Visitors watch a tree decorated with about 10,000 Easter eggs in the garden of the retired couple Christa and Volker Kraft in Saalfeld, central Germany, Tuesday, March 19, 2013. The Kraft family has been decorating their tree at Easter for more than forty years. (Photo by Jens Meyer/AP Photo)

A Rohingya Muslim from Myanmar (R), who tried to cross the Naf river into Bangladesh to escape sectarian violence, cries near his family in a Bangladeshi Coast guard station in Teknaf on June 19, 2012, before being sent back to Myanmar. (Photo by Munir Uz Zaman/AFP Photo)

Family members perform the Manene traditional rite, cleaning the relatives' preserved remains, in Lembang on August 15, 2022, which is held every three years in August and is said to bless the harvest of rice fields. (Photo by Andri Saputra/AFP Photo)

People and devotees visit the Jama Masjid mosque in the walled city area of New Delhi on November 26, 2022, after reports stating that Delhi's Jama Masjid management, rolled back a ban on entry of women without families. (Photo by Sajjad Hussain/AFP Photo)

3-year-old Myla Mills plays with a two day old lamb in a toy pram in her family's farmyard in Arley, Worcestershire, United Kingdom on January 28, 2023. Early lambs are produced when the ram is free to tup the ewes over winter. (Photo by Peter Lopeman/Alamy Live News)

Friends and family fuss over a quinceañera in preparation for her photo session at Colon square in the Zona Colonial neighborhood of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Dominicans head to the polls on Sunday, May 19th to elect a new president and members of their Congress. (Photo by Matias Delacroix/AP Photo)

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)

South African maidens wrap themselves in blankets as they head to a ritual bath in a local river on September 5, 2014 at the eNyokeni Royal Palace in Nongoma in the KwaZulu-Natal region ahead of the 13th anniversary of the Reed Dance (uMkhosi woMhlanga) celebrated by the Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithin. As part of the ceremony, the young women dance bare-breasted for the king, each carrying a long reed, deposited later as they approach the King and is a cultural celebration that promotes respect for young women, and preserves the custom of keeping girls as virgins until marriage. (Photo by Marco Longari/AFP Photo)