Imagine an entire valley filled with a ghost town Disneyland, minus the fun. That’s basically what you see below, and boy, oh boy, it’s bizarre.
Burj Al Babas is the name of the development, which has 587 homes, in the style of miniature castles, complete with gothic roofs and stone detailing. It’s set in the spa town of Mudurnu in Turkey.
The twist is, this village is entirely empty. Started in 2014, this huge development was the work of the Sarot Group, an ambitious developer keen to create a destination for those wanting a mediterranean climate and a cookie-cutter castle home.
As the development neared completion, the company responsible declared bankruptcy, due in part to numerous complaints about its business, environmental, and aesthetic practices. Investors pulled their money, and then in 2020, the pandemic put a permanent halt to the construction, leaving the entire project to sit, empty and abandoned.
In proper ghost town fashion, the streets are eerily silent, the houses sit entirely empty, most of them unfinished inside.
With millions of dollars of debt, it’s unlikely the project will restart, and even if it did, would people want to live in this strange, eery castle-land?
Surely a tragic waste of materials, manpower and money, Burj Al Babas sits as a testament to bad planning, and bad timing.
The mini castles sit idly, unfinished inside, and identical.
In a dusting of snow, there is a bit of charm to these castles. Yet the size and proximity feels wrong.
Will this huge development ever continue, or sit to rot?
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