A “Rhino Beetle” (Oryctes nasicornis) is seen in Edremit, Van, Turkiye on August 2, 2024. Named “Rhino Beetle” due to the horn on its head, this beetle is commonly found in moist areas across Europe and Turkiye. (Photo by Ozkan Bilgin/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Artem, a 40-year-old Ukrainian commander, shouts a warning before his artillery team fires toward Russian positions near Pokrovsk in early October 2024. (Photo by Serhiy Nuzhnenko/Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

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 year after hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees snaked their way across southeastern Europe and onto television screens worldwide, the roads through the Balkans are now clear, depriving an arguably worsening tragedy of its poignant visibility. Reuters photographer, Antonio Bronic revisiting the people-packed locations where he and his colleagues captured last year's diaspora, found empty roads, unencumbered railway tracks and bucolic countryside. (Photo by Antonio Bronic/Reuters)

Lava gushes from the southern side crater of Mt. Etna, Europe's largest active volcano, near Catania, southern Italy Sicily, early Tuesday, May 25, 2021. (Photo by Salvatore Allegra/AP Photo)

Long streams of red-hot lava flow down the southeast crater of Mount Etna, Europe's tallest and most active volcano, seen from Zafferana Etnea, Italy, June 11, 2022. (Photo by Antonio Parrinello/Reuters)

Performers in costume wait to take part in the carnival on the main Parade day of the Notting Hill Carnival in west London on August 29, 2022. London's Notting Hill carnival celebrates Caribbean culture, at a carnival considered the largest street demonstration in Europe. (Photo by Susannah Ireland/AFP Photo)

A view of one of the stands during the inauguration of the Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) fair, the largest audiovisual show in the world, in Barcelona city, Catalonia, north-eastern Spain, 31 January 2023. The event runs until 03 February, gathers 68,000 registered attendees and 1,055 exhibiting companies. (Photo by Quique Garcia/EPA)