Europe’s top 5 beautiful abandoned buildings

Discover a world brimming with fascinating abandoned structures, ranging from ancient castles to historic railway stations. These iconic buildings captivate the imagination with their architectural marvels and stunning structural beauty, leaving a lasting impression for generations to come. Explore the rich history and unique character of each site, as they stand as silent witnesses to the passage of time and the stories they hold within their walls.

With this in mind, unoccupied property insurance provider Alan Boswell Group set out to reveal the most famous abandoned buildings across the world.

Key Findings:

There are a total of 276k posts on Instagram with the tag #abandonedbuildings
Germany has the most popular abandoned building worldwide with 128k posts.
Ryugyong Hotel in North Korea is the largest abandoned building worldwide but only has just over 1,000 instagram posts

Top five most famous abandoned buildings worldwide:

128k #teufelsberg – Germany

Translated to ‘devil’s mountain’, Teufelsberg, Berlin, was one of the largest listening towers in the world during the Cold war. The beautiful and historical building was built on top of an artificial hill made from the aftermath of Berlin’s streets after world war two. However, since then a group of private investors bought the station from the capital’s council with plans to renovate it in the future, unfortunately this fell through and it is left standing as a graffiti site. Despite there only being 128k Instagram hashtags, tourists can visit the on-site art gallery for eight euros.

95.6k #croixrouge – France

Michael Derrer Fuchs / Shutterstock.com

Previously used as a shortcut to the city of love, Paris, the Croix-Rouge had a short lifeline of 16 years being a metro station when it closed in 1939 after France joined the second world war. Now regarded as the ‘ghost’ station, it never reopened due to its prime location crossing between Sèvres Baylone and Mabillon stations. With a total of 95.6k tags online, it has since become a hot spot for urban explorers.

63.9k #beelitz – Germany

Romanova Elizaveta / Shutterstock.com

A large hospital complex in Germany, Beelitz Military Hospital is now an abandoned property after multiple failed attempts of privatisation. Dating back to 1898, it was originally designed to be a sanatorium and quickly transformed into a hospital at the beginning of World War one for the Imperial German Army, where even Hilter stayed after being wounded in the Battle of Somme. This historical building may be filled with ghosts now, but for avid explorers it remains as a popular destination with a total of 63.9k hashtagged posts on Instagram.

58.9k #canfranc– Spain

Mila Croft / Shutterstock.com

Claimed as the second largest station in Europe, Canfranc Rail Station allowed international explorers to fast track into the Pyrenees mountains. Despite taking five years to build, the service ran for less than five decades despite the stunning Spanish revival architecture having 300 windows and 156 doors. With a total of 58.9k hashtags online, the station became derelict after a train derailment damaged a bridge in France deemed the station too dangerous to use, expensive to repair and led to the downfall of this vibrant depot.

18k #buzludzha – Bulgaria

Maryshot / Shutterstock.com

In the heart of the Balkan mountains, Buzludzha in Bulgaria is an iconic monument featuring brutalist communist-era architecture that pays tribute to those that risked their lives in the battle between the Turkish and Bulgarian rebels in 1868. To many, this spaceship-like structure was abandoned in 1989 after becoming one of many victims of vandalism. Despite being off limits to the public and having no entry to the monument at all, there are a total of 18,000 hashtags on Instagram from tourists who have hiked and experienced simply being near to the landmark.

Methodology:

Unoccupied property insurance provider Alan Boswell Group wanted to share the most famous buildings around the world that are now abandoned.
A ranking was created using a seedlist of articles from safe site security solutions, uniplaces, timeout and world atlas.
Fame was measured on the number of Instagram Hashtags, Google searches per month and TikTok views.
All data was collected June 2024 and is accurate as of then.