We're used to reports that climate change will soon plunge the world's beloved landmarks underwater. But this curious Spanish village has an opposite story: once engulfed by water, San Roman de Sau recently re-emerged due to extremely low rainfall. It's not the only such case, and around the world droughts and man-made changes have seen towns, monuments and ruins reappear after years beneath the surface.
Click through this gallery to learn the fascinating tale of San Roman de Sau, plus other sites that have reemerged from underwater...
In 2023 the remains of an ancient village resurfaced after Spain's severe, months-long drought caused a once-flooded reservoir to almost completely dry up. The 11th-century church of Sant Roma (pictured) in San Roman de Sau, Catalonia, became visible in its entirety – usually only its distinctive bell tower poked through when water levels were low.
The Romanesque church, which was consecrated in 1062, was deliberately flooded in the 1960s when a dam was built nearby. However, Spain has been battling a severe drought since 2022, prompting emergency measures across the country. The Sau Reservoir – one of the region's main sources of water – has reached record low levels and for long stretches has been almost bare.
At several points over the last couple of years people have ventured to the village, only to be told by navigation apps that they were submerged in water while standing on dry land. According to satellite imagery from NASA, the Sau Reservoir hit an alarming 1% of its normal capacity in March 2024, though levels have since rebounded.
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In 1992, the village of Aceredo in northwestern Spain was submerged when a Portuguese hydroelectric plant closed its floodgates, creating the Lindoso Reservoir. Some of its 250 residents were given financial compensation to leave their homes. Although it's been largely hidden for almost three decades, occasionally the reservoir dries up and some buildings are visible. This happened in 2012, 2017, 2021 and 2022.
In November 2021, the reservoir plummeted to a new low level, not seen since it was first created. What emerged was a fascinating time capsule of partially preserved, eerie-looking buildings. Parts of the village remain strikingly well-preserved: roads, pathways and farmland are still visible and there’s even a water fountain. Inside the buildings, remnants of fireplaces and furniture as well as personal objects like shoes can still be seen.
Of the five villages that were flooded to create the Lindoso Reservoir, Aceredo is the most famous as it's the only one that reappears when the water is low. At these times, it's often visited by former residents who come to pay homage to their old community and mourn what was lost. Due to widespread coverage by international media, the ghost town has become something of a tourist attraction, with photographers rushing to capture the eerie remains.
Villa Epecuén, hugging a salt lake in the province of Buenos Aires, was once one of Argentina's most sought-after spa resorts. But tragedy struck in the 1980s when unprecedented levels of rainfall caused Lago Epecuén to swell. The tourist town was guzzled up by some 33 feet (10m) of saltwater and – so it seemed – lost forever.
However, some 25 years later, the waters began to recede, and the forgotten town started to claw its way back to the surface. What emerged was a salt-clogged, rubble-strewn landscape of ruined homes – a mere echo of the tourist hotspot the town used to be. Vehicles, telegraph poles and rusty bed frames have all appeared from the lake's murky depths.
A few structures have survived against the odds – among them this hulking slaughterhouse built by prolific Argentinian architect Francisco Salamone. The ghost town is reached via a rickety road that looks practically apocalyptic – and you can pore over its relics and learn about its history in a little museum housed in the former train station.
When the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami hit, people on Mahabalipuram's shores were convinced they spotted a curious site: a series of boulders that revealed themselves just as the tide drew back. When the waters rushed forwards again, the structures were swallowed once more, and more than a decade would pass before the eyewitness accounts were investigated.
When archaeologists eventually excavated the site, they did indeed discover a large complex of walls and boulders, while dives revealed a flight of stairs and a series of stone blocks. It's thought that the ruins are the traces of an ancient port city, the vestiges of a centuries-old temple or even the remains of a drowned township.
Potosi, a town in north-western Venezuela, once had a population of around 1,200 people – but when a hydroelectric power plant was built, and the Uribante Reservoir created, the original settlement was flooded and its inhabitants moved elsewhere. Captured in 2005, this eerie image shows what remained of the once-buzzy town: a rusting steeple rising from grey, mountain-fringed waters.
The bleak image of the floating steeple attracted visitors in its own right: adventurers would take boat rides on the reservoir and snap photos of the drowned church. But, from around 2008, a drought in Venezuela meant that the lake waters gradually inched away and the lone steeple seemed to push further towards the sky.
Eventually, the waters receded enough to reveal the entire church – an empty husk with only its façade left standing. Other foundations from the ruined village have shown themselves too, along with a handful of haunting gravesites. Now tourists and cattle wander between the structures, imagining what life in the drowned village might once have looked like.
Muang Badan is another set of monuments that was submerged when a dam was built: the Vajiralongkorn Dam, to be exact, which dates to the 1980s and formed the Khao Laem Reservoir. A remarkable trio of temples were gulped up by the reservoir, and parts of them can still be seen peeping above the surface. This photo shows boat-trippers drinking in the view of an intricate bell tower rising from the lake.
Happily, the old city's sacred structures aren't always completely submerged. When the water levels of the artificial lake are very low – typically in March and April – sodden buildings such as this ornate, honey-hued temple begin to soar from the depths. Several villages were moved to higher ground when the dam was built, and all three flooded temples have new versions in these villages that visitors can see.
This is Wat Si Suwannaram Gao, pictured in the dry season. The waters have receded and the temple – now an empty shell hollowed out by decades under the surface – can be seen perched on grassy banks. When the water levels rise again the temple will disappear, only to pop above the water again the following year.
Though they could easily be mistaken for craggy rocks, these formations off the coast of mainland Greece are actually the edge of a sunken settlement, gradually revealed by lapping waves. It's thought that the ancient city of Pavlopetri dates back around 5,000 years and was submerged by an earthquake around 1000 BC. Investigations have revealed a maze of streets, a temple and a big central plaza.
As drought gripped Iraq in the autumn of 2018, the Mosul Dam reservoir, along the Tigris River, began to lose water. And something quite spectacular was revealed. As swathes of the riverbed dried out, a jumble of ruins began to emerge and German and Kurdish archaeologists rushed to excavate them before they were covered again by the water.
They identified what is believed to be a sprawling Bronze Age complex, complete with palace and fort, most likely dating to the era of the Mittani Empire (at the peak of its powers between the 15th and 14th centuries BC). Located at a site known as Kemune, the site appeared again in 2021 and 2022, and archaeologists discovered five ceramic vessels containing more than 100 tablets inscribed with cuneiform script.
Discovered structures include well-preserved mud-brick walls, some as tall as six feet (2m). Little is known about the Mittani Empire – and the discovery of the tablets should offer a further glimpse into the mystery-shrouded dynasty. For now, though, it's possible to imagine the city standing proudly on the banks of the Tigris, its high walls looking out over the water.
The Spanish town of Mansilla de la Sierra is a chilling sight. It was once home to around 600 people but – in a familiar story – a dam built in the 1960s forced inhabitants out and left town to moulder underwater. However, during dry spells, the ghost town rears its head once more – its muddy streets still lined with dilapidated homes and small stone bridges over what was once a stream.
One of those dry spells occurred in 2016, when the Mansilla de la Sierra reservoir was at just a fraction of its capacity. Here, in this shot from autumn 2016, you can see people wandering the ruins in this rain-starved region. You can see a series of stone foundations, plus the crumbling shell of a former residence rising from the sludge.
Lake Vagli, in the Tuscan countryside, is more than just a reservoir – it conceals an entire medieval village in its depths. Fabbriche di Careggine was submerged in 1946 after the construction of a hydroelectric dam, which plunged the village under 1.2 billion cubic feet (34 million cubic metres) of water. The then-residents were relocated further south to another village, Vagli di Sotto.
Occasionally Lake Vagli is intentionally drained in order to maintain the dam, and the old village is unveiled. It was last visible in 1994, but has previously reemerged in 1958, 1974 and 1983. The event attracts visitors from around the world, eager to see the ghostly medieval buildings and low-domed church.
In 2020, there were rumours that the lake would be drained in 2021, drawing international media attention and excitement from the world's ghost town enthusiasts. But the event was postponed, and there's no official confirmation of when it will happen instead. There's speculation that the draining will now take place in 2026, more than 30 years after the village was last seen.
The sight of this church peeking out from the teal waters of Mavrovo Lake will have you reaching for your camera. Serving the dinky village of Mavrovo, St Nicholas Church was built back in 1850 and was revered for its intricate icons painted by artist Dicho Zograf. But, when a hydroelectric power plant was constructed in the 1950s, the beloved church was submerged by water.
The church was never completely lost, though – its striking belfry has always sliced through the water's surface. But, come summer, you can see even more of the haunting site. The waters recede in the warmer months and the church's battered shell is left out to dry. Tourists come to peer at the ruin, which rises up before a backdrop of tree-covered peaks.
The Dolmen of Guadalperal – dubbed 'the Spanish Stonehenge' for obvious reasons – is a megalithic monument dating back between 4,000 and 7,000 years. The 150-strong stone circle is a quick jaunt from the western Spanish town of Peraleda de la Mata, and it has spent upwards of 50 years underwater.
In the 1960s, the formation of the Valdecañas Reservoir – an important resource for local communities – left the monument flooded, its stony summits only occasionally peeping above the surface. Record temperatures in Spain in 2019 gave the site another moment in the sun – although some of the porous stones had been damaged by the water, while others had fallen over.
As temperatures soared again in 2022 the dam's water levels receded, revealing the megalithic stones once more. During the dolmen's brief periods above water, archaeologists have raced to document its secrets before either looting or the rising water could damage them further. Tourists are now as much of a danger to the dolmen as the weather.
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