In Latin, as well as in English, the toponym "Avernus" is synonymous with "hell" or "underworld." It comes from the name of a volcanic crater lake in Campania, Italy . It means "birdless" in Anci...
It began when collector John Pottie found what he thought was a print of a game of billiards. Removing the art from the frame, he realized it was actually woven silk. How could such a small piece...
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/national-silk-art-museum-missouri
During World War I, the town of Donora, Pennsylvania, located about 30 miles south of Pittsburgh , roared with activity. The mills in Donora manufactured steel for all sorts of wartime materiel...
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cement-city-donora-pennsylvania
The Bahrain National Museum has on display a captivating tableau depicting the ancient Mesopotamian epic of Gilgamesh and Enki (aka Enkidu). The connection between Gilgamesh and the Dilmun civili...
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/legends-of-dilmun-bahrain
Downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma contains many examples of Art Deco architecture, but among those many marvels, one building stands out as nearly a parody of the style. The “fauxback” Denver Avenue S...
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/denver-avenue-station-tulsa
In the upscale Prati neighborhood of Rome hides a sinister sanctum of horror with an underground dungeon displaying the darker side of Italian cinema. Founded in 1989, Profondo Rosso is a lot m...
While Chioggia is known for its canals, to the extent it is also known as "little Venice," most of its canal footbridges are relatively simple. However, where Vega Canal meets the sea a brillia...
Now that nearly everybody carries a camera with them in their phone, photography is ubiquitous. But there were times when taking a picture was a big deal, and required expensive and hard-to-find ...
Ryūjin, literally translated as "Dragon God," is one of the major deities in Japanese mythology. An embodiment of the forces of nature, the dragon represents the sun, the sky, the element of wat...
In the town of Battle, named for its role as the site of 1066’s Battle of Hastings, stands St. Mary's Church. The church is home to a grand piece of embroidery known as The Battle Tapestry. Des...
One of the few "official" trails in the Desert National Wildlife Refuge , this path follows an old Jeep road some 5.5 miles up into the Sheep Range. It goes all the way from the low-desert Joshua...
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hidden-forest-trail-desert-national-wildlife-refuge
Founded by nuns of the Order of the Sacred Hearts, this church opened in 1908 and took the same name: Sveta Srca means "Sacred Hearts." Following World War II, the order abandoned the church and ...
The Secret Spitfires memorial is a poignant tribute to the remarkable and pivotal efforts of the people of Salisbury, Trowbridge, Reading, and Southampton during World War II. Inaugurated in July...
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/secret-spitfires-memorial
On the promenade by the Mediterranean beach in Alexandria stands a tall column topped with a statue of Saad Zaghloul. A revolutionary who played a key role in the Egyptian Revolution of 1919, Za...
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/saad-zaghloul-pasha-monument
A seemingly out-of-place comic book surprise sits on the 21st floor of the tallest university library in the world. When. Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman created the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turt ,...
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-sculpture-amherst
Guanyin, a bodhisattva sometimes called the "Goddess of Mercy," is revered by Chinese practitioners of Buddhism, Daoism, and folk religion alike as a savior of fishermen and sailors. Appropriate,...
Oxford is not only a city of dreaming spires, but also of gargoyles and grotesques, often silly and strange. The best examples of those may be found on the outer walls of Magdalen College, which...
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/magdalen-college-gargoyles-oxford
Shamrock, Texas, is a town filled with Irish symbolism. Its high school football team is known as the Fighting Irish, and one can find depictions of clovers and leprechauns all over the town. But...
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/shamrock-blarney-stone-texas