The story of Gilliot & Cie starts in 1897, when Georges Gilliot and John Aulit formed the S.A. L’Email, an enameling factory for various products. One year later, they launched their first ceramic tiles. However, it was Georges' second company that would eventually become one of … | Continue reading
Constructed in the early 16th century, Moot Hall features exposed timber beams, wattle and daub construction, and intricate brick nog infilling. The exact date of its construction remains uncertain, with estimates ranging from 1520 to 1550. The hall's development coincided with a … | Continue reading
This story was originally published on The Conversation. It appears here under a Creative Commons license. The recent launch of the video game “Black Myth: Wukong” has broken numerous records around the world for the number of users. The game is set in the world of the famous Chi … | Continue reading
They say one man's trash is another man's treasure, and this old saw was surely in play when Terry Land purchased an old Grumman Gulfstream II jet in late 2016 and had it towed to his yard, high in the hills of Urbana, Maryland. The plane had been languishing at Hagerstown Airpor … | Continue reading
Nestled in the rugged terrains of Gilgit-Baltistan lies the mesmerizing Buddha De Yasheni. This ancient rock carving represents a significant relic from the Buddhist era that once flourished in the region. The Buddha De Yasheni, also known as the Kargah Buddha, is an impressive r … | Continue reading
June 12, 1872, marked a significant milestone in Japan's transportation history: the opening of Japan's first train station, Shinagawa Station, in Tokyo. Japan's first-ever train journey ran from Shinagawa to Yokohama, four months before the inauguration of "Japan's first railway … | Continue reading
This article is adapted from the September 28, 2024, edition of Gastro Obscura’s Favorite Things newsletter. You can sign up here. Growing up in suburban New England, fluffernutters—two slices of white bread slathered with peanut-butter and marshmallow goop—were a lunchbox staple … | Continue reading
This eccentric stone hut sits atop Beech Hill Preserve, home to organic blueberry fields and 141 unique bird species. A winding gravel path leads up the hill, where visitors can enjoy breathtaking views of Penobscot Bay. The original owner, John Gribbel, was a wealthy Philadelphi … | Continue reading
Every June and July, a small garden hidden away on the north side of Smith College's campus in Northampton, Massachusetts, comes to life. The unsuspecting site is home to an extensive collection of award-winning wild daylilies. The garden includes winners of the annual Stout Silv … | Continue reading
Situated on Malta’s eastern coast alongside the main highway connecting Valletta to the popular St. Julian’s, White Rocks abandoned complex is massive, yet strangely easy to miss. White Rocks is home to dozens of forsaken structures, from tall, imposing apartment blocks to modest … | Continue reading
Excerpted and adapted with permission from Becoming Baba Yaga: Trickster, Feminist, and Witch of the Woods, by Kris Spisak, published September 2024 by Hampton Roads Publishing. All rights reserved. When my grandmother was a little girl and took a shortcut through the woods, she … | Continue reading
Chef Brother Luck has been traveling the world since he was a child - not via plane, train, or car, but through recipes. | Continue reading
Zendstation Smilde is an iconic radio and television transmission tower near the village of Hoogersmilde in the province of Drenthe, the Netherlands. Volunteers from the Association of Village Interests Hoogersmilde have made a scale model of the tower from PVC. Built in 1959 for … | Continue reading
The Lynton Convict Hiring Depot, established in 1853, is located near Port Gregory in Western Australia. It was created primarily to supply laborers for the Geraldine Lead Mine and local pastoral stations. The first group of convicts and Pensioner Guards arrived at the depot in M … | Continue reading
While London was being bombed during World War II, the vast tunnel network of the London Underground functioned as a series of bomb shelters for the local populace. As the network had many deep-level tunnels that were accessible through many stations across the capital, they were … | Continue reading
The Horikiri neighborhood in Katsushika Ward, Tokyo, is famed for its iris garden, but visitors may also find, to their surprise, unusual (yet familiar) divinities worshipped here. In the local Tenso Shrine, a set of anthropomorphic animal statues stand along a quiet street, simp … | Continue reading
Nestled at the point where urban Taoyuan City, Taiwan, transforms into mountain forest, the Garden of the Generalissimos forms a bizarre wonderland where the image of the island's former dictator is replicated more than a hundred times over. After losing China to the communist fo … | Continue reading
Surrounded by the dense forests of nearby Acadia National Park, in the small town of Trenton, Maine, Timber Tina’s Great Maine Lumberjack Show has been wowing audiences with its high-energy performances for nearly 30 years. The founder of the show, Tina Scheer, started competitiv … | Continue reading
In the early 1900s, the Gulf of Maine was a thriving nesting ground for puffins and other seabirds. But, due to overhunting–the unique birds were attractive for their meat and feathers–their numbers significantly decreased, becoming virtually non-existent on many of the islands i … | Continue reading
About two and a half miles off the coast of Maine lies the Seguin Island Light Station, the state's second-oldest lighthouse. Commissioned by Geroge Washingon, the initial lighthouse, made of wood, was erected in 1795. The following year, the first lightkeeper, Major John Polerec … | Continue reading
In remote North Haven, Maine, thousands of rugged, emerald-hued shells pepper the waterbed below, where fresh pond water meets the salt water of the inlet. Since 1999, North Haven Oyster Co. owners Adam and Michelle Campbell have harvested these tasty oysters off the coast of Mai … | Continue reading
The Nordics, also known as Norden, include Greenland, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Faroe Islands, and Finland. These lands are home to some of the most badass historical characters, festivals, and culinary curiosities. Bone chewing, werewolf hunting, and feasts of rotten … | Continue reading
Eastport, Maine, is the easternmost city in the continental United States, but that’s not its only superlative: it’s also home to the last traditional stone-ground mustard mill in North America. In 1900, J.W. Raye began crafting mustard to supply the town’s thriving sardine canne … | Continue reading
Monhegan Island, off the southern coast of Maine, is a small, rocky place with a deep artistic heart. Primarily a walking destination, the island is accessible only by boat. Lobster traps, evidence of an important local industry, can still be found along the backroads. In the tow … | Continue reading
Accessible only by boat, and considered one of the more challenging hikes near Maine’s Moosehead Lake, the Indian Trail at Mount Kineo is worth the trek for the views. Rising 1,789 feet, Mount Kineo is the dominating feature of Moosehead Lake, with a distinct 700-foot sheer face. … | Continue reading
When the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 permitted slave owners in the south to track and re-enslave those who had escaped, the members and leaders of the Abyssinian Meeting House in Portland, Maine, took action. Built as a place of worship in 1898, the Abyssinian Meeting House, locat … | Continue reading
Once upon a time in Brno, Czechia, there lived a poor maiden named Johanka who fell in love with a local nobleman. Their relationship was disapproved of by his mother, who accused the girl of witchcraft. Heartbroken, Johanka jumped into a well. The nobleman, on the other hand, wa … | Continue reading
On Galveston Island, the festival scene is more than a single-season affair. Summer is a popular time to visit the Texas island, pulling crowds to beautiful beaches and sand dunes around its 32-mile coast. But ask the locals, and they’ll tell you that a vibrant public life can be … | Continue reading
If you’re familiar with the pretzel chain Auntie Anne’s, chances are that you know what its stores smell like. The distinctive, powerful fragrance of freshly-baked, buttery pretzels wafts across food courts in shopping centers, airports, and train stations around the world. Each … | Continue reading
Cascada Cailor (Horses Waterfall), located near Borșa ski resort in northern Romania, is the second-highest in Romania (after Scurtele Waterfall from Godeanu Mountains), with a cumulative height of approximately 210 meters. The water collected in a glacial cirque plunges down ove … | Continue reading
Occupying an area of approximately 600,000 square meters, the Palmarel of Orihuela is the second-largest palm grove in Europe. The dominant species is the date palm, a plant that was introduced by Orihuela's Moorish occupiers in the eighth century. Sometimes called the Palmarel o … | Continue reading
The Museum of Stanisław Wyspiarski celebrates one of Poland's favorite artists. His work was versatile: as a painter, he specialized in creating Art Nouveau paintings using the pastel technique (Self-portrait with his wife, 1904). As an architect, he also became famous for creati … | Continue reading
Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we explore how every summer, more than 10,000 people flock to this Pennsylvania town for two weeks for the largest gathering of medieval arts and c … | Continue reading
The town of Beauvais, Oise, is not a major tourist destination despite it having an airport of its own. Most of the visitors will head straight to Paris, but stay here for a bit and you may discover a fascinating episode in post-medieval French history. The story goes back to 147 … | Continue reading
Pune has two rivers, Mula and Mutha. Their confluence is located at a place called Sangamwadi in the middle of the city. (The word Sangam means "confluence"). After this point, the unified river is called Mula-Mutha. A few kilometers before the confluence, the river Mula flows al … | Continue reading
Just in time for cozy-up season in the Northern Hemisphere, you may have heard that Earth has a new companion, which some have dubbed a mini-moon. Don’t get too excited, because this interloper is only here for a while. The short-term satellite is hardly the first, it won’t be th … | Continue reading
This statue may go completely unnoticed when passing through the Rheinpromenade, but if you stop to look, a story unfolds. The statue depicts Stéphanie von Baden, a Grand Duchess who lived in Mannheim Palace and influenced the city the palace is named for. She was actually a Fren … | Continue reading
In 1911, an aboriginal hunter named Ördek first came across what looked like a long sand dune full of protruding wooden poles, within the flat and barren desert landscape of Northwestern China’s Tarim Basin. In 1934, Swedish explorer Folke Bergman began excavations on the site, d … | Continue reading
What do Ramses II, Nebuchadnezzar, the Roman Emperor Caracalla, and Napoleon III of France have in common? Other than the obvious fact of being conquerors and rulers, they also had a penchant for graffiti. In particular, they created stelae, carving their names and deeds into the … | Continue reading
Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we go to a central Wyoming town, just a couple hours from Yellowstone, that's appropriately named Thermopolis. City of Heat. It’s home to one of th … | Continue reading
Excerpted with permission from Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark, by Leigh Ann Henion, published September 2024 by Algonquin Books. All rights reserved. Tal Galton has been walking backward for a quarter mile. Over broken stone. … | Continue reading
Piers Shonks, the Lord of Pelham, had had enough of the dragon laying waste to his lands. The dragon itself lived in a cave underneath an ancient yew tree in the village, and Piers rode out from his moated house (some versions of the story include references to "winged hounds") t … | Continue reading
St Botolph's Priory, founded in the 12th century, is an example of the early religious architecture and history of England. As the first Augustinian priory in the country, it holds a significant place in the ecclesiastical history of England. The ruins seen today were initially b … | Continue reading
Ok, so it’s more of a dark gray, but the Roman amphitheater found in Bosra, Syria, is no less impressive on that count. Quarried from the nearby black volcanic rock, this amphitheater and its surrounding city are some of the best-preserved Roman ruins on the planet. This is despi … | Continue reading
Mỹ Sơn (pronounced Mee Sahn) Sanctuary showcases the remains of a now-extinct Indian-Hindu Kingdom of the Cham people, which settled southern and central Vietnam between the 4th and 13th centuries. This site was the former religious and political capital of the civilization for m … | Continue reading
One of the most notable yet shocking events in music in the 1990s was the murder of rap legend Tupac Shakur. On September 7, 1996, Shakur and rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight were leaving a boxing match between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand when, in the lobby of the … | Continue reading
Hidden on auxiliary rail sidings in the vast suburban Kraków-Płaszów rail yard lies a forgotten train cemetery, where rusted locomotives and train cars stand frozen in time. Built in 1908 and expanded under Nazi occupation, parts of the yard fell into disrepair after the Communis … | Continue reading
Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we’re visiting a town 150 miles west of New Orleans in the absolute heart of Cajun country, where every year, thousands of people come from across … | Continue reading