ITT, ancient RUINS, ruined cities, oh look on my works, ye mighty and despair!

No, not modern industrial decay (though that, indeed, is beautiful in its own way)

ANCIENT ruins. Also encompassing Medieval, Pre-Columbian and, erm, ruined jungle temples covered in creeping vines or overgrown cathedrals from the Dissolution of the Monasteries and these kinds of things from all around the world.

Basically inspired by this picture of the castle of Clonmacnoise

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Clonmacnoise_castle_and_cattle.jpg

That's just fucking weird, how did that even work as a structure in the first place?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/runmdc/4009931388/in/set-72157622579975856/

This is in the middle of Paphos in Cyprus, I was there last year and you can't see it from the street at all, but it's huge and immersive once you're wandering round it.

I'm assuming that some kind of erosion (Ireland is a very rainy country after all) contributed to the current higgledy piggledy-ness.

http://essentialscafe.com/forums/storage/24/16997/cornwall-030.jpg

^^^^^not actually ruined (currently a middle eastern restaurant, I believe) but still in a similar "how does that even work, architecturally?" state of construction.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3662/3325980670_12c02f038c.jpg

Looking at this kind of thing makes me so happy (is that what the romantics called "confronting the SUBLIME?")

http://www.kiriticalmass.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Jumieres2-600x450.jpg

http://www.speckledgoat.co.uk/archives/corfe%20castle.jpg

Corfe Castle in Dorset is pretty awesome, you can see it towering over the whole village underneath.

Staying true to my screen name, I do LOVE a good wheal... (not actually ancient per se, but still lovely and ruined looking)

http://www.geevor.com/media/images/Cornish%20Mining/A7%20Wheal%20Coates%20pumping%20engine%20house.jpg

AH YES, the original sublime...

http://www.historyfish.net/images/abbeys/british_isles/n_tintern_abbey2.jpg

And while we're on treeroots swallowing buildings, let's have some Angkor Wat while we're at it, eh?

http://www.images-photography-pictures.net/Angkor-Wat-Cambodia-Siem-Reap-Hrtfried-Schmid.jpg

GIS "cow ruins" and some nice ones come up. Apparently Ireland has a lot of ruins. And cows.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2392/2210666732_fbffa8887a_z.jpg

Apparently, it's a "thing", cows and ruins. Here is a cow on Glastonbury Tor!

http://bathdailyphoto.files.wordpress.com/2006/10/060929040somsetglastonburytorst-michaelstower14thcpilgrimage.jpg

Cows in Stonehenge! I win!

http://stonehengecollectables.com/albums/Cows1969/cows69_f.sized.jpg

Avebury, unfortunately, can only offer me sheep.

http://ivyhousemarlborough.com/wp-content/gallery/offers/avebury-sheep-small.jpg

The cows can go right up to the top of Glastonbury Tor, I remember thinking that was weird when I was up there.

Why waste good grazing land because it's got a few old stones on it? It's a small island!

Whitby Abbey, with cows:

http://www.oldukphotos.com/graphics/England%20Photos/Yorkshire,%20Whitby%20Abbey%20III%201900%27s.jpg

And without:

http://www.sonofyork.com/images/Northern%20England/Whitby%20Abbey.jpg

It's more that it's weird because it's a very steep hill...

They must have imported Scottish climbing coos. Or interbred them with Italian Ninja Goats. Or perhaps they have one set of legs shorter than the other, like Haggisses. (Haggi? What is the plural of Haggis?)

Blimey, why are photos of Whitby Abbey all so HUUUUUUUGE? Coz goths all have massive cameras?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Whitby_Abbey_image.jpg

I should go to Whitby one of these years. I think I'd like it. Full of goths or no.

Ruins on Iona!

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nBZ_zzmArEQ/TJOFi1i9boI/AAAAAAAAAMc/WeQx0mQes0M/s1600/iona_nunnery_sm.jpg

Unfortunately only sheep, not coos. I don't think the Isle of Iona is big enough to fit a coo.

we have lots of cows and ruins both, no denying it.

I feel I am perhaps being unfairly slanted towards British and Irish ruins.

Here are some Roman ruins

http://www.theodora.com/wfb/photos/syria/ancient_roman_ruins_aphamia_syria_photo_gov.jpg

http://www.seewald.com/images/Israel/RomanRuinsCaesaria2.jpg

I need to do some actual work, and then I am going to come back and post some ancient Egyptian ruins, I think.

pfft egypt what've they got?

Well stop complaining and start posting some ruins, dammit.

I think this was the thread I was thinking of. Lots of nice ruins, and some operative castles, too!

Castles: C or D

some quality ruins up at my alma mater:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/St_Andrews_Cathedral_Ruins_Front.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3544/3306023486_cfd378121f.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39SjyMvBbk4

I have so many ruins! But they're all at home as ACTUAL PHOTOGRAPHS therefore I cannot post them here.

Can you google pics you did not take?

The Palamidi Fortress at Nafplion, Greece

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Palamidi_castle.jpg

What you can't see, is that the ENTIRE THING looks like this inside:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Navplio_Palamidi-Treppe.jpg

...and apparently there's only one, maybe two routes that lead to the top of the fort. All others are FALSE, FALSE PATHS.

I think I've broken into that! Interrailing many many years ago, staying briefly at Nafplion, I can't remember where we were walking to or from but that was pretty much in the middle so we decided to visit it en route. Unfortunately when we got there it had closed for the afternoon, and going back down and all the way around would have taken far too long, so we hopped off the steps, scrambled up the bank and climbed up a wall, could even have been the one where mr white t-shirt is standing in the first pic. Went through the deserted fort and climbed out the other side.

It's excellent! I didn't get to stay there NEARLY long enough, plus it overlooks the blue, blue sea so the view from every way is spectacular.

Ruined Philippi:

http://www.kairos-holidays.com/images/phillipi2.jpg

I was there on such a wet, foggy day -- you could hardly see the tops of the columns for the fog, much less more than 15 feet in front of you. At the time I was sorry it wasn't more view-able but now what I remember is the atmosphere and how much the lack of visibility isolated you everywhere you went.

Time to break out some old avebury photos

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/218/488961674_8da453119f.jpg

Not actually the Abbey I was looking for, but it will do...

http://people.brunel.ac.uk/~hsstnns/pictures/Yorkshire/fa1.jpg

(I can't remember the name of it, a country house built by a mad English nobleman (weren't they all?) which was supposed to be a picturesque half-ruined folly, but the tower was designed so badly that it fell down and rendered the whole house an actual ruin before the 19th Century was over. Oh what was its name, what am I thinking of?)

It was in Wiltshire! My ex had a stone head from it. Dammit, brain, why can't you remember things?

I know the one you're thinking of but not so as Ic an remember the name.

http://www.francethisway.com/images/places/chateau-gaillard.jpg

Château Gaillard

http://justenglishcottages.com/photogalleries/north-yorkshire/zim/Fountains-Abbey/92FountainsAbbey.jpg

Fountains Abbey

Can we post non ANCIENT things here? Like menacing Nazi fortifications on the channel islands...

http://alex.fortif.net/images/ostrovy/r001-032.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/f13x0.jpg

http://www.outremer.co.uk/images/tower/krak.jpg

Krak des Chevaliers

I do actually really love ruined WWII fortifications, so if they are properly abandonned and ruined I will allow them.

(What I don't want, is loads of decaying industrial factories and the like. Those have their own thread, I believe. I want castles and forts and abbeys and mysterious arrangements of rocks that you can't quite tell what they ever were.)

((Also, follies, though not technically ancient, are cool enough to be allowed))

http://www.yourlocalweb.co.uk/images/pictures/02/82/mow-cop-folly-27458.jpg

Better photos here:

http://www.mowcop.com/

I don't know if this napoleonic fort fits with the above criteria, but it was heading that way, being somewhat on fire when we passed it

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2246/1880122176_327d9c73ae.jpg

It wasn't on fire, they were just burning junk in the central courtyard, IIRC. What a weird place that was! I was trying to remember where the odd fort-like folly (?) along the coast towards the Needles was, but got distracted by work.

http://www.jacklondonpark.com/WolfHouse3-1.JPG

Jack London's Wolf House

Wow! What are those odd fireplaces that seem to be suspended in mid air? Were there presumably another story or two in wood that is now gone?

Yeah. He and his wife built their dream house

http://www.fineartandhistory.com/images/wolfhouse-bw.jpg

And several weeks before they were to move in, it burned.

SOUTHWEST REPREZENT!

Rhyolite, Nevada

http://photos.igougo.com/images/p7274-Rhyolite-Cook_Bank.jpg

Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Mesa_verde_cliff_palace_close.jpg

Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

http://planetpooks.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/chaco-canyon.jpg

Canyon de Chelly

http://www.expeditionswest.com/adventures/2003/canyon_de_chelly_2003/images/4.jpg

Nazca, Peru

http://westcoastconnection.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/nazca-lines1.gif

http://i.imgur.com/g2TyCMs.jpg

Stelae field in Axum, Ethiopia. And underneath...

http://i.imgur.com/6Af7NAK.jpg

Ethiopia must be one the countries w/ the richest scope for archaeology & Axum in particular is incredible.

http://i.imgur.com/ByXPPWY.jpg

Tomb of Negus/King Kaleb, Axum

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4091/5171866714_fa7cbde310_z.jpg

Palace near Dongar/Dungur, outside of Axum, claimed locally to be the palace of Makeda aka the Queen of Sheba

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4149/5171266865_e6c0605b90_z.jpg

Nearby stelae field named after notorious scourge of Ethiopian history, Queen Gudit, who laid waste to Axum & led to the capital being moved to Lalibela.

http://www.yukiba.com/upl/server/uploads/1272562563-gondar-Ethiopia-Africa-Gondar.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/4PYFtpM.jpg

Palace grounds at Gondar

http://nomadatelier.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/abandoned-town.jpg

http://cdn.roughguides.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/42-28094525-1680x1050.jpg

Djado, Niger

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/52461989.jpg

Kerma, Sudan

http://www.thisotherworld.co.uk/sudan415.JPG

Suakin, Sudan

http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-get2/I0000pA9Pd8Z0pfQ/fit=1000x750/LFR1318.jpg

Old Ottoman building in Suakin

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/b3/96/88/b3968886991de7f1cfdda8900e29957c.jpg

Naqa, Sudan

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/970139.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7128/7075874373_0afc83919b.jpg

http://www.keyafrica.com/images/userimages/4bcc4dcd-a14f-40c9-bb25-b6de984382d4.jpg

Kilwa Kisiwani, Tanzania

http://www.ondaverde.it/images/paestum.jpg

Paestum, Μεγάλη Ἑλλάς

Damn, Ethiopian ruins are some fine ruins, but that ruined town of Djado is like something out of a dream! There's something almost alive about those tiny jumbled dead windows watching you.

Some fine contributions to the thread, ogmor.

Ty Branwell.

http://www.innovativeethnographies.net/sites/default/files/kaoleruins.JPG

http://www.traveladventures.org/countries/tanzania/images/kaole-ruins11.jpg

Kaole, Tanzania

http://www.orexca.com/images/fotogallery/img_full/1326442327_9763.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/78/Bibi-Khanym_Mosque_%281905-1915%29.jpg/691px-Bibi-Khanym_Mosque_%281905-1915%29.jpg

Bibi-Khanym Mosque, Samarkand, before it got restored. The latter photo is one of Prokudin-Gorsky's early colour photos from 1907

http://madventure.travel/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Cappadocian-cave-dwellings-Turkey.jpg

http://thelongestwayhome.zenfolio.com/img/v2/p606862019.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/78/View_of_Cappadocia_edit.jpg/800px-View_of_Cappadocia_edit.jpg

Not all ruined, but the Cappadocian cave dwellings are v fantastical, something of Gaudi about them.

OMG! The Cappadocian Fairy Chimney houses are some of my favourite things in the world, ever! Not even ruins, but still have that "is this a real place? did this simply grow from the rocks?" feeling about them.

How can you not want to live in these things?

http://travelastounder.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/fairy-chimneys-3.jpg

http://photos.travellerspoint.com/227302/large_Some_fairy.._Turkey.jpg

But, also, LOL:

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Travel/Pix/pictures/2009/7/2/1246552996440/Turkey-Cappadocia-Love-Va-001.jpg

Huh, didn't realise Ledge went to St Andrews, which is my home (and one of my Alma Maters).

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6014/5999724919_dd73259534_o.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/20110419_Monastery_of_Hripsimian_Virgins_Ani_Turkey.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-zOrAL1V5Jg/TShk2x7kWJI/AAAAAAAAJBc/mv5Iswh1T1o/s640/ani+turkey+armenia+turkish+armenian+city+2.jpg

Ani, abandoned Armenian city just inside modern Turkey

there are so many gorgeous rock-hewn buildings or settlements built into the rock (dogon villages in mali, guyaju ruins in beijing, lalibela in ethiopia, elvis posted mesa verde &c. upthread), feel like a lot of ruin lust comes from a troglodyte love of stone

Troglodyte love of stones vs atavistic love of treehouses: FITE!

http://cdn.roughguides.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/12.thebes-C87Y6M-1680x1050.jpg

thebes

http://d1vmp8zzttzftq.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Passageway-in-the-Great-Enclosure-in-Great-Zimbabwe-Africa.jpg

great zimbabwe

Awesome. Feel like this thread could do with a lot more Egyptian ruins, TBH.

Ur-ruins and ruins of Ur. (Wait actually Ur is nowhere near Egypt, was it? Euphrates more like.)

the pre-columbian americas own this thread, that's just me though.

saqsayhuaman near cusco, peru:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Walls_at_Sacsayhuaman.jpg

another:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Sacsahuaman_wall3.jpg

ollantaytambo, another inca site. these monoliths are about 12 feet tall. the spanish tried to destroy them but they were too big:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Ollantaytambo_Monolithen.jpg

and machu picchu, which everyone knows the majesty of:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Machu_Picchu_early_morning.JPG
most amazing place i've ever been

teotihuacan about an hour outside of mexico city - these pyramids are basically about the size of the more famous egyptian pyramids:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/View_from_Pyramide_de_la_luna.jpg

another:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/db/Pyramid_of_the_sun_teotihuacan_with_crowd.jpg

incan stonework is amazing

http://landlopers.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/IMG_1272.jpg

chichen itza equinox snake

This one is like...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Sacsahuaman_wall3.jpg

How did they DO that? Is that dry stonewalling? The shapes of those blocks, in that immense size? Truly awe inspiring!

(Love those pyramids; I did a comic last summer with them as background)

iirc it is all dry stone walling done w/ amazing carving and a plumb bob

yea it's remarkable.

this is a wall in cuzco, peru. there are TWELVE (12!) angles on this large stone:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Mur_Inca_Cuzco.jpg

also when i said the pyramids of teotihuacan were as large as the egyptian pyramids, i obviously meant the two big ones, not the smaller ones that decorate the avenue

yeah, inca stonework is insane.

the spanish tried to destroy them but they were too big

portions of cuzco are basically colonial building on top of inca foundations- when the earthquakes come, guess which part persists?

Peruvian crazy paving!

also interesting to think that these buildings were created without wheels to move materials

suspect the method arose from that lack of mobility. greeks built wooden wheels round their pillar segments and moved them into position. i think egyptian, meroitic & axumite monoliths were all carved at the quarry & moved on rollers

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7391/11286325465_9fd40605f1_b.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7422/11286664176_cf8fe6a321_b.jpg

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5182/5610097837_6e1dd527ec_b.jpg

vijayanagara, first photo is elephant stables

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Mohenjodaro_Sindh.jpeg

mohenjo-daro, pakistan

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tjZKErifi1Y/UAJ3zPCrmoI/AAAAAAAAMao/fh13xh3gU9o/s1600/013.JPG

bishop's palace, wells, england

http://www.evansadventuresafaris.com/gallery/zanzibar_ruins02.jpg

zanzibar

OMG I want elephant stables now.

The manure-removal bills alone would ruin one.

I thought this was a gollum thread like "It ruins us - it RUINS us!"

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2a/LaasqorayRuins09.JPG/800px-LaasqorayRuins09.JPG

las khorey, somalia

http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ghalib/018/graphics/afghandesertruins.jpg

https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6198/6052617126_7cab383510_z.jpg

afghanistan

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Peru_-_Trekking_from_Urubamba_019_-_Incan_ruins_(8149153489).jpg

the andes

http://www.ancient-code.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/83742062.4BfR9mqL.Pohnpei0501179eo.jpg

http://whc.unesco.org/uploads/thumbs/site_1503_0005-750-0-20160616154241.jpg

http://survincity.com/wp-content/uploads/images_4/nan-madol.jpg

http://www.ancient-code.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/83742065.5db77U2R.Pohnpei0501185eo.jpg

nan madol, micronesia

http://www.beevar.com/upload/b/f0/bf0cbaf655c83a9a.jpg

http://whenonearth.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/kolmanskop-namibia-ghost-town-woe1.jpg

kolmanskop, namibia

https://erasingborders.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/img_2927.jpg?w=604&h=453

tamtoc, mexico

http://www.bulgariansun.eu/images/preslav1.jpg

preslav, bulgaria

old photos of old ruins takes it over the top...

http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/5634/32225563.96/0_abaad_845b3b2b_orig

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QW1PU8eLkxk/UUMlJBK0M-I/AAAAAAACgxA/uGXxh_GiWak/s640/Photographs+of+Old+Delhi+from+The+19th+Century+(24).jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eu5CdSz7n20/UUMlFea2juI/AAAAAAACgwA/YpLfdtjKayc/s640/Photographs+of+Old+Delhi+from+The+19th+Century+(16).jpg

http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/9328/97833783.526/0_be61b_2d2e30d3_XXXL.jpg

delhi

I agree with marcos that pre-Columbian Americas definitely bring the ruination mojo.

I very much liked Uxmal, in the Yucatan, particularly the may the Magician's Pyramid comes up out of the trees like O HAI THERE

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9Qd3xWCJFeQ/maxresdefault.jpg

is that the one in star wars?

No, apparently that was Tikal (learned this just now from, ugh, Wookieepedia)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Panglao_watchtower%2C_Bohol.png

very taken with this filipino watch tower

al-waqfa 'ala al-atlal