The old Royal Palace in Afghanistan is a bombed out shell of a building which must have been quite impressive in its time. The palace was designed by a French architect and originally built in 1923 by King Amanullah. The King even had a small railway line laid, so he could travel by train into the centre of Kabul! The palace was surrounded by beautiful gardens (which you can still see the outlines of) before being destroyed by factional fighting in 1992 and looted. There are currently plans to restore the palace and use it for the countries new parliament. Although this is expected to take around 10 years and cost in excessive of $60 million.

Thanks: Jean Lorraine