anna_wing

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sinquerim-beach-bastion

Aguada Fort in North Goa is divided into two sections: Upper Aguada Fort and Lower Aguada Fort. It was built in 1612 by the Portuguese to guard the territory against the Dutch. The upper part of the fort was also called ‘Fortaleza Real’ while the lower part was called ‘Praca da Santa Catharina.’

The lower fort has a perimeter of a huge protective wall and nine strategically placed bastions along the seashore. One of the bastions protrudes a short distance out into the sea. It is connected to the main fort by means of an elevated causeway. It was called the Queen Maria bastion once upon a time, as it was the tradition back then to designate names to all the bastions of the forts.

Today, this bastion offers visitors amazing views of the sea. Technically it is an extension of the Lower Aguada Fort but it is also popularly known as Sinquerim Fort or Sinquerim Beach Bastion, since it is located on Sinquerim Beach.

From the bastion, one can get splendid views of the northern shoreline which has the beaches of Sinquerim, Candolim, Calangute and Baga amongst others. To the south of the bastion, one can see the other portions of the fortification.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sinquerim-beach-bastion

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/vloethemveld

Vloethemveld is a large nature reserve that, starting in 1924, served as munitions depot for the Belgian Army for several decades. During World War II, the British Army repurposed it as a prisoner-of-war camp, and the site held more than 100,000 German and Eastern European POWs. Vloethemveld was later reverted back to a depot, and was used as such through the Cold War.

After the depot was decommissioned in the 1990s, Vloethemveld was legally designated as a protected landscape. Today, the area is open for nature lovers and history buffs alike.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/vloethemveld

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/signers-memorial

On a little island within Constitution Gardens in Washington, D.C., stands a memorial to the 56 original signers of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Organized by their representative states, each engraved signature has printed below it the signer’s name, occupation, and hometown.

Designed and sculpted by Joseph Brown, the memorial was authorized by Congress in 1978 and dedicated on July 4, 1984.

Celebrating one of history’s most rebellious documents in one of D.C’s most tranquil outdoor settings creates a moving juxtaposition well worth the visit.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/signers-memorial

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sala-silvergruva-sala-silver-mine

The Sala Silver Mine (or Sala Silvergruva) is a historic silver mine located in central Sweden. It dates back to the 15th century, and as a rich source of silver, it was in use for 500 years, ultimately ceasing operations in 1962.

In 1988, the site reopened as a museum and tourist attraction, and today, you can visit to learn the history of the mine as well as the evolution of the dangerous job of the miner. Several tour options are offered, and each allows you to plumb to a different depth of the mine shaft.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sala-silvergruva-sala-silver-mine

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cercle-solaire-du-kiischpelt

Enscherange is a small village located two kilometers north of the village of Lellingen, which is famous for its Via Botanica. As hikers leave Enscherange in an eastern direction, they will notice a curious structure along a country road: a metal post in the middle of a paved circle accompanied by a sundial and an explanatory plaque.

This post marks Kiischpelt Sun Circle, the intersection of the 50th parallel of northern latitude with the 6th meridian of eastern longitude. It is the only place in Luxembourg where a parallel of a full degree of latitude intersects a meridian of a full degree of longitude. Apart from the intersections of the Greenwich meridian and those at the equator, it seems that there are only about 10 such intersections marked by monuments in the world. 

The pole is surrounded by other wooden posts which mark the four cardinal points and the angles of sunrise and sunset at the solstices. Next to the pole, an explanatory panel in Lëtzebuergesch and French provides all the necessary information. There is a bench where visitors can enjoy the view over the valley of the Clerve.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/cercle-solaire-du-kiischpelt

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-dive

Cave City is small. Like, blink and you’ll miss it small—about 2,500 people nestled next to the longest cave system in the world.

For 75 years, this town was dry. Then, a mother-daughter duo decided it was time for Cave City to have a proper watering hole. They opened The Dive Bar, not because it’s grimy, but because they wanted to lean into the good kind of dive—friendly and unpretentious.

This place has seen it all. Weddings, divorces, even a funeral. One of their patrons had a final wish to become part of the bar—his ashes now rest in Busch Light urn perched on the shelf.

And the bar top? It’s not just for your drinks. It’s a 34-foot slab of storytelling, chronicling the town’s history from the 1800s to today. Photos, artifacts, little newspaper clippings—it’s like a museum, but with shots of Fireball. Scattered across it are golden nameplates of the regulars, each one a badge of honor earned by drinking 500 beers. There are over 200 of them.

On weekends, they’ve got live music that ranges from bluegrass to metal, and on weeknights: themed karaoke.

If you’re ever near Mammoth Cave and want a cold drink with a side of small-town soul, pull up a stool. Who knows? After 500 beers, you just might get your name on the bar, too.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-dive

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/punk-monument

Forming an alternative music band in totalitarian communist Czechoslovakia was no easy task, as the case of The Plastic People of the Universe—which faced persecution and imprisonment—illustrates. Their struggles inspired the founding of Charta 77, an organization that criticized human rights violations in Czechoslovakia and later contributed to the Velvet Revolution of 1989, led by Václav Havel, a former political prisoner who became a democratic president.

The threat of prison made some underground bands look for ways to be successful and authentic without becoming victims of the regime. For example, several students of the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague spread rumors about the existence of a great punk band called Visací zámek until, in 1982, they were finally forced to found it.

Some of their early songs were ambiguous enough to function as a call to rebellion but still be defensible if challenged. This may have helped them gain the patronage of an official organization, the Prague Gardeners, which had nothing to do with music but allowed them to continue without much oppression. In 1984, they were even allowed to perform at an official venue on Žofín—but without pay, and with the police standing nearby.

Before 1989, pirated recordings were circulated as official distribution was not possible. With the fall of communism, punks lost one of their biggest enemies, and Visací zámek entered its most successful years.

In 2022, controversial artist David Černý created an installation of an overturned pink Zetor model 40 tractor as part of the 40th anniversary celebrations of the band. The statue was erected on the site of a kiosk owned by a man nicknamed John Debil, about whom the band composed the song Stánek. When the man heard about the song, he ran out of the kiosk and shouted, “Show me those idiots! I’ll break their necks!” However, in 2022, his son considered it an honor to pour beer during the tractor’s unveiling.

The statue is inspired primarily by the band’s name (meaning padlock) and the song Traktor, which references a Zetor driving into the mountains to plow potatoes.

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https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/national-videogame-museum-sheffield

The National Videogame Museum in Sheffield is housed in a single large room filled with full-sized arcade cabinets, retro and modern TVs connected to various gaming consoles, and desks equipped with computers and gaming systems. Originally established in 2015 as the National Videogame Arcade, the museum was opened in its current location in 2018.

Visitors can play all of the games for free—and are encouraged to do so; the staff may even check in on people and offer tips. The games themselves cover a range of genres and eras. Visitors could see anything from the original arcade versions of Space Invaders or Donkey Kong to text-based adventures to modern AAA racing games to recently released indie puzzle games. 

The museum also takes its work of preserving video games seriously. Several display cases around the museum feature a range of game consoles, controllers, and other items spanning many decades of gaming industry history. A particular emphasis is placed on presenting the games and hardware developed within the United Kingdom. These displays give visitors the opportunities to see the evolution of video games from the 1970s right up to the present.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/national-videogame-museum-sheffield

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hrachovina-peas

There is no more poetic place to commemorate the discoveries of 19th-century Czech priest and father of genetics Gregor Johann Mendel than in a forest composed of five-meter-high bronze pea plants. The structure—which hides real DNA samples of important Czech personalities, including Mendel—visualize his third law of heredity about the independent combinability of specific gene variants. That is why nine round yellow peas, three round green peas, three wrinkled yellow peas, and one wrinkled green pea grow on the statue. (Observations of pea plants are what led Mendel to the founding principles of genetics.)

Mendel studied for three years at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Olomouc, and then studied theology. He eventually completed his studies in Vienna, but didn’t pass the professorial exams. This gave him time to research pea hybridization using the biostatistical method in the monastery. But after the death of the local abbot in 1868, Mendel was elected to take his place—meaning he had less time for research.

The only honor Mendel received during his life for his natural science discoveries was being elected vice-president of the local natural science society in 1869. William Bateson only translated Mendel’s work into English after his death, which, with a delay of 30 years, caused a new scientific revolution.

In 2022, Mendel’s skeletal remains were exhumed and examined in 2021 as part of the celebration of the 200th anniversary of his birth.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hrachovina-peas

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/vitromurales-de-zacatlan

In 2014, Councilwoman Mary Carmen Olvera had the idea to ​create a mural on the wall of the local cemetery that bordered the Barranca de los Jilgueros. The wall was already a tourist spot known for its scenic views. The artist in charge of the project was American artist Trish Metzner-Lynch, who decided to ​​create it with mosaics, mirrors, tiles, glass, and Talavera.

Thus, Zacatlán's first glass mural (Vitromurales) was born. The artist worked with local artisans and volunteers to create the 100-meter-long work with three sections The first section, at the cemetery entrance, features scenes from the Bible; the second, on the wall adjacent to the ravine, features representative elements of Zacatlán (such as apple growing, clockmaking, and landscapes); and the third features pre-Hispanic elements, depicting the Nahua underworld.

The work attracted so much attention that additional murals began to be created in historic and forgotten areas of Zacatlán. They are now spread across Callejón del Hueso, Callejón Lindavista, and Paseo de la Barranca. There is even a small museum that displays student-made works of art inspired by movies and pop culture.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/vitromurales-de-zacatlan