Students prepare a floral decorative design “Rangoli” during the celebrations to mark the annual harvest festival of 'Onam' at a school, in Chennai on September 10, 2024. (Photo by R.Satish Babu/AFP Photo)

Displaced girl looks on behind a tree outside a school turned into shelter, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces in Baabda, Lebanon on October 31, 2024. (Photo by Yara Nardi/Reuters)

Volunteer of the SICS “Italian rescue dog school”, during a water rescue training session, inside the Averno lake in Pozzuoli. Italy, on October 26, 2024. (Photo by Vincenzo Izzo/Sipa USA)

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)

Takahiro Shito, 47, and his wife Sayomi Shito, 46, pray with their children Tomoka, 14, and Kenya 16, and their great uncle Akinori Takahashi, 76, as they pay respects to their daughter Chisato,12, buried in a nearby cemetery, victim of the Okowa Elementary School tragedy, who was killed during last year's tsunami on March 11, 2012 near Ishinomaki, Japan. Teachers at the school weren't trained for tsunami evacuation and didn't to lead the children up the snow covered mountain behind the school after the tsunami warning was sounded. Out of 108 students at the school, 74 died and four remain missing; 10 of the school's 13 teachers were also killed. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak /Getty Images)

A women attends a class at a driving school in Kabul August 17, 2014. Kabul is one of the world's fastest growing cities and its streets are increasingly blocked by cars and buses. In the city's private driving schools, students pay a $60 fee for a 45-day course, which includes oral and practical driving tests at the country's Traffic Department. Some of the women who have signed up say learning to drive is a way to escape unwanted gazes and physical harassment on the cramped, crowded minibuses that are often the only method of urban public transport. (Photo by Mohammad Ismail/Reuters)

Grand Blanc junior Sarah Hartwell chants “Get her out!” as more than 100 students, retired teachers and other members of the community march on Monday, May 24, 2021 on the sidewalk along Saginaw Street outside of Grand Blanc High School, protesting Amy Facchinello, a school board member accused of believing in the QAnon conspiracy. About 25 counter-protesters showed to argue that Facchinello was duly elected and has her right to free speech. (Photo by Jake May/AP Photo)