There are hundreds of thousands of places on earth that we still haven’t been able to explore, especially places that are buried underwater. Scientists and archeologists are still looking for the lost city of Atlantis that sank into the sea in a single day.
Just like Atlantis, a number of Archeological cities and artifacts have been submerged in water either by the power of nature or because they needed to be sacrificed to provide additional power to the growing populations around it.
Either way, here at Bright Side, we’ve put together a collection of historical places that have been buried underwater and are now resurfacing!
A few miles southwest of Buenos Aires the tourist village of Epecuen is resurfacing after spending more than 50 years underwater. Back in the 1920s, the village of Epecuen was built on the shore of the Salt Lake “Lago Epecuen” and it became a home to more than 5,000 people by the end of the 1970s. During that time, the weather was becoming more and more abnormal over the years and it brought more rain than unusual to the surrounding area causing the Salt Lake of Epecuen to overfill.
In 1985, the salt lake broke through the earth fill dam and the end of the village began. By the end of 1993, the village sank 33 feet below water. Decades later, the weather began to change again causing the water to retreat in 2009. Now 30 years later we can see the village miraculously resurfacing from the waters.
No power in the world can compete with the power of nature and in this case, the El Niño phenomenon re-surfaced a whole city that was submerged for more than 30 years. Potosi was a small town in Venezuela that was purposely flooded by the local government in order to build a hydroelectric dam in 1985.
Approximately 30 years later, the water level dropped significantly due to the drought that the El Niño phenomenon brought causing the whole city to reemerge. The town’s church which was submerged underwater leaving nothing but the cross visible was now entirely visible alongside the nearby cemetery.
Even though this might look picturesque, Jal Mahal, otherwise known as the Water Castle, is a palace located in the middle of the Man Sagar Lake in the city of Jaipur in India. No one really knows when it was built but the red sandstone floors and walls indicate that it was built approximately 300 years ago.
It is a 5 story building with 4 floors submerged underwater. The government of Rajasthan started a 6-year renovation project with the best architects in the country in order to restore it to its past glory. It is now open to the public and tourists can visit the balconies and explore the castle on boat tours.
Not far from the Balkan Mountains in Macedonia lies the Mavrovo Lake, a national park which is famous for the submerged church of Saint Nicholas. This ancient church was built during the 1850s and stood for more than 150 years until the Greek government decided to build an artificial lake around it to supply water to the local power plant.
In 2003 the church was fully submerged underwater, but due to climate changes in the area, it is now resurfacing. In the summer months, more than half of the church is visible.
This beautiful lake that looks like a surreal photograph is actually the Grüner See, otherwise known as the Green Lake. It is located in Austria and is famous for its crystal clear waters and emerald green colors that it gets from the surrounding grass and leaves.
During the winter, the lake becomes very shallow (1-2 meters deep) and the beautiful national park emerges. It is now a famous attraction for hikers and campers. However, during the summer due to the ice melting in the spring months, the park is filled with water, transforming the park into an underwater paradise.
These pictures show the remarkable power of nature: an 8.0 magnitude earthquake caused a whole village to sink underwater back in 2008! The Village of Xuanping became a ghost town after the terrible incident with more than 10 buildings (including houses, schools, and offices ) submerging underwater. Years later, Xuanping began emerging from the water.
The re-appearance of the town is caused by the water level dropping from 712 meters to 703 meters above sea-level and it continues to drop every year. Hopefully, the people who were forced to leave their homes due to these unforeseen events will be able to return to their homes and build their community again!
Every year during the springtime, thousands of tourists visit the Gorges Reservoir to see the beautiful turtle-shaped island that re-emerges from the waters of the Muodaoxi River. This happens because the waters of the Muodaoxi River are controlled by the Gorges Dam.
During the springtime, the reservoir supplies the water that it’s been collecting during the winter to the surrounding area causing the water level to drop, exposing the beautiful island! The island is submerged underwater for 9 months of the year and is fully visible in spring when the water level drops to 168 meters.
The colonial style Temple of Santiago started emerging from the deep waters of the Mexican River, Chiapas in 2010! The Church was originally built by monks in the middle of the 16th century but it sank underwater in 1966 when the Nezahualcoyotl reservoir flooded in 1966.
Decades later due to climate change and the droughts that happened in Mexico over the past 10 years, the Temple of Santiago re-emerged from the water due to the water level dropping by 82 feet.
Did you know about any of these places or have you visited any of them? Please tell us your thoughts in the comment section below!
The places are stunning but I would like to mention that Greece has nothing to do with the church of St Nikolas in Mavrovo! Mavrovo is in Fyrom ( Former Republic of Macedonia ) , a totally different country, so you can understand that the Greek governement couldn’t decide to built a lake!!!!!
