Hashima island and other abandoned places – in pictures

The approach to Hashima island in Japan. Its silhouette earned the island the nickname Gunkanjima or Battleship Island. Photograph: Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre

During the wave of industrialisation in the 19th century, a coal seam was discovered on Hashima. A child's rusted bike adds to the desolate atmosphere on the island Photograph: Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre

Until 1974 Hashima in Japan was the world’s most densely populated town… then its coal mine closed. Now it's deserted Photograph: Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre

A television set and telephone pictured in former living quarters on Hashima, Japan. The images are taken from the book Gunkanjima, published by Steidl Photograph: Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre

Known as the Sanzhi UFO houses, these pod-like abandoned buildings used to stand in Sanzhi District, New Taipei City, Taiwan. They have now been demolished Photograph: www.picc.it

The Ryugyong Hotel, a 105-storey skyscraper in Pyongyang, North Korea. It is pictured here before the resumption of contruction in 2004. Though the hotel is now glass-covered, it is rumoured to still be empty Photograph: Wikipedia

Adolf Hitler was once treated at Beelitz-Heilstätten, a 60-building hospital complex southwest of Berlin, built in the late 19th century to treat tuberculosis patients. Now its surgery lies ruined and empty Photograph: Andreas Dorfer

Another shot of the Beelitz-Heilstätten, a 60-building treatment complex southwest of the German capital. Parts of the complex were turned into a military hospital by the German imperial army when the First World War broke out, and it was where Adolf Hitler was sent to recover from his war wounds in late 1916 Photograph: Alamy

An abandoned military gymnasium in Brandenburg, Germany, 2010. Photographer Thomas Jorion has been working with a large format 4x5 camera for 20 years Photograph: Thomas Jorion

An abandoned bowling alley in Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, 2009. More of Thomas Jorion's work can be found on his website and in his recent book, entitled Silencio and published by La Martiniere Photograph: Thomas Jorion

The interior of an abandoned nursery in Pripyat town, close to the Chernobyl nuclear plant, which was urgently evacuated in the wake of the 1986 disaster Photograph: Alamy

Inside the dome of the Buzludzha, a former Communist monument in Bulgaria. More of Martino Zegwaard's work can be found on his Flickr feed
Photograph: M.M.G. Zegwaard/www.flickr.com/photos/martino_

The wreck of SS American Star, stranded on Playa de Garcey, Fuerteventura, on the Canary islands Photograph: Alan Dawson/Alamy

The shell of a piano in the lobby of the Lee Plaza Hotel, Detroit, Michigan, USA, 2009. The decades-long decline of the US automobile industry is acutely reflected in the urban decay of Detroit, the city once lovingly referred to as Motor City Photograph: Timothy Fadek/Corbis

A view from the upper balcony of the dilapidated East Methodist Church in Detroit, USA, 2009 Photograph: Timothy Fadek/Corbis

The Red Sands sea forts in the Thames estuary protected London from enemy attack during the Second World War Photograph: Adam Tiernan Thomas/Alamy

Abandoned water slides in Denmark. The photograph is from the website of urban photographer Mike "B5160-R" and his unspaceexploration.tumblr.com. It was sourced from the very popular Twitter feed @DerelictPlace Photograph: unspaceexploration.tumblr.com

The derelict Gulliver's Kingdom theme park, Japan, 2006. It was an amusement park built on the side of Mt Fuji in Yamanashi prefecture in 1987 and shut down in 2001 Photograph: www.oldcreeper.com

An abandoned former prison, photographed somewhere in Europe. The photograph was taken by Matthias Haker and sourced from the popular Twitter feed @DerelictPlace Photograph: Matthias Haker/Twitter

A canteen cash register in Pripyat school, Chernobyl exclusion zone, Ukraine Photograph: Guy Corbishley/Demotix/Corbis