Movies play a very prominent role in the modern collective imagination. Our minds are populated with images and scenarios that we have absorbed from the silver screen. It can be exhilarating to visit the places that have given us these images and experience fiction dissolving into reality. Here are three famous movie sets that you can visit and relive your favorite moments.
The Shining
Stanley Kubrick’s chilling horror classic is set in the Timberline Lodge in the Oregon mountains. Approaching this domineering structure brings to mind the movie’s thrills and chills and leaves you feeling a certain affinity with the trapped characters.
Braveheart
This famous historical movie recounting the story of William Wallace is set almost entirely in Scotland. You can visit the rugged landscapes and haunting scenery of the film around Loch Leven and Glen Coe in the highlands.
The Lord of the Rings
One of the most successful trilogies in movie history, the Lord of the Rings was filmed in New Zealand. Epic landscapes were used all over the country, many of which are almost inaccessible. But the top places to visit are Tongariro National Park (with its three volcanoes) providing the setting for Mordor, the Southern Alps which were the misty mountains, and Alexander Farm as the Shire.
