It was hard to motivate ourselves to hit the road on this cold December morning, with temperatures of -29 ° C. But the destination was worth it: a 130-year-old abandoned prison. Moreover, I had a special permission for a photo session inside....
We are in September 1937 in the small village of Belchite located about 50 kilometers from Zaragoza. The Spanish Civil War has been raging for a year already and thousands of Spaniards died. By the end of the conflict in April 1939, they will be more than 500,000 deads.
While the village is the site of many battles between nationalists and republicans, Belchite will be conquered and reconquered throughout the Spanish Civil War. On April 1, 1939 while the noise of the bombs stopped, the village is completely destroyed, a victim of the madness of soldiers.
The new dictator, Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco y Bahamonde, or simply Franco decided to leave the ruins untouched and rebuild the village few meters away. His goal? Give his people a live monument of the civil war. The latter is also used symbolically this place as irrefutable proof that the Republicans was the cause of this horror.
Today, the site is open to the public and guided tours are possible. The area have also been the scene of shooting various films, such as The Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Terry Gilliam (Brazil, The Fisher King, etc.) and Pan's Labyrinth directed by Guillermo del Toro .
It was hard to motivate ourselves to hit the road on this cold December morning, with temperatures of -29 ° C. But the destination was worth it: a 130-year-old abandoned prison. Moreover, I had a special permission for a photo session inside....
Okay, Fort Rodney is more a tourist place than abandoned, conducive to exploration. Besides, I wasn't sure about these photos on this website. Well, they are published, but I'm still not convinced to keep them all on Urbex Playground.
Not...
Many mysteries surround this old abandoned building where prison traces are practically nonexistent today. In a city where people are more interested in historic buildings instead of ugly concrete and brick buildings, this old prison is located...
Located in the town of Celles, in the Namur area in Belgium, the Miranda castle (or Noisy) is unquestionably one of the most famous Belgian places for urbexers . Built in 1907 (the work has began in 1866), the castle is owned by the Comte...