Author: Ms. R.

For several years, a public sculpture in Belgium nicknamed the “Hanging Boy” has been baffling internet users across the globe, not to mention the local passersby. He seems to hang from the façade of a building in the Prinsenhof street in Ghent, perhaps floating, perhaps hung up on a hook or on some invisible gallows. But whatever the case is, it’s quite an unsettling, mystifying sight, especially for those unfamiliar with modern Belgian art. The building in question was……

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Every visitor to the Belgrade Zoo visitor encounters the chimpanzee statue of  Sami, one of the most beloved animals that lived in Serbia‘s capital. Sami lived in the Belgrade Zoo between January 1988 and September 1992. A month after he arrived from Osijek Zoo and Aquarium, he escaped twice. He was captured both times and returned to the zoo, but citizens felt empathy for the animal, feeling a kinship to his plight as they lived under communist rule. Vuk Bojović, who……

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In the grounds of the beautiful Ushaw College is an area of playing fields, situated just to the east of the main building.  This area is known as “the Bounds” and was built as part of the original college complex, but the development of the library meant that it had to be moved further to the east. The college had a strong tradition of distinctive ball games one of which was the game called Cat. These new Bounds were……

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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, the Atlas production team would like to share some of their favorite places as 2021 comes to a close. This episode will be followed by a series of the team’s favorite episodes from the past year, published over the next two weeks. Our podcast is an audio guide to the world’s wondrous, awe-inspiring, strange places. In under 15……

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Built in the early 1900s, the Notre-Dame of Bangui Cathedral is a large red brick church built in the French colonial style. Above the three-door entrance is a white plaster icon of the Virgin Mary looking out from a niche. The interior of the cathedral features a crucifix and four massive windows featuring colored glass. The symmetrical double-tower design harkens back to Paris’s own Notre Dame Cathedral.  Though today it has a population of nearly 900,000, the Central African……

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Located in the Koudoukou neighborhood of the Central African Republic capital, the Grande Mosquée de Bangui is a white and green stucco building with three minarets and gold-painted star-and-crescents adorning its roofline. Large fans cool the interior and loudspeakers mounted onto the minarets announce the call to prayer five times a day. During particularly large gatherings, worshippers will overflow into the dirt path in front of the mosque arranging their prayer mats in neat rows. The spread of Islam……

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It’s 30 B.C. and Cleopatra is dead. Egypt is a Roman colony, but Rome (being Rome) wasn’t satisfied. And why would they be when the wealth of Nubia—with its gold mines and elaborate temples—lay just to the south? But Nubia’s queen and sole ruler, Amanirenas, wasn’t going to sit idly by. In a preemptive attack, Amanirenas and her forces bested the Romans at Philae and Syene (Aswan, Egypt, today). She toppled statues of Roman Emperor Augustus and even buried……

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An old district near the famous fish market of Tsukiji, Tsukuda is known as the birthplace of tsukudani, a traditional Japanese dish that goes along with plain rice. Made from such ingredients as seaweed, fish, clam, and even locust on occasion, it is typically prepared by simmering the ingredients in soy sauce and a kind of sake called mirin so that it would hold up well for some time. Walk along the waterfront of Tsukuda today, and you would be in for a historic……

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As the tide slowly recedes out of Apalachicola Bay, a rugged swell of oysters breaks the surface. Paleontologist Greg Dietl gingerly navigates the uneven, slippery surface of exposed reefs. Dietl jokes that he’s “now in the oyster business,” but the curator of Cornell’s Paleontological Research Institution (PRI) in Ithaca, New York, has not come to harvest the living assemblage of eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) poking above the water. He’s here to sample the dead shells entombed below. For the……

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Completed in 2016, the Mount Bagua Skywalk winds through the forested hills of Changhua, giving walkers fantastic views of the city. The skywalk passes over botanical gardens, a military cemetery, old Japanese barracks, a baseball field, and a local high school. During the right time of year, walkers are treated to a medley of colorful flowers and butterflies, and parts of the skywalk are often decorated to celebrate holidays and other events.  The skywalk is a popular walking trail……

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India mill was once a textile mill that operated between 1887 and 1991 in the industrial town of Darwen in the eastern part of Lancashire, England. The mill itself, though large and impressive for the time, was rather plain on the exterior. It appears as though most of the budget was spent on this magnificent brick chimney. The structure is said to be inspired by the bell tower in St Mark’s Square, Venice. It dominates the skyline of Darwen…….

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