Author: Ms. R.

In the late 1880s, the reporter Nellie Bly faked her way into an asylum on Blackwell’s Island, in New York’s East River. (The native Lenape people knew the landmass as Minnehanonck, and it was renamed Roosevelt Island in the 1970s.) On assignment for the New York World newspaper, Bly, who was born Elizabeth Cochran Seaman and became one of America’s earliest and most intrepid female investigative journalists, reported on the people who were housed there by playing a patient……

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Wedged between the Circus Maximus and the Lupercal, where the city’s founders are said to have been suckled to health by a she-wolf, Rome’s new library and museum presents visitors with a culinary perspective on history. Founded in February 2020 by pâtissier and educator Rossano Boscolo, Garum is hardly the first food museum on earth, yet there’s no other place like it. Spread over two floors, visitors can enjoy the fruits of Boscolo’s four-decade journey spent collecting gastronomic artifacts. ……

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The Blue Palace, on 37 Senatorska Street, was owned by the Zamoyski Family Fee Tail, the estate of the richest noble family in Poland. Influential in politics and culture for several centuries, the Zamoyski family once had the largest estate in the Second Polish Republic. By the outbreak of World War II, its area covered 56,199 hectares, with brickyards, sawmills, a brewery, and a sugar refinery. The family also had a number of historic properties in Warsaw. The Blue……

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Located on the southeast side of Portaferry village is a small hill. On the left-hand side of Windmill Hill road, there is an old Windmill Stump that overlooks the village. From this location, visitors can get some truly inspirational views of Strangford village and the lough as well. When the windmill was in its heyday, it formed a vast network of 50 windmills across the Ards peninsula, known locally as the “Little Holland” of Northern Ireland. The windmills were……

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A metal replica of the famous Stargate from the television series and movie. In the series, the device creates a wormhole to travel to another planet instantaneously. The art piece is about 4-5 meters tall and was made by the local artist Martin Mayrbäurl….

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For the Maya, the honey bee is more than an insect. For millennia, the tiny, stingless species Melipona beecheii—much smaller than Apis mellifera, the European honey bee—has been revered in the Maya homeland in what is now Central America. Honey made by the animal the Maya call Xunan kab has long been used in a sacred drink, and as medicine to treat a whole host of ailments, from fevers to animal bites. The god of bees appears in relief……

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Long thought to be London’s oldest outdoor statue, this depiction of Anglo-Saxon king Alfred the Great is actually only half himself. Originally thought to be one statue dating from the 14th century, the upper half, depicting Alfred, was in fact created in the late 18th century.  The lower half however is around 1,200 years older than expected, dating back to the second century, during the reign of the Roman emperor Hadrian. During conservation work in 2021, it was discovered that the……

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Under the shade of a maple tree on a Munich street stands a tall, white, granite monument. It’s topped by a bronze sculpture of a young girl encircled by a large wolf, whose fanged smile and guileful posture seem to belie unwholesome intentions. This is, of course, a depiction of “Little Red Riding Hood” (“Rotkäppchen” in German), a tale recorded and popularized in the 19th century by the Brothers Grimm, who themselves heard it told by rural Bavarians. At……

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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, Jonathan Carey and Michelle Cassidy of the Atlas Places Team bring listeners two Atlas Obscura locations developed as the result of life-changing decisions—to embark on a massive art project and to live with a bear. Our podcast is an audio guide to the world’s wondrous, awe-inspiring, strange places. In under 15 minutes, we’ll take you to an incredible……

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