“Love Island with a dark past”: abandoned locations of Cyprus (26 photos)

Abandoned places are silent witnesses of human destinies, frozen in time and shrouded in mystery. They attract our attention and allow you to look into the past. Photographer Andrew Abraham for the last 10 years documented forgotten locations of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus: from empty mansions and military bases to the ghost town of Varosha.





Art installation



"I won't lie, but when I walked into this abandoned house on territory of the UN buffer zone, I felt scared for a second. Somebody installed his sculptures here."

Temple of Zeus





The temple is located in territory occupied by the Turks after armed conflict of 1974. The Turkish government prohibits archaeologists to excavate the site, and most of it abandoned and destroyed.

Stop or move on?



Varosha - a city worth 150 billion dollars, abandoned residents in 1974. On July 20, 1974, the Turkish army invaded Cyprus. The country was split into two parts: Greek and Turkish. The Greeks living in Varosha were ordered to leave the city within days.

Forgotten trains of Cyprus



This train is approximately 100 years old. Cyprus State the railway operated from 1905 to 1951. In 1905 Cyprus was under British colonial rule, and it was the British introduced a railway connection. Until this moment, they served as transport camels and donkeys.

Everything is left



"My work is a window into the past, which shows that hiding behind closed doors. I found things from ancient storages, family photos, rusting cars, love letters from the 1950s and antiques. I feel like I've stepped back in time and I think it is our duty to reveal to the world the secrets of these once prosperous places, abandoned more than half a century ago. Here lies evidence of various historical eras - from the ancient Greeks, the Crusaders to the Ottoman and British Empire," said Andrew Abraham.

Shall we go for a ride?



Time stopped



Other side



A young man curiously examines the UN Green Line in Nicosia.

Car dealership building



A glimpse of what life was like



Greek school for girls



old bed



Varosha hotels under fire



Ghosts of the past



Spring Waltz



At the mercy of nature



Distant Memories



Church of Agia Zoni



The world's most famous ghost town



Back to the 1950s



Church in Famagusta



Abandoned airport



British tank "Chieftain"



Buffet



On the left are the flags of Greece and Cyprus, and in the background are the flag of Turkey and the flag of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus