An abandoned cinema in the middle of the Sinai desert

Everyone has heard of such a phenomenon as a mirage. In fact, in the middle of the desert you can see the most unexpected things: the sea, ships, cities and groves. And in the Sinai desert, until recently, you could see... a huge open-air cinema. And this is not a mirage at all - among the sand dunes there really was an abandoned cinema.

The 700-seat cinema is located in the southern part of the Sinai Desert, in Egypt. It was built by a wealthy Frenchman, who invested a lot of money. Hundreds of chairs, a generator, and a huge screen that looked like a sail were brought to the desert from Cairo. The businessman hoped that the cinema would interest film lovers, but he was wrong.

Neither locals nor tourists appreciated his idea. It so happened that there was not a single show in the open-air cinema. Although, they say that they managed to gather viewers for the first film. But the screening did not take place because someone broke the generator.

There were no more attempts to show movies in the heart of the desert. Rows of wooden chairs remained standing in the middle of the sand under the scorching sun. The equipment and furniture gradually deteriorated, but until recently everything looked quite decent.

A desert cinema where no films were shown was visible from space. Bloggers and photographers loved it, because such a strange place is not easy to find. Estonian photographer Kaupo Kikkas also visited it. He took a series of interesting photos, which we would like to introduce you to.

Yes, it is not for nothing that we speak of the cinema in the past tense. It ceased to exist quite recently. It is difficult to say who is to blame for this, local hooligans or a sandstorm.