Author: Ms. R.

The 19th and 20th centuries saw a wave of Islamic-inspired architecture across Europe and North America. Known as Neo-Moorish or Moorish Revival, the style borrowed the arches, domes, and ornamentation often seen in Middle Eastern architecture. You can see this style in Dresden, where the former Yenidze Cigarette Factory is often mistaken for a mosque. The Dutch city of Naarden is also home to a former cigarette factory built in the Neo-Moorish Style, which has been nicknamed the “Mosque of……

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One main theme of Steven Spielberg’s 1993 classic Jurassic Park may be that amusement parks are incredibly hard to operate, but an equally important lesson of that film (and the Michael Crichton book on which it is based) is that monsters bring families together. Alan Grant has no interest in having children with Ellie Satler, at least until he has to rescue the grandchildren of the park’s founder. They form a makeshift family and the rest is cinema history…….

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Pleistocene Lake Lahontan covered much of western Nevada, with a peak level around 15,000 years ago. As the lake level dropped over the ensuing millennia, wave action along the shore caused substantial erosion, as the lake was still large enough to generate surf. In some cases, the wave action carved out overhangs along the shore, as the surf dug into the material at the shoreline. In addition, due to the chemistry of Lake Lahontan, tufa, a freshwater limestone, was……

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In the southern part of the Vitosha Mountain near Sofia, the green forests hide a little treat for the occasional traveler: A dragon-shaped stone set on a pile of rocks that starts spitting water when you least expect it. The history of the spring is almost unknown, although documented human presence dates back to at least the 12th century when a hermit monk stayed in a nearby cave. The spring itself was first mentioned in the 17th century in……

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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 a museum in John Day, Oregon, that was once a Chinese general store and medicine shop that dates back to the 1800s. These days it’s a perfectly preserved time capsule, down to the fruit its former owner left on the counter in the 1950s. Tours of the shop are offered seasonally, but you can get a……

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The public toilets on Ipswich’s Majors Corner have a giant guardian known as the Major. Armed with a flyswatter, the army major, complete with a monocle, mustache, and medals, leans over the building upon which he is perched and aims at the pests below. Like a protector of public convenience, the Major guards toilet users from the giant steel fly that crawls across the restroom’s outer walls.  The public art piece, by artist and sculptor Paul Richardson, was added……

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The harsh winds of the North Atlantic roll ceaselessly across rocky islets off the north coast of Newfoundland. These outcroppings of rock, crowned only in mosses and lichens, serve as cemeteries for people of a lost culture. For centuries, the Beothuk people came to these islands in 18-foot birchbark canoes bearing the bodies of friends and family. The dead were placed in graves dug in the meager soil, or under rocky overhangs, wrapped or covered in birchbark. Bark containers,……

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Although its official name may be Cottontail on the Trail, this 1,500-pound bronze sculpture is often referred to affectionately as the “Minnehaha Bunny. It resides just south of the creek of the same name which runs west to east through some of the toniest neighborhoods of south Minneapolis, and parallel to a popular bike path.  Did artist Jeff Barber of Cannon Falls, Minnesota ever imagine that his sculpture would become a seasonal icon, thanks to decorations bestowed upon the giant……

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