A girl plays in a water-jets fountain in Moscow, Russia, 23 June 2021. The temperature exceeded 36 degrees Celsius in Moscow. The weather in Moscow broke the temperature record high of the day, held since 1948, when meteorologists recorded +33.6. (Photo by Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA/EFE)

Kate O'Connor of Team Northern Ireland celebrates during the Women's Heptathlon High Jump on day five of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games at Alexander Stadium on August 02, 2022 in the Birmingham, England. (Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)

A girl cools off in a public fountain in Vilnius, Lithuania, Wednesday, August 16, 2023. The heat wave continues in Lithuania as temperatures rise to as high as 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 degrees Fahrenheit). (Photo by Mindaugas Kulbis/AP Photo)

A street merchant waits for customers in Niamey, Niger, Monday, August 14, 2023. Niger's mutinous soldiers say they will prosecute deposed President Mohamed Bazoum for “high treason” and undermining state security. (Photo by Sam Mednick/AP Photo)

A puffadder snake is guided to safety as firefighters battle a wildfire near Pringle Bay, as firefighters remain on high alert amid dry, hot, and windy weather in Western Cape, South Africa on January 30, 2024. (Photo by Esa Alexander/Reuters)

Naruemol Thonglek, right, with her daughter, waits for news of her partner, who is missing after the collapse of an under-construction high-rise building after an earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, March, 31, 2025. (Photo by Manish Swarup/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)

A German Air Force Officer sits astride a dead boar outside a house where he is stationed near the Western Front, in this 1918 handout picture. This picture is part of a previously unpublished set of World War One (WWI) images from a private collection. The pictures offer an unusual view of varied and contrasting aspects of the conflict, from high tech artillery to mobile pigeon lofts, and from officers partying in their headquarters to the grim reality of life and death in the trenches. The year 2014 marks the centenary of the start of the war. (Photo by Reuters/Archive of Modern Conflict London)