Nicosia International Airport

Once the central airport in the country of Cyprus, the Nicosia International Airport was abandoned after a military coup and now sits amidst the demilitarized zone between two countries, slowly accumulating dust and pigeon droppings. 

The Nicosia airport was built in the 1930s as a military airfield and slowly grew into a fairly modern-for-the-1970s facility. While not the largest airport in the world, the little facility began as a small collection of sheet metal huts before growing into multiple terminals servicing multiple air travel companies. However, despite the success of the airport, when Greek nationalists staged a coup in the country, overthrowing the leader and taking over the airport, it quickly became a focal point of the fighting. When Turkish forces invaded the country in 1974, and a demilitarized zone was created, the airport landed smack in the middle of it, causing its immediate closure and sudden abandonment.

Since its closure in 1974, the airport has simply sat fallow. The United Nations took control over the demilitarized area, which is now closed to civilians, but the airport and its terminals remained for the elements to take over. In the decades since the site’s closure, the airport has continued to deteriorate, accumulating a thick layer of dust and debris, visited only by storms and photographers.