From an abandoned Japanese island that is
hiding a dark and troubled history behind its crumbling walls, to a towering abandoned
skyscraper in Venezuela that was once inhabited by around 5000 squatters. In this video, we’ll be taking a look at
the biggest abandoned megaprojects in the world. We start with the Wonderland Amusement Park:
Located just a mere 20-minute drive away from the Chinese capital of Beijing, Wonderland
Amusement Park was supposed to be the largest amusement park in Asia. Plans for it were drafted in the early 90s. The park would cover a total area of 50 hectares
on an undeveloped corn field. By comparison, it would have been about the
same size as the famous Tokyo Disneyland in Japan. Chinese property developer Reignwood Group
hoped for Wonderland to become the company’s flagship project and for the property to draw
millions of visitors from the nearby megacity. Construction on Wonderland Amusement Park
began in the 90s. The plan for the site was to create a Disneyland-style
theme park with the iconic castle centerpiece and medieval-themed buildings and walls surrounding
it. Unfortunately in 1998, halfway through Wonderland’s
construction, all work on the site was suddenly stopped and the park was left abandoned. Locals started to bring up theories as to
why the massive project was suddenly put to a complete halt. Some stories suggested that the park’s location
was cursed while according to some rumors a mass grave was unearthed during the construction
(4). But despite all these rumors and hearsay,
the truth was far more plain and simple. After financial disagreements with the local
government and farmers who had been working on the area even before the construction began,
the entire project was put into a complete stop (5). The developers were not able to come to a
consensus with the locals over property prices and they unfortunately had to abandon the
project as negotiations were stuck. The project would have uprooted the livelihood
of farmers and their families and they weren’t willing to just give up their only source
of income (11). As Reignwood and all their workers hurriedly
left the site, the half-built attractions in the property simply crumbled and nature
slowly took over. Over the years as the location was left abandoned,
the local farmers simply reclaimed the land and resumed working and cultivating plants
amidst the backdrop of a derelict medieval fantasy. An attempt to revive the project was initiated
by the developers in 2008 (4), but it ultimately failed once again as the built structures
were already too crumbled and worn-down beyond repair. Five years later, the surrounding structures
were eventually demolished putting an end for any hope for the project to be completed. Number 4: The Memphis Pyramid
Since the city of Memphis in Tennessee is named after the historic city of Memphis in
Egypt, Mark Hartz came up with an ambitious project for his hometown meant to mimic its
ancient namesake. His original plan was to create three pyramids
that would all be situated along the Mississippi River mirroring the famous Giza pyramid complex. These three structures would be built at a
scale two-thirds the original size and resemble the exact same positions of its Egyptian counterparts. The project was conceived in hopes of creating
a name for the city of Memphis by creating a landmark that would represent the city to
the rest of the world similar in vein to St. Louis’ Gateway Arch or Paris’ Eiffel Tower
(1). However, this ambitious plan didn’t come
to fruition until Mark Hartz's son Jon Hartz revived the idea in the 1980s. The new proposal scrapped the three-pyramid
complex in exchange for one main pyramid that would stand 98 meters tall and have a base
of 180 meters making it one of the biggest pyramids in the entire world. After his concept was adopted by Tennessee
entrepreneur John Tigrett, construction on what would ultimately become the Memphis Pyramid
began in September 1989. But, even before the building finished construction
and opened its doors two years later, the Memphis Pyramid already had many different
problems. Many of the planned amenities to be built
in the building were ultimately scrapped because of financial difficulties. These included a music museum, a radio station,
an observation deck, an outdoor theme park, and a Hard Rock Cafe (1). So when the Memphis Pyramid opened in 1991,
it served as a basketball arena, and the opening was a huge success: the entire building was
filled with more than 21,000 visitors. However, on this all-important day for the
pyramid, the toilets inside of the arena backed up and flooded the basement as the city’s
sewer transfer system failed to keep up with such a number of people (2). Over the next few years, the Memphis Pyramid
would be used for many different purposes and events such as basketball tournaments,
concerts, and even a boxing match between Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson that became the
highest-grossing boxing event in history at the time. Although the Memphis Pyramid was turning a
profit with the many different events it was hosting, it didn’t have a permanent tenant
that would ensure its long-term profitability. So in 2001, the city of Memphis attempted
to relocate an NBA team into the city with the Memphis Pyramid serving as their home
arena. The city spent an estimated $7 million to
retrofit the facility to become a suitable venue for the Memphis Grizzlies. But after the Memphis Pyramid served as the
Grizzlies’ home for a total of only three years, they left to move to the newer and
more modern FedExForum which opened in 2004. And because of the city’s contract with
the Grizzlies, the pyramid could only ever be used with the team’s approval leaving
it mostly abandoned over the next decade. A committee was even created in order to explore
possible long-term future uses for the abandoned building. Some considerations that were brought up were
to convert the pyramid into an indoor theme park, a casino, or a shopping mall. However, none of these ideas ever came into
fruition. The original idea for the pyramid had failed
and it remained empty. But despite being left vacant for a very long
time, there was hope for the Memphis Pyramid. American retailer Bass Pro Shops came into
an agreement with the city of Memphis for a 55-year lease of the pyramid to convert
it into one giant store. So today, the Memphis Pyramid is home to the
largest Bass Pro Shop in the entire world, along with an archery and shooting range,
and even a laser arcade. Ever since the big change, the pyramid’s
new tenant has found huge success in the location with three million people visiting in its
first year. Number 3: Hashima Island
Fifteen kilometers southwest of the city of Nagasaki in Japan lies a small island just
a measly 500 meters across at its longest point. Hashima Island, seemingly stuck in time, is
home to dozens of concrete buildings, sea walls, and ruins built at the turn of the
20th century. Almost perfectly preserved by its isolation,
Hashima Island is a symbol of Japan’s rapid industrialization and its dark history hidden
behind the walls of this abandoned site. Hashima was first inhabited back in 1887 when
a substantial amount of undersea coal was discovered in the area. Mitsubishi then bought the island and started
the construction of a coal mining facility along with sea walls that surrounded the entire
island and protected it from typhoons. By 1916, the company started to construct
many different amenities for the growing number of workers living on the island. They built a 7-floor apartment, a school,
a hospital, a community center, and even entertainment facilities such as a cinema, a swimming pool,
and many different shops. In 1959, the island reached its peak population
of 5,300 people living in this tiny plot of land. However, by the turn of the late 1960s, petroleum
quickly replaced coal as Japan’s main source of energy. Many coal mines across the country were forced
to shut down because of this and Hashima’s coal facility, along with its population,
started to dwindle down. After most of the residents left, Mitsubishi
officially ceased operations as the island was slowly left abandoned. The island continued to exist as a coal town
for the next thirty years but without a single person permanently inhabiting the place. Its industrial era buildings started to slowly
crumble as nature reclaimed the island. By 2002, Mitsubishi relinquished ownership
of the island and transferred it to the town of Takashima, and then eventually to the city
of Nagasaki. Hashima Island soon became the subject of
curious explorers looking to uncover the history of this island and its abandoned buildings. So in 2005, access to the island was reopened
by the city of Nagasaki for journalists. Just a few years later, the island also became
accessible to the general public and now serves as a popular tourist destination for those
wanting to see a glimpse of Taishō and Shōwa era architecture. In the same year, the Japanese government
started a bid to include Hashima Island as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, citing the importance
of the historical ruins and well-preserved architecture on the island. However, this move was quickly opposed by
both the North and South Korean governments because of the island’s dark history that
Japan purposefully left out in the UNESCO application. Unbeknownst to most people, from the 1930s
up until the end of the Second World War, Hashima Island became the site of countless
acts of human rights violations wherein Korean and Chinese prisoners of war were forced to
work under extremely harsh conditions. A very rough estimate of 130 up to 1300 (6)
forced laborers reportedly lost their lives on the island because of exhaustion, malnutrition,
and poor working conditions. Despite Korea’s opposition to the UNESCO
bid, Hashima Island is now considered as a World Heritage Site and is visited by thousands
of tourists each year. Number 2: Berlin Tempelhof Airport
As one of the first airports in the German capital, Berlin Tempelhof is a site that has
witnessed and lived through many of the country’s most historic moments. Officially designated as an airport in 1923,
Berlin Tempelhof served as the main and only air traffic hub in the area. During the late 1930s, Berlin Tempelhof quickly
became one of the busiest airports in the world thanks to its close proximity to the
German capital. Following the Fall of the Berlin Wall and
the Reunification of Germany in 1989, Berlin Tempelhof soon became one of three different
airports all serving one city that used to be divided. Over the next few years, Berlin Tempelhof
continued to function as a regular commercial airport until in 1996, a resolution from the
city government of Berlin was announced that would ultimately lead to the airport’s closing. Unlike the other projects in this video, Berlin
Tempelhof actually served its intended purpose and was only ever abandoned because of its
age. As a means of concentrating all domestic and
international air traffic in the city to a singular central airport, Tempelhof and the
neighboring Tegel Airport were planned to be closed down and replaced by the new Berlin
Brandenburg Airport. Many Berliners refused the decision and a
referendum was even held to keep the airport open. The referendum ultimately failed and the last
commercial flight from Berlin Tempelhof took off on the 30th of October 2008. After that the city of Berlin announced that
they would transform the old airport into a city park with a budget of €60 million. In an event attended by thousands of people,
the so-called Tempelhofer Feld opened and is now the world’s largest inner city open
space with a total area of 380 hectares even surpassing the famous Central Park in New
York City (7) (13). Some of the site’s history can still be
seen today such as parts of the old terminal along with hangars and even the runway can
still be recognized even after the change. Today, the old airport also serves as a location
for different events such as music festivals and fairs. And finally the Torre de David, also called
Venezuela's Squatter Skyscraper: At a height of 170 meters and a total of 45
floors, the Torre de David in Venezuela’s capital city of Caracas is the country’s
third tallest skyscraper. Construction began in 1990 and was supposed
to be a mixed-use of residential and office space located in the middle of the highly
urbanized capital. However, just four years after work on the
skyscraper began, construction was abruptly stopped because of the Venezuelan banking
crisis. The government immediately took control of
the tower in its incomplete state. The building lacked any of the most basic
utilities and services necessary for a building like the Torre de David to function. It didn’t have any electricity, running
water, windows, and in some areas, the walls weren’t even complete (8). In 2001, the government of Venezuela even
attempted to auction off the building along with the other structures in the complex,
but nobody was interested in purchasing the run down and incomplete building. At the same time as all of this was happening,
the entire city of Caracas was suffering from a housing shortage that saw hundreds of thousands
of people without a home. Because of this, the citizens of Caracas soon
made their way into the buildings inside the complex and occupied them. Seeing as the towering skyscraper had been
left abandoned for more than a decade now, the complex was occupied by as many as 200
homeless families looking for a place to call their own. By some estimates, about 40% (8) of the entire
city’s homeless population were living inside of the tower. The tower’s residents soon began to create
their own utility services with an improvised aqueduct system even serving residents up
to the 22nd floor with running water (9). Motorcycles were even used to taxi residents
and visitors between the first ten floors through a series of winding paths and ramps. The building even had its own salons, barber
shops, parking garage, and even an unlicensed dental clinic. By the year 2011, the population of Torre
de David grew to as much as 2,500 people and even peaked at one point at around 5,000 individuals
(10). In 2014, after careful planning and discussion
with the tower’s residents, the Venezuelan government launched a program that would relocate
the hundreds of families from the Torre de David into new government-provided homes in
a new city south of the capital. As of 2015, it has been reported that all
residents of the building had successfully been relocated to their new homes in Cúa. There had been many talks on what the possible
future of the Torre de David would be. Some propose to demolish the tower altogether,
while some are pushing for the creation of affordable housing within the complex. As recently as 2018, the building even suffered
from significant damage from an earthquake which partially collapsed the top five floors
of the tower. So until today, the tower remains incomplete
and abandoned while serving as a temporary center for emergency care. What do you think about these abandoned megaprojects? Let us know in the comments below. If you want to see more about similar projects,
you should watch our video about the world’s most useless megaprojects. Thank you for watching, and we will see you
in the next video!
