WHAT IS DARK TOURISM?
Dark tourism is also called thanatourism as thanatos translates to death in Greek (hence then name Thanos in Avengers). It means tourists travelling for sights that are connected with fear, death, trauma and war. Some find problematic, but the way I see it: if we don’t talk about the horrible events in history, we forget them. The dark tourism sites become sites of remembrance. It goes without saying (but I still will) that I can only endorse visiting dark tourism posts to learn about history as to not repeat it and behave with respect!
But within the concept “dark tourism” are completely different attractions and they therefore need different behaviour from visitors. I talked to a researcher on dark tourism and she explained it as a spectrum: at one end is the serious, dark and horrible places like Auschwitz, and at the other less dark end are events like a ghost-walk. The spectrum is a really good way to see it, because it also helps with the way you should behave. Serious and respectful in the dark end and, while you can be more relaxed at the other end. But make sure you get it right.
Dark Tourism sites have (as they said in Cambodia’s Toul Sleng Prison) the aim to encourage visitors to be messengers of peace.
20 Dark Tourism Sites
SEDLEC OSSUARY
Bone church in Kutna Hora, Czechia
An ossuary is a collection of bones. Sedlec Ossuary or Kostnice Sedlec is more than just a collection of bones from 40.000 people. As if that wasn’t enough.
The chapel goes back to 1278 when the King of Bohemia sent the abbot of the Sedlec Cistercian Monastery to Jerusalem. He returned with some soil from the Golgotha aka the “Holy Soil.” Soon everyone wanted to be buried in Sedlec. In the 15th century, a Gothic church was built near the cemetery, and its basement was used as an ossuary. The bones stayed there until 1870, when a woodcarver named Frantisek Rint was appointed to organize the bones. I wonder if the result came as a surprise…
Tuol Sleng
Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Tuol Sleng or S-21 is a prison in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh. The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is the memorial site of the S-21 interrogation and detention center of the Khmer Rouge. The site tells of the tragic period in Cambodian history when in the 1970’s the Khmer Rouge killed millions of the their fellow Cambodians. When I visited in 2003, some of the volunteers at the museum had once been prisoners here.
POMPEII
Pompeii, Italy
Pompeii is probably one of the most famous dark sites. A natural disaster that unlike Tuol Sleng couldn’t be avoided.
Most people were trapped in the city when the nearby volcano Vesuvius erupted in 79. The entire city and its citizens were buried in stones and ashes. The heat was so intense that no human remains were left, but on the spot were they fell, archaeologist later could recreate their shapes from the negative space. Not for the faint of hearted.
The outbreak preserved the city as it was on that day giving us a unique glimpse into the life of an Roman town and everyday life.
The Arcehological area of Pompeii is a UNESCO Site. Also part of the site is the nearby city Herculaneum that suffered somewhat same fate. Definitely worth a visit. Both is easily visited from Naples by train. A new high speed train from Rome will get you to Pompeii in 2 hours.
CHICHEN ITZA
Yucatan, Mexico
TOWER OF LONDON
London, UK
Tower of London is an old castle in the middle of London. It’s most famous for its prison called the Bloody Tower. You might think this is at the light end of the spectrum with ghost stories, but alas no.
The story behind the nickname is a bloody and sad one, but also not entirely bulletproof. It concerns the supposed murder of the 12-year-old Edward V and his younger brother, Richard, in 1483 on the orders of their uncle Richard III. What actually happened is a mystery. In Westminster Abbey, you can see a small coffin containing the bones of two children found in the tower. But it could also just some of the others that died there. Making it not less sad.
And that’s not to mention all the royal imprisonments, executions and murders that has taken place in the Tower like that of the real braveheart William Wallace. Why the attraction also finds the need to tell ghost stories – I don’t understand.
SHAH-I-ZANDA
Samarkand, Uzbekistan
It’s so pretty, you almost forget it’s an alley of mausoleums. It has some of the most spectacular tilework in the Muslim world – and this is saying A LOT! These stunning necropolis dates back to the 14th century. The avenue of mausoleums consists of grand tombs looking like palaces decorated with colourful tiles.
You might even find the grave of 7th century Qusam, the cousin of the prophet Mohammed, who brought Islam to region. He maybe even be the cause of the name of the place, since it means Tomb of the Living King.
ROSKILDE CATHEDRAL
Roskilde, Denmark
MAUSOLEUM OF FIRST QIN EMPEROR
Xi'an, China
The famous terracotta warriors are part of a tomb: the mausoleum for the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang (259–210 BCE). He unified China into a single political entity and that’s no small deed.
The emperor is mostly remembered for is his impressive burial complex with more than 8000 soldiers, 130 chariots, 520 horses, and 150 cavalry horses! Even more impressive, every soldier is different and unique.
KZ DACHAU
Dachau, Germany
KZ Gedenkstätte in Dachau is a concentration and work camp of the Nazis. Gedenkstätte means a place om contemplation (or more literally: think place) and so it should be. Dachau was the first actual concentration camp. 200000 prisoners from over 40 nations (including Denmark) were imprisoned here and at least 41500 persons died of hunger, illness, torture, murdered, or perished. There’s an explanatory and gruesome exhibition.
I’ve never been to Auschwitz even though I’ve been close by. I’m afraid to go. I have visted Theresienstadt in Czechia, but it was mainly a wok camp and Dachau is even more horrible to visit. It was a beautiful sunny day when we visited, but you felt guilt smiling, eating or drinking. This is a place for serious contemplation on man’s cruelty against man.
VALLEY OF THE KINGS
Luxor (former Thebes), Egypt
CATACOMBS
Paris, France
Beneath the city of lights, you find one of the more overwhelming sites despite it’s not connected to war or catastrophe. Just natural death. The catacombs of Paris.
In the late 1700s, the city grew and so did the population, and hence more people need a burial place. The old cemeteries from the Middle Ages was becoming health hazards. So the bones were moved from several cemeteries to an underground Roman tunnel system.
VALLEY DE LOS INGENIOS
Trinidad, Cuba
The name is beautiful and the tower overlooking the lush lands are pretty, but the site is connected to the slave-dependant sugar trade. The tower was built to keep an eye on the enslaved workers.
In 1827 more than 11000 slaves were working in the mills. The plantations, mills and other facilities in the 225 km2 large Valley de los Ingenios is an example of the richest and best-preserved of the Caribbean sugar agro-industrial process of the 18th and 19th centuries, and of the slavery associated with it.
SHOES ON THE DANUBE
Budapest, Hungary
At the lighter end of the spectrum is the Labyrinth beneath Buda Castle, where Dracula was once held. But it’s not all fake horror stories: The labyrinth was functioned as both a prison and as a torture chamber and in the 15th century, its darkest chambers held its most infamous resident — Vlad Tepes. I went down with my son, but found it too scary.
THE BLOODBATH
Stockholm, Sweden
The Danes and the Swedes have long been enemies – longer than friendly neighbours. Our bloody history climaxed in the bloodbath of Stockholm, where the streets were literally running with blood and the phrase might even come from here.
The Bloodbath might not be an internationally known event, but as a Dane I feel obligated to remember my own dark past. In 1520, the Danish King Christian II mass executed the Swedish nobles. It all took place in the now lovely square Stortorget in the center of the old Swedish capital.
HO CHI MINH MAUSOLEUM
Hanoi, Vietnam
The Mausoleum is huge! The grey marble monument holds the remains of the Vietnamese revolutionary leader and President Ho Chi Minh. It was finished in 1975 and is locally known as Uncle’s Mausoleum. Actually, he just wanted to be cremated and scattered across the country to save land for agriculture, but no. He lies in a glass sarcophagus like Sleeping beauty.
WARSAW
Warsaw, Poland
At the end of WWII, the Polish capital of Warsaw was heavily bombed. 85% of the city was wiped out! The bombing came right after an uprising by the Polish people. They fought for 63 days without help from the rest of us and the uprising was the largest resistance against the Nazis. The uprisers lost, and as a result ALL the Warsaw residents were removed from the city and many killed.
GROUND ZERO
New York, USA
It goes without saying New York has more to explore. Apparently, there are catacombs, but I haven’t been. A trip to the site where Lennon was shot is also popular.
Church of Holy Sepulchre
Jerusalem, Israel
The street
Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina
A shot started World War 1. On the corner of the Latin Bridge and Zeleni Beretki 1, the Serbian nationalist . Princip shot the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian empire Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie. On the corner of the shooting, you can see pictures of the funeral and more in the windows of the Sarajevo Museum 1878-1918. You can also have your picture taken in a similar car dressed as the Archduke. Not sure what’s the fun in that – to me it seems like a confusion of what par t of the spectrum this site is.
I just visited Belgrade in Serbia, where they see the story differently. Gavrilo Princip is praised as a Serbian nationalist hero and even has a park named after him.
REVOLUTION
Sankt Petersburg, Russia
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