(Image: Glyn Thomas)
TRANSYLVANIA. Roll the word around in your mouth and see what it conjures. Images of vampires, bats and howling wolves? You can now add a vast toxic swamp.
This is Geamana, Romania, an abandoned village in the Apuseni Mountains of Transylvania. The village was sacrificed for the sake of a nearby copper mine that needed somewhere to dump its tailings – the sludge left over after the valuable minerals have been separated from ore.
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Some 400 families were relocated and the village was flooded. Now only a church tower peeks out from the swamp. The image is one of 111 selected for the . All the images will be on display at the Royal Geographical Society, London, from 22 June to 10 July; the winners will be announced on 25 June. The works will then tour venues across the UK.
This article appeared in print under the headline “A church burial”
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