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)

Austrian artist Erwin Wurm (R) stands next to an extra of his participation sculpture “Hose lueften, Haende hoch” (air out pants, hands high) at the garden of the Staedel Museum, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 06 May 2014. The series “Wurm: One Minute Sculptures” include painted or written instructions tell the person what they have to do and where for 60 seconds. The exhibition runs from 07 May to 13 July. (Photo by Arne Dedert/EPA)

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 This picture is part of a previously unpublished set of World War One (WWI) images from a private collection.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)

In this photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, female impersonator Gary Marion, known as “Sushi”, sits in a large replica of a women's high-heel shoe while dangling above Duval Street, late Tuesday, December 31, 2019, in Key West, Fla. The Red Shoe Drop is one of six offbeat Key West warm-weather takeoffs on New York City's Times Square “ball drop” set to celebrate the beginning of 2020. (Photo by Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau via AP Photo)

A house along Hoover Beach is covered by ice from high winds and from the waves from Lake Erie, Saturday, February 29, 2020, in Hamburg N.Y. Blowing snow has fallen around the state since Thursday, though the heaviest snowfall was concentrated in largely rural areas east of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. (Photo by Jeffrey T. Barnes/AP Photo)

Paramedics wearing protective suits amid fears of coronavirus outbreak check on a man who collapsed outside a clinic in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, March 26, 2020. It's not immediately clear what caused the man to collapse. The U.S. Embassy in Indonesia has ordered the departure of employees' family members under the age of 21 from its missions in the country where new COVID-19 patients have surged in the past week with high fatality. (Photo by Muchlis Akbar/AP Photo)

People wear face masks while participating in the annual Memorial Day Parade on May 25, 2020 in the Staten Island borough of New York City. Dozens of cars and nearly 100 members of the patriotic motorcycle group Rolling Thunder joined the event. This year’s parade was diminished in size and in person-to-person contact due to the coronavirus outbreak. Across the country, events honoring the nation’s veterans have been cancelled or scaled back as America continues to experience high numbers of deaths and new cases of COVID-19. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)