Author: Ms. R.

In 1993, a pair of houses next to a former tile factory were converted into a museum celebrating the long tradition of tile-making in Paray-le-Monial. Among the exhibits at the Musée d’Art et d’Industrie Paul Charnoz (Museum of Art and Industry Paul Charnoz) are two great masterpieces, monumental frescoes made for the world fairs in Paris of 1889 and 1900, each awarded with the first prize. Paul Charnoz was born in 1845 in the city of Metz. He learned about ceramics……

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The Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen—the most visited-museum in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam—was founded in 1849. Over the next century and a half, its collection grew to more than 151,000 works of art, including masterpieces by household names like Rembrandt, Vincent van Gogh, Hieronymus Bosch, and Peter Paul Rubens, all of it valued at €8 billion (about $9 billion). But as is the case for museums around the world, Boijmans’ galleries can only accommodate a fraction of these……

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This home in Toronto‘s Seaton Village neighborhood is completely covered in thousands of coins, corks, glass beads, and small wooden pucks called “wood cakes.” And if that wasn’t enough, the unique decor carries over onto the homeowner’s car, which is known as the “bug mobile” and you can often find parked out front. After suffering a career-ending spinal injury in 1994, homeowner Albino Carreira was looking for something to keep him occupied while he recovered. He started small by……

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Taxco de Alarcón is known as a Mexican viceregal city where most of its constructions date from the New Spain Baroque period. At that time, those who could not afford to have elaborate facades carved in quarry asked to decorate the walls with illustrations made with pebbles at the time of construction. According to the history of the Hotel Casa Grande, the property dates back to 1571. It was the site where the hero of independence, Morelos, kept a……

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The only natural mineral hot springs in the state of North Carolina sits in a picturesque mountain town aptly named Hot Springs, at the juncture of the French Broad River and the Appalachian Trail, encircled by the Pisgah National Forest. Heated, carbonated waters are jetted from the ancient river (one of the oldest on earth, by some measures) into a series of neat, private mineral baths lining the river, offering unobstructed views of the waterways and the Blue Ridge……

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The Crab Museum promotes itself as “Europe’s only museum dedicated to the decapod” but is more a quirky environmental action and climate change initiative launched by a team of absurdists. While there is certainly some scientific information about crabs, there is also a lot of tongue-in-cheek nonsense about giant crabs, bearded ladies, crabs engaged in class warfare, an info panel (in the toilet) on pubic lice (commonly called “crabs”), and a “carb display,” supposedly initiated by a dyslexic curator…….

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Though Malta, Montana, has a population of just under 2,000 people, it boasts an impressive collection of dinosaur bones. The small town is home to a remarkable museum that holds some of the best-preserved dinosaur bones and fossils in its collection.  The Great Plains Dinosaur Museum takes you back millions of years to a time when these giants roamed the earth (alongside smaller creatures too, of course). You can see full skeletons still caked in mud from where they were found. Specimens……

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This 125-foot tower was part of a design that architect Frank Lloyd Wright proposed in 1957 as Arizona‘s new State Capitol. Called “The Oasis,” Wright’s vision included a canopy of honeycombed glass and a delicate spire atop each of the three wings. At the time, the design was rejected by Arizona for being too “modern,” and for many years it sat as one of the hundreds of Wright designs that were never implemented.  But in 2004, the Promenade Scottsdale wanted……

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