Artist Jason deCaires Taylor’s Museo Atlantico, off Lanzarote, is peopled with concrete casts of refugees and people taking selfies. Drowned world: welcome to Europe’s first undersea sculpture museum. Here: The Raft of Lampedusa, Taylor’s modern-day concrete echo of Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa. The work has particular significance given the huge movement of refugees across the sea to Europe – and the frequent fatalities that result. (Photo by Jason deCaires Taylor)

Steam enthusiasts demonstrate their engines at the Great Dorset Steam Fair, the biggest event of its kind in Europe on September 2, 2011 in Tarrant Hinton, near Blandford, England. Over 200,000 people are expected to attend the 600 acre event, which is in its 43rd year and includes displays and demonstrations of steam and vintage machinery over five days. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

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)

These chilling images prove there is no sign of life at this abandoned tuberculosis treatment hospital. Johnny Joo, 24, captured the eerie shots of the desolate TB ward, in Perrysburg, New York. Where equipment lies gathering rust and walls are left crumbling. The photojournalist, from Cleveland, Ohio, stumbled upon the facility, which shut its doors in 1995, before shooting what remains of the historic site. Johnny said the facility, named after Buffalo Mayor James Nobel Adam, remains something of an unknown quantity as it is surrounded by more than 500 acres of forest land. (Photo by Johnny Joo/Caters News)

The series of shots show the bare steel infrastructure of the Bushfield army training camp near Winchester which was in operation during World War Two and was used to train Royal Green Jackets recruits in the sixties. The spectacular images were taken by an urban explorer who wished to remain anonymous. Here: A railway siding in Wiltshire, UK where ammunition was transferred by tunnel to an underground storage facility. (Photo by MediaDrumWorld.com)

The once majestic building lies in ruins, with crumbling walls and chilling debris, including body bags and embalming fluids scattered throughout. Formerly an opera house, the building was transformed into a funeral home in 1946. The chilling snaps were taken by photographer Johnny Joo at the deserted House of Wills Funeral Home in Cleveland. Here: The balcony in the abandoned opera hall. (Photo by Johnny Joo/Caters News)

Photographer John Maher, once the drummer with punk bank Buzzcocks, travelled to the Outer Hebrides to photograph abandoned crofters’ cottages – many of which, like this one, have seemingly been untouched since. Here: “Peat Fire”. Taken in March 2013 on the east coast of Harris. The fire is from muir-burning, when farmers burn off grasses and heather to improve grazing for their sheep. (Photo by John Maher/The Guardian)