How cities will look after world war III

How cities will look after world war III

Apocalypse now: Russian artist transforms real-life photographs to show how cities might look after the end of the world

You could be forgiven for thinking that these incredible images are simply scene grabs from a computer game or film depicting some imaginary and non-existent world.

But these pictures are actually photographs of modern-day cities around the globe that have been manipulated by Russian artist Vladimir Manyuhin.

Manyuhin starts with original snapshots and then adds digital decay and overgrowth to depict what well-known places on earth would look like after an apocalypse.

Welcome to the jungle: This image of New York's Times Square from Russian artist Vladimir Manyuhin's Life after the Apocalypse is reminiscent of scenes from the 2007 film I am Legend

By night: The same view of New York - minus some lions - with the sun slowly setting in the background

Busy: Times Square as it looks today

Still sitting: The 1920 statue of former American President, Abraham Lincoln, in a collapsing Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington D.C.

Tourist attraction: Today the Lincoln Memorial is one of the most popular sights for visitors to the U.S. capital

In a land far, far away: Manyuhin imagines St Basil's Cathedral and Red Square , Moscow, as a beautiful pastoral scene in a future where the city has been reclaimed by the forces of nature

Orthodox: How Red Square and St. Basil's cathedral look today

In some scenes he has even added wild animals and human beings adapting to their new world.

The collection of images, entitled Life after the Apocalypse, have all been created using various graphic programs such as Photoshop and 3DMax.

While many of the images are of Moscow, there are also recreations of New York and also of the 1920 statue of former American President, Abraham Lincoln, situated in the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington D.C.

And his pictures have become an internet sensation - with thousands of people viewing them around the world.

Underground: Manyuhin has transformed a picture of a subway to a scene of destruction

Unsuspecting: The A train subway line, New York City

Nature's revenge: Manyuhin has added the odd human survivor to his pieces - but they are few and far between

End of the world as we know it: Decay and sprawling overgrowth have been added to the photographs to create eerie scenes of a post-apocalyptic Earth

Armageddon: With its struggling human survivors making their way through a burnt out world, this scene could be straight out of the 2009 film adaptation of the post-apocalyptic book The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Final fantasy: The imaginings of life after an apocalypse are strangely beautiful

Many viewers have commented how the scenes resemble well known computer games such as Final Fantasy, Fall Out, and Enslaved: Odyssey to the West.

Some of Manyuhin's scenes also look startlingly similar to the backdrop of New York in the post-apocalyptic 2007 film I am Legend starring Will Smith. 

While other images, with struggling human survivors making their way through burnt out surroundings, could be straight out of the 2009 film adaptation of the post-apocalyptic book The Road by Cormac McCarthy starring Viggo Mortensen. 

Contrasting: Manyuhin has transformed this landscape in to swamps and marshland in sharp contrast to other burnt out scenes

Power out: Defunct electricity cables have come down while the pylons slowly erode

Survivors: Two lone walkers make their way home in a cold and harsh post-apocalyptic world

Man's best friend: But even in Manyuhin's desolate world, one survivor still has his pet dog to keep him company, just like Will Smith's character Robert Neville in the movie I am Legend