Abandoned Sacred Places by Lawrence Joffe is a gorgeous collection of photos from around the world, featuring abandoned places of spiritual or religious significance. Some of the most interesting for me were the temples of Asia, though the 'Chicken Church' ranked among the most unusual. It really did look like a gigantic chicken, rather than the peace dove it was meant to represent. Each photo is accompanied by a tidbit of information about the building in question. This would make a great coffee table book!

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Amber Books Ltd for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

A good guide to add insight to viewing all these marvellous ancient sites.

Putting meat on the bones, so to speak, to enhance your learning and understanding experience, of these ancient sites.

Absolutely stunning read. Have only seen the digital version but would definitely be interested in obtaining a hard copy for my coffee table. Stunning photography, with amazing little snippets of historical info for each picture. I learned so much...some of these buildings defy any form of explanation or understanding.

Reading this book is like travelling all other the world and discovering new places.
The photographies were stunning and I think the hard cover will be amazing.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Abandoned Sacred Places is so much more stunning than I imagined it would be and would make the perfect coffee table book or conversation starter. It's split into sections making it easy to dip in and out of at leisure. They are as follows: Introduction, Africa, The Middle East, Asia, The Americas and The Pacific, and, last but not least, Europe. In the introduction, Joffe briefly addresses the reasons behind the abandonment of holy places; places that were once considered irreplaceable. Each section has glorious photography with the sites captured in an appealing manner and Joffe discusses how religion is now viewed in that particular place. All of the photographs are clear, bright and really do each of the sites justice. It certainly increases my yearning to visit some of them.

The photos are all accompanied by a caption stating where the site is located and a little about it. Definitely enough to whet the appetite to explore some of these fascinating and beautiful places in more depth. The weather and sky are important backdrops to the images; some are moody with heavy cloud cover, some use the sun to highlight the site's features, and there are even pictures where the sacred place is blanketed in crisp, pristine snow. If you are interested in the changing nature of religion and derelict sites becoming a ubiquitous feature the world over due to loss of faith this is a must-buy. Simply breathtaking! Many thanks to Amber Books for an ARC.

Excellent! The photography is stunning absolutely breathtaking.
Fascinating and atmospheric.
Review is on my blog right now.