Grand banqueting halls, opulent lobbies and vast ballrooms; you could easily be forgiven for thinking this was a collection of photographs was documenting some of Europe’s grandest hotels. However, a closer look will reveal the majestic rooms to be engulfed in swathes of dust and moss; hotels that once hosted royals and high society abandoned to the elements. This is the latest result of urban exploration photography, going beyond “no entry” signs to capture images of dilapidated buildings across Europe. IT worker Thomas Windisch, from Graz in Austria, indulged his passion for photography by traveling across the continent, visiting over 100 abandoned hotels along the way. Here: inside a hotel in Austria. (Photo by Thomas Windisch/Caters News)

People dressed as characters from the computer game “World of Warcraft” walk across a field near the town of Kamyk nad Vltavou, Czech Republic, April 28, 2018. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)

Men are sent down into the sludge to clear the sewers in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on May 23, 2018. The people who do the work aren’t even given any protective clothing or goggles and have to dig out the clogged-up muck with a stick or their bare hands. (Photo by Rehman Asad/Barcroft Media)

A woman walks past a mural painting on a street in Tokyo, Japan on Wednesday, April 25, 2018. (Photo by Koji Sasahara/AP Photo)

A duck salesman parades his stock to commuters at a busy station in Dhaka, Bangladesh on May 23, 2018. (Photo by Nazmul Hasan Khan/Caters News Agency)

A vendor arranges dates on his cart at a market in Rawalpindi on June 1, 2023. (Photo by Farooq Naeem/AFP Photo)

A man walks past a mural along a street in New Delhi on June 30, 2023. (Photo by Arun Sankar/AFP Photo)

A mural depicting a resting cat by Russian street artist Vladi is photographed by a man outside a hotel in Hong Kong on November 27, 2023. (Photo by Peter Parks/AFP Photo)