Author: Ms. R.

On the picturesque drive between Butte and Helena, deep in the Boulder Mountains of Montana, near the tiny town of Basin, is a place that for decades has drawn people from around the world for its purported healing properties. Nestled in a canyon, on a heavily-wooded mountain slope, sits the Merry Widow Health Mine. Unlike conventional spas or springs that attract people with the hope of relief from that which ails them, the Merry Widow’s secret sauce has a……

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Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we visit the misnamed “World’s Loneliest House”—and the flocks of puffins who live there. Some people want to eat them, some want to protect them, and the two groups collide here. If you want to learn more about the puffin situation in the Westman Islands, check out our episode called Puffin Patrol about a community that sweeps the……

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Among the Portuguese-era churches and convents of Old Goa, one will find several fascinating buildings. To the northwest of the Se Cathedral, sharing a portion of the wall stands the Old Archiepiscopal Palace. It is mentioned in some historical accounts from the early 17th century. The Archbishops stayed in this palace until 1695 when it was moved to the suburb of Panelim. Today, this former palace houses a permanent exhibition called “Pilgrimage of Faith.” One can visit the palace and……

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At first glance, the cartonnage in Macclesfield Museum’s display of Egyptian antiquities seems like any other mummy-holding case. The cartonnage material is made of two or three thin layers of bandages applied on top of one another, with ancient glue holding them together. It’s “the Egyptian equivalent of papier mâché,” according to Ken Griffin, Egyptologist and Curator of the Egypt Centre at Swansea University. Its smooth surface, created by a thin layer of plaster, is painted with images to……

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We instinctively associate lighthouses with the sea or a lake nearby. However, in the case of the Gaggio Montano lighthouse, the nearest body of water is more than five miles away. Erected in 1952 by engineer Giuseppe Rinaldi, its beacon shines over the Reno Valley, nearby Bologna, in memory of those who fell in the mountains during the two world wars. It’s a symbol of remembrance that prompts reflection on the challenges faced by past generations, and a warning……

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THIS ARTICLE IS ADAPTED FROM THE FEBRUARY 17, 2024, EDITION OF GASTRO OBSCURA’S FAVORITE THINGS NEWSLETTER. YOU CAN SIGN UP HERE. In 2017, my wife’s grandmother pulled a dusty cookbook from her bookshelf and handed it to me with a sparkly-eyed grin. When I opened up The 1989 South Dakota Centennial Cookbook, I was in awe. Real politicians from South Dakota and beyond had offered up their homespun recipes for this publication, and almost all of them, from the……

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The Monument to the Heroes of the Air was built between 1930 and 1935 by sculptors Lidia Kotzebue and Iosif Fekete.  A committee was set up in 1927 to develop the monument, they decided to run a contest for the design. Twenty designs were submitted and the Romanian public was allowed to choose the winner by secret ballot.  The winning design used American professional boxer Joe Louis as inspiration for the aviator’s body. Louis visited Bucharest around the time of the……

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