Author: Ms. R.

In the shadow of Sweden’s southernmost point in the small fishing village of Smygehuk stands Famntaget, an often overlooked sculpture with an interesting connection to Hollywood. This life-size bronze statue of a naked woman was modeled after Birgit Holmquist, who is the maternal grandmother of American actress Uma Thurman. The daughter of an industrialist, Holmquist was born in 1911 and raised in Trelleborg in southern Sweden. In her late teens, she worked as a model and posed for the renowned local……

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Why would anyone expend the resources simply to pump water up and let it run off a cliff, particularly lots of water?  That seems at best quixotic and at worst gratuitously wasteful. Well, it was unquestionably wasteful, but the costs were considered minor at the time. The falling water represents the distributary stream, the so-called Main Canal, for Banks Lake, the reservoir for the Columbia Basin (Irrigation) Project. Banks Lake is filled by water pumped up from the Columbia……

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A small and poignant memorial exhibition inside the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich showcases the lives of the founders of the Weiße Rose (in English, “White Rose”) and holds artifacts that are central to their story of heroism in the face of brutal oppression. The White Rose was a resistance movement founded by siblings Sophie and Hans Scholl and their friend Alexander Schmorell in the city of Munich in 1942. All three founders were enrolled students at the University of Munich. (Sophie……

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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 hear from the caretakers of a skiers’ paradise in Bolivia that became a ghost town. 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 site, and along the way you’ll meet some fascinating people and hear their stories. Join us daily, Monday……

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Two centuries ago, King Kaumuali‘i was faced with an impossible decision: relinquish his island kingdom or doom his people to slaughter. With savvy diplomacy and a lot of careful maneuvering, Kaumuali‘i was able to avoid either fate. Adored by his people and respected by foreigners, Kaumuali‘i was, by all accounts, a king to rival all kings. But history has largely forgotten the man who would become the last ruler of Kaua‘i. Many children on Kaua‘i today only recognize his……

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“These hills were on fire,” says Adelaida Cucué Rivera, remembering a dark time, years earlier, for the quiet mountain community where she lives. “If you looked out at these hills, you would not see trees. The forest was demolished,” she adds, gesturing toward what is once again a dense woodland of pine. Fiftysomething Rivera has warm eyes and a presence as calm as it is commanding. From her porch, she looks out onto the lush highlands of Cherán, an……

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Sometime in the late 18th century, a wealthy salt merchant named Tong Yuejin decided to throw a banquet. The event took place in Tong’s luxurious quarters in Yangzhou, a metropolis 170 miles north of Shanghai. The meal was opulent, even by the standards of the city, whose inhabitants were notorious, as contemporaries quipped, for “throwing money around like dirt and dung.” Tong’s dinner was a study in conspicuous consumption, with more than 400 dishes. For the occasion, he ordered……

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