Dotted across Europe are many abandoned villas, palaces and castles that were once home to wealthy families but are now decaying ruins, haunting shadows of their former selves. Croatian photographer Mirna Pavlovic has travelled all over the continent, seeking out the abandoned, the forgotten and the derelict.
A view inside one of the rooms in an abandoned villa in Italy, with the floor almost completely gone and the ceiling well on its way, tooMirna Pavlovic
She says: "The world wars left many scars, and most of these abandoned villas are concentrated in countries that held a precarious political position in the wars. Many were abandoned, appropriated by the regime and then re-appropriated by the surviving members of the families after the conflict ended, only to once again be abandoned when the world entered post-war economic fluctuations."
Pavolovic says these buildings are never truly dead, yet never really alive: "A staggering number of them now stand abandoned and overgrown, often very difficult to reach. I wanted to preserve the memory of the places as well as the families who once lived there, by documenting and retelling the hidden histories of these spatial and temporal incongruities that were once home."
The photographer says: 'While exploring abandoned places, one stumbles upon strange sights – like this boat stranded in the middle of a beautiful villa in Italy'Mirna Pavlovic'One of the most dangerous locations I have ever encountered due to the rapid degradation of the wooden structure of this villa in Portugal. The floors are now paper thin and the supporting beams are hardly bearing the weight of the construction'Mirna Pavlovic'Although in most of the abandoned villas I encounter there is little to nothing left in terms of furniture, the creeping nature creates something new in combination with the remaining architectural elements'Mirna PavlovicA decayed room inside an abandoned chateau in rural Belgium, history unknownMirna PavlovicA vast inner staircase of an abandoned Portuguese villaMirna PavlovicAn abandoned villa in the middle of the sun-parched countryside in PortugalMirna PavlovicThis eclectic Portuguese villa was left in a perpetual limbo of redevelopment plans until it burned down very recentlyMirna Pavlovic'The damask wallpaper slowly peels off and the floor begins to collapse in this grand villa at an undisclosed location in Europe. Situated in the very centre of a bustling town, but well out of sight'Mirna PavlovicInside one of the many villas that dot the rural Italian landscapeMirna PavlovicA vast property in rural Italy. Now only empty rooms remain, along with beautiful frescosMirna PavlovicA huge chateau in the Belgian countryside, built in 1866 as a summer residence. After the world wars it served as an orphanage and a holiday camp for sickly children. Demolition started just a few months agoMirna PavlovicOnly the doors still bear some witness to the amount of detail put into the woodwork of this villa in FranceMirna PavlovicAn overgrown villa in the middle of the Italian landscape. Inside, time and nature have taken their toll, resulting in the most magnificent decayMirna PavlovicAbandoned villa built in the 19th century in southern Europe, which once belonged to a family ranking high in status and wealthMirna Pavlovic
Mirna Pavlovic was born in 1989 in Croatia and is based in Ghent, Belgium. Her work has been shown in many festivals and galleries worldwide, most notably at the Moscow International Foto Awards 2016 (winner, Architecture - Interiors), Totally Lost in Italy (finalist & special mention), Rovinj Photodays 2016 in Croatia (finalist), Tokyo International Foto Awards (winner, Architecture – Interiors) and in the PH21 Gallery in Budapest (finalist). She was one of the winners of the prestigious Neutral Density Photography Awards 2016, taking 1st place in the category Architecture – Interiors.
