Sichuan Wenchuan earthquake ruins tour – China
Experience witness the damages of the deadliest Wenchuan earthquake in recent history
Broken Xiaoyudong bridge, take pictures for Earthquake ruins
(Source: Sichuan Travel Service)
I was here / tourisme de la désolation
The fascination we have as humans with our ability to do evil, witness the evidence of horror and stare fixedly at photographic, filmic or artefacts connected with death, is at heart of the phenomenon known as « Dark Tourism »
These images are about much more than tourism and the visiting of such sites, they challenge the nature of our behaviour, our history and our societies’ relationship with evil and mortality. They are a testament to our past, to our inability to move beyond it and our curious relationship with tragedy and death.
from the introduction by J.J. Lennon
Ambroise Tézenas has visited over a dozen major sites of dark tourism across the world – from Cambodia to Rwanda, Lebanon to Lithuania, Ukraine to the United States. These are sites developped for tourism and linked to death, assassination, incarceration, mass killing or tragedy. Yet dark tourism is not a new phenomenon and similar sites have attracted human interest for many years. From the gladiatorial combats of ancient Rome through to attendance at public executions in London of the 1600s, it seems that death and disaster have maintained a lasting appeal.
Mleeta Resistance Tourist Landmark – Lebanon
The Cave: One of the posts that was built by the resistance fighters for shelter. It was dug in rotation by more than 1000 freedom fighters over a span of 3 years. It is 200 meters deep and holds different chambers and provisions. More than 7000 resistance fighters had garrisoned in that post.
Kitchen.
(Source: Mleeta Resistance Tourist Landmark, Lebanon)
Rwanda Genocide Memorial Tour - Rwanda
Bisesero genocide memorial site
(Source: Africa Adventures Safaris LTD, Uganda)
Karostas Cietums – Latvia
The only military prison in Europe open to tourists
A prison nobody has escaped from
Considered even more impressive than the Alcatraz in the USA
Behind Bars: The Show
(Source: Karostas cietums, Latvia)
Mleeta Resistance Tourist Landmark – Lebanon
The Pathway: A rugged bushy trail where thousands of Mujahedeen had positioned during the years of occupation. From there, they launched to execute military operations against the opposing enemy outposts, reaching the occupied buffer zone.
(Source: Mleeta Resistance Tourist Landmark, Lebanon)
Mleeta Resistance Tourist Landmark – Lebanon
The Cave: One of the posts that was built by the resistance fighters for shelter. It was dug in rotation by more than 1000 freedom fighters over a span of 3 years. It is 200 meters deep and holds different chambers and provisions. More than 7000 resistance fighters had garrisoned in that post.
Command room.
(Source: Mleeta Resistance Tourist Landmark, Lebanon)
The JFK Assassination Trail – USA
A journey to November 22, 1963 : Revisiting the Scenes of an Extraordinary Story
The Corner Window at the Sixth Floor Museum
(Source: Heritage Tour, Dallas)
Trip to Chornobyl – Ukraine
Visit the site of the worst environmental disaster in history
The empty ghost town of Pripyat. The central town hotel “Polessye”
(Source: SAM travel, Ukraine)
Trip to Chornobyl – Ukraine
Visit the site of the worst environmental disaster in history
Examination of the abandoned apartment blocks, schools, hotels, kinder gardens
(Source: SAM travel, Ukraine)
The JFK Assassination Trail – USA
A journey to November 22, 1963 : Revisiting the Scenes of an Extraordinary Story
The grounds of Dealey Plaza
(Source: Heritage Tour, Dallas)
Karostas Cietums – Latvia
The only military prison in Europe open to tourists
A prison nobody has escaped from
Considered even more impressive than the Alcatraz in the USA
Interrogation room
(Source: Karostas cietums, Latvia)
Sichuan Wenchuan earthquake ruins tour – China
Experience witness the damages of the deadliest Wenchuan earthquake in recent history
We arrive in Yingxiu town and take pictures for Xuankou middle school (about 53 died), Xuankou grade school ( about 250 died)
(Source: Sichuan Travel Service)
Trip to Chornobyl – Ukraine
Visit the site of the worst environmental disaster in history
Lunch ( the quality of food is guaranteed)
(Source: SAM travel, Ukraine)
Gruto Parkas – Lithuania
The Grutas Park exposition discloses the negative content of the Soviet ideology and its impact on the value system.
Gruto parkas souvenir shop
(Source: Gruto Parkas, Lithuania)
Mleeta Resistance Tourist Landmark – Lebanon
Gift Shop: designed for selling souvenirs and gifts relating to the resistance
(Source: Mleeta Resistance Tourist Landmark, Lebanon)
Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum – Poland
Brzezinka (KL Auschwitz II – Birkeneau)
(Source: Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oswiecim)
Oradour-sur-Glane, martyr village – France
Main street
(Source: Centre of Memory, Oradour-sur-Glane)
Karostas Cietums – Latvia
The only military prison in Europe open to tourists
A prison nobody has escaped from
Considered even more impressive than the Alcatraz in the USA
Behind Bars: The Show
(Source: Karostas cietums, Latvia)
Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum – Poland
Oswiecim (KL Auschwitz I). Block 4, Room 4. Cans which contained Cyclone B used for kiling in gas chambers.
(Source: Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oswiecim)
Rwanda Genocide Memorial Tour - Rwanda
Murambi genocide memorial site
(Source: Africa Adventures Safaris LTD, Uganda)
Gruto Parkas – Lithuania
The Grutas Park exposition discloses the negative content of the Soviet ideology and its impact on the value system.
The mass deportations had been executing with great secrecy lest people should not hide.
(Source: Gruto Parkas, Lithuania)
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum – Cambodia
The ground floor had been divided by clumsily bricked partitions into small cells of 0.80 m x 2.00 m where each prisoner was caged
(Source: Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum)