Author: Ms. R.

The channel is a natural phenomenon and was named after Saint Anthony the Abbot. It is the only natural water route to Šibenik.  From the sea or the opposite shore you can see two holes in the coast, which locals call “Hitler’s eyes.” These are the entry into an underground water bypass built by the Germans in the 20th century. This construction allowed military boats and torpedo boats to access or to leave the city of Šibenik by water and……

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The history of the property now known as the Berkeley Plantation begins back in 1619, only 12 years after the establishment of Jamestown. A small group of European explorers would land at a tranquil spot on the banks of the James River and dubbed the land Berkeley Hundred, after a noble family from England. The men, led by Captain John Woodlief, were eager to establish the area as a new settlement. As they took to shore, Woodlief would lead……

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One of the most infamous remnants of New Haven‘s urban renewal period looms over an IKEA parking lot. The Pirelli Tire Building, designed by Marcel Breuer, has been a striking feature of the city’s harbor for decades. In 1966, when the Armstrong Rubber Company was looking to build a new headquarters near the intersection of Interstates 91 and 95, Mayor Richard C. Lee saw a unique opportunity. Rather than move forward with a low-rise structure, as Armstrong Rubber had planned,……

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Take a detour north off I-80 in western Pennsylvania and visitors will come across the remains of the Allegheny Portage Railroad, first designed during the late 1860s. Initially, a four-mile railroad loop was created in Woodhill as part of a section of track designed to help export crude oil from the region. However, this loop proved inefficient due to its sharp turns, ice jams, and rockslides. By the 1910s, a more direct route was needed. That direct route was……

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The city of New Orleans offers many ways for the devoted to practice in their faith, including the opportunity to climb the steps of a unique two-story shrine in Treme. The massive gate-enclosed shrine was built over 100 years ago and, due to its magnificent stature, has been a focal point for devotion since. The shrine fits into the wider historical context of the Catholic practice of replicating shrines: this one is meant to be a replica of the grotto at……

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Under the Ehrenfeld railway bridge stands a plaque and memorial mural that commemorates the heroic group known as the Edelweiss Pirates. The Edelweißpiraten, as they were called in Germany, was a youth subculture group that emerged in the 1930s.  The movement grew in response to Nazi totalitarianism, which included the indoctrination of children and teenagers into the Hitler Youth and the suppression of any perceived nonconformity. The social mores and behavior of the Edelweiss Pirates stood in direct contrast to the culture of the Hitler Youth,……

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Street art often has a meaning tied to its look and location, perhaps the best example of this is a gigantic sculpture of a snail, looking longingly at a Munich museum filled with cars and other vehicles.  The sculpture called ‘Sweet Brown Snail’ is a 29 fold enlargement of a popular tourist trinket, now towering at four meters high. The statue was made as a collaboration between Jason Rhoades and Paul McCarthy, known for works such as Paul McCarthy’s Santa……

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These panels are a unique part of Slovenian folk art. The tradition of painting the frontal panels of beehives is a unique Slovenian tradition. The Museum of Apiculture’s collection includes more than 800 examples and is the richest in Slovenia.  These paintings present different motifs of everyday life, historical events, relationships, but also illustrate folk tales, proverbs, and different religious themes. The oldest panel is dated 1758, depicting the Pilgrim Mary. This tradition was most actively followed during the……

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The photographs housed at the University of Sheffield’s National Fairground and Circus Archive aren’t really meant to be spooky, but there’s just something about a vintage snapshot of a vacant carnival ride or empty sideshow stage that feels like a peek onto a horror movie set. That makes sense to collections manager Arantza Barrutia. She points out that, for many, fear is integral to the experience of a fair of any sort. The draw is “the thrill experience, the……

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On August 14, 1960, former professional Ukrainian soccer player John Kobziar invited some of his neighbors to his home in Hunter, New York. The meeting that took place that evening became the first of the “Temporary Committee for the construction of the Ukrainian Catholic Chapel in the Vicinity of Hunter, NY.” Together, the group raised the funds to build what is known today as St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church. Construction began on the chapel and grazhda, or……

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