuse, who made the buildings suitable for the Carthusian monastic rule. Here the religious community respected the Carthusian rule as a house of refuge, and it was only later, in 1936, given the considerable growth in the number of nuns, that it was decided to build an autonomous Carthusian monastery known as Certosa Motta Grossa. The Carthusian nuns of Riva were the second female foundation of the Order in Italy, after that of Buonluogo. They remained there until May 1998, when they moved to the Carthusian monastery of Vedana. The Carthusian Monastery was then sold to the Diocesan Institute of Turin, which has since abandoned it.

These photos date back to 2014. Today the structure has been heavily vandalized.

CHEREPISH MONASTERY [BG]

Exploration #179 Cherepish Monastery. We are in Bulgaria, near the banks of the river Iskăr, in a section where the river winds its way between inaccessible rocks in a gorge. It is a cold spring day and the landscape is made magical by an unexpected overnight snowfall. In this picturesque place, the Cherepish Monastery was built in the 14th century and is still a place of worship today. A few metres away are several other religious buildings, now abandoned.

It all began in 1902, when the Sofia Theological School was founded, an institute that became very prestigious over the years. During the Second World War, the School’s buildings were damaged by aerial bombs, forcing the students to be evacuated to various places in the country, including Cherepish, where until 1947 some classes were temporarily transferred to buildings constructed next to the railway. At the end of the war classes returned to the seminary building in Sofia, but in September 1950 the new communist government decided to use the building for the Ministry of Education and exiled the Theological School to the old buildings in Cherepish Monastery. There the life of the seminarians lasted until 1990, when after the fall of the communist regime, the Theological Academy regained its property in Sofia. Since that year the Cherepish Monastery buildings have been abandoned. A guard was initially posted to watch over the place, but over the years everything has been left to decay.

What we are about to visit is the church built by the seminarians removed from Sofia, dedicated to St. Clement of Ohrid (Св. Климент Охридски). The interior of the church was adorned with many frescoes, while the exterior was enriched by a narthex, decorated with columns, from which the bell tower rises. Since liturgical singing was also studied in the Seminary, a large balcony called ‘emporium’ was reserved for the choristers. The garden around the temple was also very well cared for. In the centre of the garden, a stone spring can still be seen, from which water gushed out to quench the thirst of visitors.

Unfortunately, humidity and water infiltration are slowly destroying the frescoes, and uneven ground is creating dangerous cracks by tilting the main walls. Visiting the abandoned church evokes mixed feelings. On the one hand, the quiet and peaceful silence accompanied only by birdsong. On the other hand, the empty church and the probing glances of the many forgotten saints show that everything is perishable, even the buildings that were meant to serve God.

SCHLOSS W. [DE]

Exploration #164. The Castle is a large four-winged Baroque complex from the 17th and 18th centuries in the Nordsachsen district of Saxony. It has been in disuse and in danger of deterioration since it was sold in 1998 at the moment. The photos only refer to the area of the stables as the main structure was not accessible.

VILLA BECKER [IT]

Exploration #157. This villa has its origins in the seventeenth century but its current majesty dates back to the early twentieth century, when it was completely rebuilt by Sir Walter Friederich Becker, a diplomat and important businessman. The exterior was designed by the famous Art Nouveau architect Pietro Fenoglio and the interior decoration (including the furniture, frescoes and table) was executed under the direction of Ernesto Domenico Smeriglio in the Neo-Baroque style.

Sir Walter Becker died in Turin in 1927 at the age of 73. The pale widowed Lady Delphine remarried in 1935 to the Marquis Demetrio Imperiali di Francavilla, thirty years her junior. They continued to live in the villa at Valsalice during the war and even generously converted it into a refuge for displaced persons. When Delphine died in 1943, her second husband inherited her large fortune and later remarried twice more, squandering everything.

There is no precise information on the exact date of the abandonment of the villa. Currently, after being completely emptied and partly vandalised, the house is being renovated. In 2007, Dario Argento set the final scene of the film ‘La Terza Madre‘ here.

VILLA CONCHIGLIA [IT]

Exploration #149. Villa Conchiglia, real name Villa Carpeneto, so called because of the beautiful shell-shaped stucco decorating an elaborate staircase, is a splendid former aristocratic residence of baroque and neoclassical appearance, located in the agricultural plains of northern Italy.

In the middle of the last century, it was proclaimed a ‘National Monument’ due to its architectural merit. Built from a pre-existing medieval castle, the residence has changed hands over time, almost all of them belonging to aristocratic families and important political figures. In 1960, the villa was finally acquired by a Swiss company and since then it has been in a state of gradual decay, now sadly abandoned, unfurnished and neglected.

In 2020, the municipal authority expressed its willingness to purchase the historic residence for the purpose of conservative restoration and cultural functions.

VILLA DELL’ALLENATORE [IT]

Exploration #147. This villa is named after its last owner, a coach of a minor football team from a small village nearby. The villa is littered with photos of teams of young footballers, dinners and matches. There are also numerous certificates of recognition and various items of clothing related to the coach’s life. No information is available on the causes of the abandonment.