Incomplete Buildings And Monuments Around The World (PHOTOS)

UPDATE 10/11/11: Things are looking up for our unfinished monuments, as another has received an anticipated completion date. North Korea's Ryugyong Hotel is expected to partially open in April 2012, reports The Telegraph.

Construction on the 105-story hotel, the name of which means Capital of Willows, began in 1987. Had it opened on schedule in 1989, it would have been the world's tallest hotel at the time. But, construction halted around 1992 due to lack of funding, electricity and widespread famine.

According to The Telegraph, the opening will coincide with the 100th anniversary of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung's birth. Celebrations will peak on April 15.

Previously 9/29/11: Last week it was announced that Barcelona's iconic basilica, La Sagrada Familia, was finally given a completion date some 144 years after its groundbreaking. This got us thinking: What other monuments have been left incomplete?

As it turns out, the answer is, "a lot." Unfortunately for their executors, lack of funding seems to be a common thread through many of these structures. So they stand, mostly abandoned, as monuments to financial folly.

Check out our slideshow of abandoned buildings, and then read more about "10 Of The Most Interesting Abandoned Places On Earth."

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Comments

[valeskas]

01:08 PM on 09/30/2011

Came back from Germany and I was in one of the Bavarian Kings castle it was not finished, except about 20 rooms, but still gorgeous to look at.

[WhatsOverThere]

01:02 PM on 09/30/2011

Tonina is an amazing place but because Palenque is close many people skip it. For more great Tonina Mayan ruins photos see http://mayantrip.com/tonina-mayan-ruins-in-chiapas-mexico-revisited

[AbstractImp]

10:10 AM on 09/30/2011

Well, that society has passed among us,
and yet strangely looks to be making a return,
over here in the Wall Street State.

[vespachild]

04:53 AM on 09/30/2011

Well I have only seen The Sangrada Familia up close.
Man it is a magnificent monument. I think Gaudi was playing a joke to future constructors, because that cathedral is so amazing and complex that will never end!
If you like travel, it is a place that you must visit for sure, and Barcelona is a great city too

[hbhawaii]

01:20 AM on 09/30/2011

Funnily enough, I just today visited a really great unfinished house, the "Crazy House" in Dalat, Vietnam. Try googling it. The woman who designed it is still in the process of construction and was there today supervising the workers. Hard to describe -- a bit like Rivendell meets Hieronymus Bosch, all organic shapes molded from concrete. Well worth the visit.

[JScott]

01:01 AM on 09/30/2011

No mention of the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose Ca.?
Google it.

[dim]

11:29 PM on 09/29/2011

Don't have pics (so do a google-image search), but I would add the Superconducting Supercollider in Texas. For a few billion dollars - a mere fraction of what we spent on the Iraq fiasco - we could have been way ahead of the Europeans instead of behind.

[Jesucristo]

11:18 PM on 09/29/2011

What a sloppy article. Spelling mistakes, incorrect information... people have such low standards.

[Taymullah]

09:32 AM on 10/12/2011

Interesting, there are absolutely zero spelling mistakes contained within the article.

And what incorrect information are you referring to?

[grizzly bear55]

10:31 PM on 09/29/2011

Are these Nicolas Cage's palaces that are pending foreclosure?

[RButler]

10:26 PM on 09/29/2011

Doesn't Donald Trump have a condo complex, with his name, unfinished in Mexico somewhere?

[salamanca1]

09:55 PM on 09/29/2011

You missed Boldt Castle in the Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence.

[salimbag]

09:19 PM on 09/29/2011

DUH..... ST. THOMAS CATHEDRAL, NYC. Still under construction after 200 years.

[THE GREAT PURIFIER]

08:49 PM on 09/29/2011

Abandoned buildings?

There's one in Washington, DC. It's on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

[doctorj2u]

08:01 PM on 09/29/2011

I would like to add Longwood Plantation in Natchez Mississippi, a Victorian Arabian dream. To this day you can see the tools of the laborers in the unfinished interior, sitting where they left them when the Civil War was announced. The family lived in the only finished part of the grand house, the basement, for generations. And ,btw,, Dr .Nutt, the owner, was a northern sympathizer and still lost everything due to the war.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jddean/5521999066/

[wgpbp]

07:25 PM on 09/29/2011

Kobar Towers.

Never occupied by the intended occupants.

Bedouins.