Abandoned Mir Diamond Mine in Russia

Mir Mine also called Mirny Mine is a former open pit diamond mine located in Mirny, Eastern Siberia, Russia. At the time of its closing in 2004, the mine was 525 meters deep and 1,200 meters across making it the second largest excavated hole in the world, after Bingham Canyon Mine. The hole is so big that airspace above the mine is closed for helicopters because of incidents in which they were sucked in by the downward air flow.

Mining began on 1957, in extremely harsh climate conditions. The Siberian winter lasted seven months which froze the ground, making it hard to mine. During the brief summer months, permafrost would become mud turning the entire mining operation into a land of sludge. Buildings had to be raised on piles, so that they would not sink. The main processing plant had to be built on better ground, found 20 km away from the mine. The winter temperatures were so low that car tires and steel would shatter and oil would freeze. During the winter, workers used jet engines to burn through the layer of permafrost or blasted it with dynamite to get access to the underlying kimberlite. The entire mine had to be covered at night to prevent the machinery from freezing.

Most interesting abandoned places in the world

1. Christ of the Abyss in San Fruttuoso in Italy.

9 Abandoned Islands Where Time Has Stopped

Some islands were used for military purposes, for the construction of individual buildings or for permanent settlements in which people lived for centuries. However, loss of strategic position, natural disasters, nuclear tests or simply wish to live in civilization, led to the abandonment of these islands. This is a list of abandoned islands, where time has stopped, where homes, buildings and streets standing untouched for decades.

1. Hirta, Scotland, UK

Abandoned village on the island of Hirta (in the picture can be seen a few renovated houses used by scientists) Hirta is the largest island in the St Kilda archipelago, on the western edge of Scotland. This island may have been permanently inhabited for at least two millennia, the population probably never exceeding 180 (and certainly no more than 100 after 1851). The entire population was evacuated from Hirta in 1930, due to disease and outside influences. 

In The Huge Abandoned Bunker

This is one of the alernate command posts of the Warsaw Pact contries located on the territory of Moldavia. There are similar constructions in Belorus, Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan.Object 1180 represents two cylindrical blocks each 36 m in diameter and 60 m deep divided into 10-12 levels. There is an additional level used as a fridge centre.The bunker was not finished and finally was abandoned, but the structure is so colossal that is truly worth visiting. It’s hard to imagine how deep everything is buried here.The staircase between the levels of the command block have also suffered looting.It would be nice for Indiana Jones movies…Typical storey of the command block has two big rooms and a corridor between them. The rooms are 4-5 m high. The walls are made of steel.

Abandoned city of San Zhi

In Taiwan near Taipei there is an abandoned vacation site called San Zhi constructed of modular houses. It is said that there happened some fatal accidents during its construction, so that the project was abandoned. It’s not only me who is fascinated by these photos. They are very popular on web pages dedicated to ruins and strange places. So it may happen that the ghost city of San Zhi will be one of the first of modern ruins which will be converted in a real tourist attraction.

Balkhash Kazakhstan - Abandoned Place

Balkhash Kazakhstan - Abandoned Place

The Russian Army garrison, the object 1102 "nine" (Balkhash Kazakhstan) lost in the Kazakh steppes.Radar "Daryal-U" (building № 1 - a transmitter building number 2 - receiver) meant for long-horizon detection of ballistic missiles and space objects to the "missile-south direction," - in the sector of Western China - Iran.In January 2003, building number 1 and number 2 were given to Kazakhstan.September 17, 2004 the second was burned. 

Bamboo Train Of Cambodia

Bamboo Train Of Cambodia 

For years, travellers in Cambodia had to deal with one of the world's worst train networks. Trains run infrequently in between the villages, break-downs and derailments are common, and the trains themselves travel at little more than walking pace. So people in the north west of the country, near Cambodia's second city of Battambang, have taken matters into their own hands. They have created their own rail service using pieces of bamboo and abandoned barbell like train wheels. The locals call the vehicles "Norries", but overseas visitors know them as "bamboo trains".

Each bamboo train consists of a 3m-long wood frame, covered lengthwise with slats made of ultra-light bamboo, that rests on two barbell-like bogies. A repurposed water-pump or gasoline engine transfers power to the rear wheels by means of belts. These rickety contraptions can haul twenty or more people over the aging rails at speeds nearing 40 km/h, with the track just a couple of inches below the passengers. Warped and broken rails make for a bone-shaking journey.

And what happens when a bamboo train meets another bamboo train coming the opposite way? The answer is simple: whichever car has the least amount of passengers is quickly lifted off the tracks to allow the other to pass. They are then reassembled, engine restarted and on their way they go. It can be done with a minute. The importance of urgent bamboo train removal is of interest should a real train come your way.

Abandoned unfinished TV Tower (Ekaterinburg Russia)

Abandoned unfinished TV Tower (Ekaterinburg Russia)

In the center of Yekaterinburg there is an abandoned unfinished TV Tower, that has been there for 10 years. According to the project, this TV Tower, called the RTTS (radio-television transmitting station), would increase the range of broadcasting in 2.5 times and cover TV-radio signal the entire Sverdlovsk Region (the height of the existing tower is 194 meters).

Unfinished nuclear power plants - Abandoned Place

Unfinished nuclear power plants - Abandoned Place

Unfinished nuclear power plant in the Crimea. (Shelkino, Crimea, Ukraine)Unfinished nuclear power plants. In 1968 in the Crimea it was decided to build nuclear power plants. The construction lasted 21 years, but then it was frozen.Crimean NPP project was similar to the Chernobyl's one. 

Phosphorus-field near Moscow Abandoned Place

Phosphorus-field near Moscow Abandoned Place 

This is what they called heavy machinery in Soviet Russia. This giant excavation device was used for exploitation of phosphorus-field somewhere near Moscow and abandoned after the collapse of the USSR.

Roofs of New York

Roofs of New York 

This small collection of aerial photographs allows you to look into the hidden world of rooftops of New York.Swimming pools, lush gardens, tennis courts, and even vegetable gardens - small oases, towering over the incessant bustle of the city.

Russian water stadium abandoned place

 Russian water stadium abandoned place

It was a Soviet legend, one and only Russian water stadium, in Moscow. The place where Russian athletes could do surfing on public. Surfing was so exotic for Russia.. Now it lays abandoned.

Prypiat - Abandoned Places Of The World.

Prypiat - Abandoned Places Of The World.

Prypiat is a ghost town near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Kiev Oblast (province) of northern Ukraine, near the border with Belarus.The city has a special status within the Kiev Oblast, being the city of oblast-level subordination (see Administrative divisions of Ukraine), although it is located within the limits of Ivankiv Raion. The city also is being supervised by the Ministry of Emergencies of Ukraine as part of the Zone of Alienation jurisdiction.
Pripyat was founded in 1970 to house workers for the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. It was officially proclaimed a city in 1979 but was abandoned in 1986 following the Chernobyl disaster. It was the ninth nuclear city in the Soviet Union at the time and its population was around 50,000 before the accident.
The annual rate of natural increase for the city's population was estimated at around 800 persons, plus over 500 newcomers from all corners of the Soviet Union each year, and Pripyat's population had been expected to rise to 78,000. The Yanov railroad station (part of Chernigov-Ovruch railroad link) was less than 1 km away from the city, and the navigable Pripyat River flows nearby. 

Abandoned Places Of The World-2

Abandoned Places Of The World-2

Abandoned missile complex with a missile R-12U (Ķekava Latvia). Near the town of Kekava there is the former location of the R-12U complex.It consisted of 4 silos and bunkers of the central management and technical support. 

Abandoned Police Station (Michigan,USA)

 Abandoned Police Station (Michigan,USA)

Ababdibed TV tower of 350 meters high

Ababdibed TV tower of 350 meters high

Inactive TV tower is 350 meters high. It was built in the 90th years. Tower building includes boiler room, substation building for equipment and personnel

Abandoned Places Of The World.

Abandoned Places Of The World.

Abandoned Police Station (Highland Park, United States).

This city is called Highland Park. It is located in Michigan and is adjacent to Detroit. Crime in the city exceeds the limit. Because of this years earlier the police station was closed, the work was too dangerous, the city also turned out to be bankrupt. 

Abandoned Russian Polar Nuclear Lighthouse

Abandoned Russian Polar Nuclear Lighthouse

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Russian Northern coast is a vast territory lays for a few thousand of miles and all this coastline is inside the Polar Circle. Long polar winters mean no daylight at all, just one day changes another without any sign of the Sun rising above the horizon. There is only polar night for 120 days a year.

So, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union decided to build a chain of lighthouses to guide ships finding their way in the dark polar night across uninhabited shores of the Soviet Russian Empire. So it has been done and a series of such lighthouses has been erected. However, these have been abandoned due to signs of radioactivity.