The world’s most famous abandoned buildings
- Meghan Blumsum
- Jun 19, 2024
- 3 min read
Across the globe, there are thousands of beautiful abandoned buildings, from ancient castles to unique railway stations, and as curiosity continues to grow through the power of social media, there are more urban explorers - also known as urbex - than ever before.
Eager to find out more, 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 277k posts on Instagram with the tag #abandonedbuildings
Australia has the most popular abandoned building worldwide with 150k posts.
Teufelsberg is the second most popular abandoned building worldwide with over 128k hashtags
Top 10 most famous abandoned buildings worldwide:
Rank | Building | Country | Instagram # |
1 | Port Arthur | Australia | 150,733 |
2 | Teufelsberg | Germany | 128,741 |
3 | Croix Rouge | France | 96,092 |
4 | Eastern State Penitentiary | USA | 79,071 |
5 | Beelitz | Germany | 64,168 |
6 | Canfranc | Spain | 59,220 |
7 | Lago di Resia Bell Tower | Italy | 54,910 |
8 | Gereja Ayam | Indonesia | 51,707 |
9 | Ohio State Reformatory | USA | 21,343 |
10 | Buzludzha | Bulgaria | 18,158 |
1. 150k #portarthur - Australia
Ranked as the world’s most famous abandoned building is Port Arthur in Australia with a whopping 150k hashtags on Instagram. Recognised as the symbol of Australia's convict past, the iconic site represents one of the foundational stories in the nation’s history with it being used to punish transported British convicts who had reoffended. However, it was closed in 1877 after there were too few many male workers to keep the station running and it became too expensive to run.
2. 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.
3. 96k #croixrouge - France
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.
4. 79k #easternstatepenitentiary - USA
Described as America’s most historic prison, the Eastern State Penitentiary closed in the 1970s where it was considered unique in its treatment of inmates that were subjected to confinement in solitude with labour. Hosted in Pennsylvania, with 79k hashtags online, tourists can experience life inside through guided or audio tours to experience the peeling cell blocks, deserted yards and stories of notorious inmates such as Al Capone.
5. 64k #beelitz - Germany
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.
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 lovexploring, afar, timeout and cntraveler.
Fame was measured on the number of Instagram Hashtags, and then ranked based on the highest result.
All data was collected July 2024 and is accurate as of then.
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