VCG via GettyAbandoned oil tanks are covered by flourishing ivy plants in Huai an, Jiangsu province, China, seen on May 9, 2023.Artem Priakhin / SOPA Images / LightRocket / GettyA discarded sneaker, covered in thick layers of green moss, rests on a fallen tree branch in a public park on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, Russia, on April 8, 2026.CFoto / Sipa USA / ReutersYoung trees sprout up within the unfinished Evergrande Cultural Tourism City project in Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu province, China on September 5, 2024. The project was originally planned as a world-class fairy-tale themed park—a competitor to Shanghai Disneyland—meant to open in 2021.Christoph Hardt / IMAGO / Panama Pictures / ReutersThick ivy covers a streetlight in Frechen, Germany, seen on July 26, 2024.Saeed Khan / AFP / GettyAn aerial view of the abandoned MS World Discoverer cruise ship, stranded in shallow water in Roderick Bay in the Solomon Islands, seen on on April 20, 2024. The ship struck a rock during a cruise in 2000, and was deliberately grounded to prevent it from sinking.Lian Zhen / Xinhua / GettyA view of the thousand-year-old Heicheng ruins in Ejina Banner in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, shows encroaching dunes, viewed on October 29, 2025.Jochen Tack / ReutersAn old table-tennis table sits in an abandoned playground, overgrown by plants, in Essen, Germany.Vadim Makhorov / APA polar bear pokes its head out of a window at an abandoned research station on Koluchin Island, off Chukotka, Russia, on September 18, 2025.Leo Coulongeat / Hans Lucas / ReutersAn aerial view of the bell tower of San Juan Parangaricutiro Church, which was buried by lava during the eruption of the Parícutin volcano in 1943, in the Mexican state of Michoacán.Peter Schickert / IMAGO / ReutersPlants grow within the ruins of St Mary’s Church in Wye Valley, Tintern, Wales.Michael Nguyen / NurPhoto / GettyA tiled corridor in an abandoned building frames a view of bright yellow autumn leaves in Neukirchen, Germany, on October 10, 2025.Jonathan Lins / DPA / GettyAnimals walk past abandoned houses in the Bebedouro neighborhood of Maceió, Brazil, which was evacuated due to the risk of collapse at a nearby salt mine, seen on December 11, 2023.JanelleLugge / iStockphoto / GettyTrees grow among stones in a collapsed section of Beng Mealea, an ancient temple in Siem Reap, Cambodia.Detlef Voigt / Zoonar / IMAGO / ReutersAn aerial view of the closed Stadio Sant’Elia stadium, seen with an overgrown field, in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy, viewed in 2025Lou Benoist / AFP / GettyAn abandoned house sits near eroded cliffs in Saint-Pierre-en-Port, France, on August 22, 2025.Jim West / Universal Images Group / GettyRabbitbrush takes over an abandoned gas station in the Nevada desert.Indranil Mukherjee / AFP / GettyAbandoned buses, discontinued from active service, stand overgrown with creeper vines and other vegetation at a bus depot in Mumbai, India, on July 26, 2025.Nicolas Tucat / AFP / GettyA computer monitor and telephone remain on a desk in the offices of an abandoned steel plant in Charleroi, Belgium, seen on February 9, 2026.Iren_Key / iStockphoto / GettyOne of the structures of the ancient Mayan city of Calakmul sits surrounded by a tropical forest in the Mexican state of Campeche.Atlantagreg / iStockphoto / GettyA large patch of Kudzu takes over a parking lot.
