Potemkin villages: an Austrian takes off fake cities that actually aren't there

When Catherine II went on her long journey to the Black Sea, her close associates were concerned about the devastation that the empress would see on the way to Crimea. And then Prince Grigory Potemkin decided to resort to deception: on the way of the ruler, whole fake villages and building facades were built up, for which there was nothing ... However, they played a role, and the empress believed that the country was flourishing. Since then, a similar props got the name "Potemkin villages". Such settlements, catching horror and longing, today can be found in many countries. Austrian photographer Gregor Sayler traveled around the world to find the "Potemkin villages".

These cities from the pictures seem real, but they are just a fake or a skillfully made copy. In the photo there is a Swedish test center built in New York, copies of European cities in China, military camps in the USA and Europe. But Cyler intentionally does not sign these photographs in order to add an even more eerie sensation to the photographs and to completely erase the line between reality and illusion. "Potemkin villages" make a surreal impression and even a photographer who knows that the void behind these walls seems to be something real. The idea that a huge amount of effort and money was invested in these towns gives these places an atmosphere of oppression and some immeasurable loneliness.


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