Beautiful Kaleidoscopic Photos of Abandoned Buildings in 360 Degrees

German photographer Sven Fennema captures his architectural subjects in a full 360 degrees. He travels to abandoned places in Europe like churches, cemeteries, and even cooling towers to show all sides and angles of them. Sometimes, these locations are well kept, while other times we see that they've fallen into disrepair.

Fennema's photos of these structures are often of a view that's looking up towards the ceiling. There's a central point with architectural features radiating from it that creates a kaleidoscopic effect. As a result, we see beautiful, complex designs with interesting lines, textures, and glimmers of light; you might not necessarily know that these are buildings upon first glance.

To produce these wide-ranging shots, the photographer first takes several images of the full peripheral perspective of a room and then assembles the individual images using an aggregator. This creates a single picture that covers 360 degrees horizontally and 180 degrees vertically. Fennema's website also has an interactive feature where you can click through the desolate spaces (similar to Google Maps Street View) and take a virtual tour around each room.

Above: Cemetery in Northern Italy

Townhall of Rotterdam

Abandoned Landmark Near Dusseldorf

Abandoned Church in Poland

La Salle Sthrau in Maubeuge

Abandoned Cooling Tower in Belgium

Abandoned Chapel in a Protestant Church in Poland

Abandoned Villa Belonging to Former Mental Hospital in Northern Italy

Abandoned Casino in Northern Italy

Sven Fennema website and 500px page
via [Fubiz]

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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