Showing posts with the label Featured

Wainhouse Tower: The Tallest Folly

Jul 18, 2019

Wainhouse Tower, standing high on a hill in the King Cross area of Halifax, is the tallest structure in Calderdale and a prominent landmark ...

Via Cava: The Cave Roads of Tuscany

Jul 17, 2019

In southern Tuscany, there is a mysterious network of old pathways deeply entranced into massive rocks appearing like narrow canyons flanked...

The Legend of Bingen’s Mouse Tower

Jul 16, 2019

On a small island in the Rhine river, outside Bingen am Rhein, in Germany, stands a 10th century stone tower with a macabre legend associate...

Dresden’s Tobacco Mosque

Jul 15, 2019

Standing on the banks of the Elbe river, in the German city of Dresden, is a monumental building with a multicolored glass dome and high-ri...

Linnaeus's Flower Clock: Keeping Time With Flowers

Jul 3, 2019

Who needs a watch to tell time when we got flowers? Many species of flowering plants open and close their flowers at specific times through...

That Time When America Air-Dropped Pianos For Troops in Battlefields

Jul 2, 2019

You thought pianos dropping from the sky is a gag for cartoons? Then hear this story out. During World War Two, all kinds of production inv...

Hellburner: The 16th Century Weapon of Mass Destruction

Jun 29, 2019

In the age of sail, when ships were made of wood, fire was the number one enemy of sailors, and this fearsome tool was used in diabolic ways...

The Triumphal Arch of Emperor Maximilian I

Jun 27, 2019

Like many rulers, the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I had a fascination for large monuments, but instead of actually building them he roman...

The Longest Papal Election in History

Jun 26, 2019

The main attraction in the ancient city of Viterbo, in central Italy, is a 13th century palace built to serve as the country residence for t...

The World’s First Parachute Jump

Jun 25, 2019

On December 26, 1783, a crowd gathered outside the observatory in Montpellier, a French city near the south coast on the Mediterranean Sea. ...

Hermits As Garden Ornaments

Jun 24, 2019

Between the 17th and the 19th centuries, a certain reproachful and voyeuristic trend emerged among wealthy British landowners. Not content w...

Thomas Edison’s Forgotten Passion: Building Concrete Houses

Jun 21, 2019

Of all things Thomas Alva Edison is known for, concrete is not one of them. It was one of Edison's less successful ventures, but not one...

François Coignet’s Reinforced Concrete House

Jun 20, 2019

In a quiet suburb, north of Paris, by the River Seine, stands a derelict four-story building. Its windows and doors are broken, some are bar...

The Galloping Horse Problem And The World’s First Motion Picture

Jun 19, 2019

“The 1821 Derby at Epsom” by Théodore Géricault Horses have appeared in works of art throughout history. They have appeared in prehistoric...

Mocha Dick: The Whale That Inspired Moby Dick

Jun 15, 2019

About thirty kilometers off the coast of Chile is a small teardrop-shaped island called Mocha, inhabited by the indigenous Mapuche people. ...

Taiwan’s Giant Wall of Propaganda Spewing Speakers

Jun 13, 2019

Just off the southeastern coast of mainland China, lies a group of two islands collectively called Kinmen. For over seventy years, these is...

The Great Aurora of 1859

Jun 11, 2019

On the evening of September 2, 1859, after the sun went down on the western hemisphere, a spectacular show of light began on the skies abov...

Churches of Peace: The Churches That Defied The Holy Roman Emperor

Jun 7, 2019

In the towns of Jawor and Åšwidnica, in the Silesia neighborhood of Wroclaw, Poland, stand two magnificent timber-framed churches. The Holy ...

Telefon Hírmondó, The Telephone Newspaper

Jun 6, 2019

When cell phones were first introduced, they were unattractive, brick-like devices that could do nothing more than make voice calls and sen...

Kyshtym: The Nuclear Disaster That Was Kept Secret For 30 Years

Jun 4, 2019

Thirty years before the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl exploded, in what became one of the most devastating nuclear accidents in history, ther...