They are dark, damp and mysterious: underground places without daylight. But the caves, bunkers and skulls stimulate the human imagination precisely because of their inaccessibility and darkness.
An illustrated book brings together photographs from 55 underground locations, which is entitled “Underground – Hidden Places in Germany” DuMont, has appeared. The author Hans-Joachim Schneider introduces each of these non-places with short texts and impressive photographs. It tells the stories of disused tunnels, atomic bomb-proof retreats and natural grottos.
“Nevertheless, people have always sought protection from external threats in caves,” writes Stefan Bitterle in the foreword “Fascination Underworld” to the large-format photo book. “The idea that the belly of the earth is the safest of all hiding places is probably so old like humanity.
This also applies to the idea that treasures of unimaginable size are hidden inside this earth – gold, diamonds, raw materials of all kinds. No effort was too great for people to recover them, no shaft too deep, no rock too hard . “
On the following pages of the photo series we show some motifs from “Underground”. A visual journey that leads to descent into a creepy seclusion and fear.
Click your way through these photo galleries:
– Dilapidated churches in Europe – No congregation prays in these places of worship anymore
– “Last Folio” exhibition: images that hit the heart
– When a synagogue becomes a fitness center – in search of Jewish life in Eastern Europe