Author: Ms. R.

It was so big that Travis Hammond thought surely it should fall out of the sky. It seemed inconceivable for something so massive to take flight. Hammond was standing at a viewing area near the end of the runway at Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage, Alaska. Scads of other planespotters stood by, eagerly awaiting an aircraft so rarely in flight that glimpses of it are almost mythical. “This plane is it,” Hammond says. “I mean, it’s like the……

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Though they may seem like a humble foodstuff, canned sardines have played an important role in culinary history. This was particularly true for Stavanger, Norway, where canning fish was the leading industry in the late 1800s and early 1900s. This local canning heritage is celebrated at the Norwegian Canning Museum. The museum is housed in a former canning factory, which was operational from 1916 until 1958. As you walk around, you’ll get a sense of what it was like……

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With gyms, pools, and spin studios around the world temporarily shuttered, it can be hard to find ways to exercise the way we used to. Atlas Obscura is taking this time to look back at different groups from history, to see what lessons they might have for working out in ways that help us maintain social distance. Exercising during a pandemic—or trying to do so—can be among the most potent reminders that things aren’t normal. There’s the serpentine new……

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The peak of Monte Cimino in Central Italy is crowned by an ancient beech forest and massive volcanic rocks. None, however, are as famous as the sasso menicante (trembling stone), which was already known to Pliny the Elder, who recognized it as a natural wonder in his Natural History. This massive trachytic peperino rock was hurled to its present resting site during the age of Monte Cimino’s volcanic activity, between 1.35 million and 800,000 years ago. When the boulder crashed on the mountain,……

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At over 300 feet tall, this towering green and yellow landmark is an unmissable feature of Singapore’s Chinatown. With space for shopping, restaurants, and residential apartments, the 31-storey modernist structure from famed Singaporean architect William Lim is a testament to collective social living and urban regeneration.  The complex was built on the grounds of the former People’s Park Market, once a large urban park framed by an impromptu network of shopping and street-food vendors, beloved by the area’s working……

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Hidden in a wall recess in Augsburg, Germany stands in a statue known as Steinerner Mann or Stoinerne Ma (Stone Man). Local legend says the statue represents a baker whose bold scheme helped save the city during the Thirty Years’ War—but history doesn’t quite match up with that tale. In the 16th and 17th centuries, both Catholics and Protestants lived in the city of Augsburg. But conflict between the groups intensified with the beginning of the Thirty Years’ War. In……

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Chulalongkorn, also known as King Rama V, of Siam was a modernizing monarch. As regent to the ailing King Mongkut, he embarked on a tour of British colonies in Asia from 1870 to 1872. To commemorate the first stop on his tour, Chulalongkorn brought a gift of an elephant statue that still stands today. When the regent landed in Singapore in 1871, he was warmly received by the colonial administration. The statue he brought was erected in 1872 in front of……

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