Around the world, there are towns and villages that were flooded to make room for modern technologies and easier life. History and architecture created for thousands of years had to be submerged and forgotten deep under water. Only the highest peaks of the Cathedral and the buildings, emerging from the deep water and do not allow the submerged towns be completely forgotten. As most loyal soldiers, they keep the memory of the towns and villages that were sacrificed for a better future.
Photos of the flooded places at the same time look creepy and the magnificent, disturbing and beautiful. In these waterlogged towns and villages there is something special and something mysterious that attracts tourists from all over the world. Leaves no one indifferent, while some enjoy the beautiful landscapes others asking about old times and how and why the flood occurred…
This 1000 year old Spanish town and its Romanesque ruins were flooded in the 1960s to make way for a reservoir. When the waters are low you can walk out to what remains of the church, empty cemetery and the old town’s foundations.
The once thriving village of Graun was sacrificed in the mid 19th century to make way for a new dam that would increase electricity production to the area. 163 homes and a 14th century medieval church were flooded to create Lake Reschensee. Today the steeple of the submerged bell tower is the only visible building of the once bustling city. The surviving steeple is surrounded by spectacular scenery.
Stalin ordered the town of Kalyazin to be submerged to make way for a reservoir in 1939. All that remains is the Neoclassical bell tower of St Nicholas Cathedral known as “The Flooded Belfry”. It is said that Eastern Orthodox services are still held in the structure a few times a year.
The ruins of this small village in Romania can be seen poking through the surface of Lake Bezid, the artificial dam that flooded the town. The whole village including its two churches and cemetery were submerged in 1988, one of many towns destroyed during the Ceausescu era. Today just its church towers are visible.
The town was built in 1850 and submerged in 1949 to create a lake to supply water to the local power plant. The semi-submerged church of St Nicholas lies crumbling and covered in moss, a reminder of a life gone by. The dramatic ruins sit proudly on the artificial lake. In winter you can walk out to the forgotten church.
Petrolandia is a town in Brazil near the river of Sao Francisco, which was moved - or at least part of it was - when a dam was built. The only thing left standing is the church, which is unusual and beautiful sight.
In 1972 the town was submerged plunging over 2000 years of history underwater. The ancient village was said to be founded by Romans and at the time had almost 300 inhabitants. Today its barren walls, windows and doors rise eerily through the waters when the dam levels fall.
Built in 1860 by French missionaries for the affluent British estate owners in the neighbouring areas, the prominent Holy Rosary Church on the fringes of the picturesque village of Shettihalli in Hassan district was attributed to Father Dubois. The church’s lower part which is under water was submerged for the first time 25 years ago when the Gorur dam, situated eight kilometers away from the church site, flooded the region during the monsoon. With the construction of the dam, the entire village had to evacuate. People moved on with their belongings and relocated upstream leaving behind the church. The Hemavathy River backwaters submerge the church, but the water recedes during the summer time and tourists can visit the ruins of the church during this time.
The village of Krokhino was evacuated in 1961 when it was realised it fell into the flooding zone of the Sheksna River. Today you can take a river cruise past the only remaining town relic, the Nativity Church built in 1790. The town was sacrificed as a spill zone for the nearby river. Today river cruises give you glimpses of the lost city.
In 1974, the Spanish town of Mediano was swallowed in the creation of one of the country’s largest reservoirs. Now just the peak of its 16th century church emerges from the water, which sometimes is low enough to show the whole stone tower in its former glory. An entire city sits submerged under this lake.
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