After the Schengen agreement, most of these old checkpoints remain abandoned and out of service, allowing us to gaze into the past from the present. It causes many reflections, specially in a moment that EU project it is severely discussed.

These places that previously the Schengen treaty, delimited territories and in which the traveler had to stop and show his documents, currently appear as abandoned places, located in a space-time limbo, out of use and out of the time for which they were designed, as these states have opened their borders to the free movement of people.

Border crossings have a function of geographical boundaries, but also an coercitive role, since they prevent the free passage of people between one and another state. So, they are places that, along with a cartographic dimension, are provided with historical, economic and political reminiscences.

These old border crossing points are slowly disappearing; some are renovated and reconverted to new uses, some are destroyed for vandals, and some other just fall down due to the passing of time. So, after some few years there will be no possibility to look at this strong signs and symbols of the recent european history.

Abbreviations:

H - Hungary;

A - Austria;

PL - Poland;

CZ - Czech Republic;

E - Spain (España);

F - France;

P - Portugal.

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Author of text and all the photos is Ignacio Evangelista. More about him you can find on his website.

French dictionary was made by:
Marko Nikolić
Gorana Mijić-Prodanović
Nenad Prodanović

The Statue of Liberty was supposed to be a centennial gift from France to the United States, but funding difficulties waylaid the project for almost a decade.

The head and torch were completed long before the base and the rest of the body — these disembodied sculptures were put on display years prior, with the hand ending up at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in 1876. Only after a decade of fundraising did construction accelerate. As the National Park Service explains:

"Financing for the pedestal was completed in August 1885, and pedestal construction was finished in April of 1886.

The Statue was completed in France in July, 1884 and arrived in New York Harbor in June of 1885 on board the French frigate "Isere" which transported the Statue of Liberty from France to the United States. In transit, the Statue was reduced to 350 individual pieces and packed in 214 crates.

The Statue was re-assembled on her new pedestal in four months time. On October 28th 1886, the dedication of the Statue of Liberty took place in front of thousands of spectators."

Here are some curious photographs of this iconic Statue in various states of disarray.

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The article originally published on io9.com via The New York Public Library, Ptak Science Books, Ptak and Retronaut.

The article was adapted by The Travel Club editorial staff.