text: They were once sprawling palace compounds that were used to intimidate and strike fear into the hearts of Libyans. Now the homes and residences of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi have been reduced to rubble - and even used as pet markets to sell birds and dogs. Four years after the 2011 revolution that saw Colonel Gaddafi's hold on Libya crumbled, the once feared Bab al-Aziziya compound, situated in the capital city of Tripoli, resembles a wasteland. Scroll down for video . Colonel Muammar Gaddafi stands with his wife and children near Bab al-Azizia palace in November 1986, before it was left in ruins by air raids . Reduced the rubble: The former Bab al-Aziziya palace, which boasted a zoo, fairground and pool, now lies in a derelict state . During his rule, Libyans would be nervous just walking anywhere near the fortress-like seat of the Gaddafi regime. The dictator ruled for almost 42 years, after he took control in a coup d'etat in 1969. Following an uprising as part of the Arab Spring in 2011 and ensuing civil war, he was hounded out of Tripoli and killed by members of the National Transitional Council. Speaking about life before the uprising, Tripoli taxi driver Hassan said people feared to go near the Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli. 'People were afraid even to look at the walls, for fear of being arrested,' he said. All that remains of the palace, which had been hit in a 1986 US air strike before being pounded by NATO four years ago, are a few ruined buildings, the green flooring of Gaddafi's home and a dug-up network of underground tunnels. Then: A mural of a smiling Colonel Gaddafi was painted on the side of the Bab al-Aziziya palace, but was a symbol of fear and terror to Libyans . Growing up Gaddafi's children enjoyed their own fairground within the palace in Tripoli - yet millions of Libyan people suffered under his reign . Now: The palace has lain in ruin for almost four years, after it was hastily bulldozed by rebels once they took control of it in 2011 . Nowadays, only shabby outbuildings are left on the palace grounds, covered in graffiti and revolutionary slogans, while holes leading to a network of underground tunnels that once ran under the stronghold can still be accessed . The monument of a gold-coloured fist clenching a US fighter plane was vandalised and sent off to Misrata, a rebel bastion during the revolt which ousted and killed Gaddafi. At a safe distance from his people, Gaddafi lived behind fortified walls with his wife, their children, close advisers and guards. Apart from the bedouin tents on which Gaddafi prided himself and which accommodated him on travels abroad, the compound once showcased a zoo, an indoor pool, countless murals and a fairground in its gardens. Rebels posted for photos in a foreign dignitaries reception room at Bab al-Aziziya when they stormed the building in 2011 . The rebels later bulldozed the palace - but the green flooring from Gaddafi's home is still visible in parts of the derelict site . Gaddafi had expanded the grounds by knocking down adjacent neighbourhoods. Bab al-Aziziya 'was a symbol of the Gaddafi era. Today, we have destroyed this symbol, we have demolished and razed it to the ground,' said Adel Mohammed Farina, tourism ministry spokesman of a Tripoli-based government. 'He (Gaddafi) will be mentioned briefly in history books and documentaries but nothing of his will remain as it is,' said Farina. Rebels hastily bulldozed much of the compound when they captured it in August 2011. A Libyan army soldier patrols the heavily-fortified compound in March 2011, before the beginning of the civil war and fighters took it over . Having taking control of the palace in late 2011, rebels used a crane to remove the statue of the US plane clutched by a fist outside the building . Rubbish now piles up at the site of the former Tripoli palace. Plans to turn the site into a national park have never materialised . Homeless families moved into the few buildings left standing, and initial plans to turn Bab al-Aziziya into a national park have not materialised. The walls are splattered with graffiti and revolutionary slogans - some with the names of fighters killed in the battle for the compound. Another of Gaddafi's homes in Sabha in the south of the country has suffered the same fate. In the eastern city of Benghazi, birthplace of the revolution and which has since become an Islamist stronghold, traders have converted his more than 10-hectare palace grounds and barracks into a marketplace to sell birds, dogs and other pets. 'We dreamt of a better life after the fall of Gaddafi, but here we are in his ruins,' said Mohammed Suleiman, 43, surrounded by children. The site of Gaddafi's palace in the Libyan city of Benghazi is now a market place, packed with traders selling bric and back, clothes and pets . A LIbyan man holds high a bird, available to buy from the market. Four years on, the landscape has completed changes for Libyan people . The old palace site was out of bounds for many but is now a thriving market. 'It is is a powerful message to the new rulers' says one Libyan . 'This is a powerful message to the new rulers of Libya. If Gaddafi had given us freedom and treated us with dignity, with a decent standard of living, he would still have been here.' In 2012, the Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia which the United States has branded a terrorist organisation occupied Gaddafi's Benghazi home and turned it into their headquarters. It was pulverised in air strikes launched last October by anti-Islamist forces loyal to the internationally recognised Libyan government based in the country's far east. Now, the area is used as a dumping ground where the city's municipality burns household rubbish. 'This place is not worthy of being anything but a dump. It reminds us of a black chapter in our history and many painful memories,' said Ali al-Masrati, a passer-by. The former palace in Benghazi is now a dumping ground for people's rubbish, having once symbolised Colonel Gaddafi's grip on Libya .
target: Opulent palace in Tripoli - which once had a zoo, fairground and pool - was razed to the ground during revolution .
  Libyans were 'even afraid to look at walls of palace', for fear of being arrested while Gaddafi was in power .
  Now his former strongholds lie in ruin, after civil war which devastated country and saw Gaddafi killed by rebels .