San Petronio Basilica: The Church That Ticked The Pope Off
Kaushik Patowary
Dec 4, 2018
Dominating the central square in the city of Bologna is one of the world’s largest church with a unique mismatched façade that has been intr...
Showing posts with the label Featured
Hotel Belvédère: The Iconic Swiss Hotel on The Edge of The Rhone Glacier
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 29, 2018
Located in one of the snowiest regions in Switzerland, the Furka Pass, connecting the cantons of Uri and Valais in the country’s south-centr...
Halifax Gibbet: The Infamous Forerunner to The Guillotine
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 27, 2018
Standing inconspicuously in the middle of an empty plot behind some trees, in the small English town of Halifax, in West Yorkshire, is a fea...
The Collapse of Marib Dam And The Fall of an Empire
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 26, 2018
Near the ancient city of Marib, in Yemen, lies the ruins of a great dam. Considered to be one of the biggest engineering wonders of the anci...
A Barrel Post Office, Mysterious Disappearances and Moby Dick: The Strange History of Floreana Island
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 21, 2018
The Galapagos islands in the Pacific Ocean were once natural stopovers for 18-century whalers, who were drawn to the remote islands by fresh...
Schwerer Gustav: The World’s Biggest Gun Ever Built
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 19, 2018
Hitler sure had some grand ideas—from mass murdering Jews and conquering Europe, to rebuilding Berlin and draining the Mediterranean sea . ...
Why Iceland Imports Ice From Other Countries
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 17, 2018
The name Iceland is a misnomer. In reality, the country is stunningly green, especially during summer, and only about ten percent of Iceland...
The Tay Bridge Disaster And The World’s Worst Poem
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 14, 2018
On the night of 28 December 1879, a violent storm lashed across Scotland collapsing an iron bridge that straddled the Firth of Tay and plung...
How Solitary Confinement Saved Ludger Sylbaris From The Deadliest Volcanic Eruption
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 13, 2018
At the northern end of Martinique, a French overseas island in the eastern Caribbean sea, stands Mount Pelée, a volcano that famously erupte...
The Mystery of Lady Dai’s Preserved Mummy
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 10, 2018
Believe it or not, this grotesque figure is considered to be one of the world’s best preserved mummies. While her face looks swollen and de...
ATLAS-I: The Cold War-Era Facility That Tested The Effects of EMP on Military Aircraft
Kaushik Patowary
Nov 7, 2018
Flying in and out of Albuquerque, in New Mexico, the United States, one can catch a glimpse of a gigantic wooden trestle standing in the mid...
Horse-Drawn Boats
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 30, 2018
Before diesel and electric engines made sailing convenient, boats and barges had to be either rowed or pulled. In many European countries su...
The Mines of Messines Ridge
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 26, 2018
About 8 kilometers south of Ypres, in the middle of a farm, is a small green pond known as the “Pool of Peace”, but its creation was a rathe...
Offa’s Dyke: The 1,200-Years-Old Dyke Separating Wales From England
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 24, 2018
In south-west England, there runs a great earthwork from the mouth of River Dee near Chester, to the estuary of River Severn near Chepstow, ...
Michigan’s Massive Copper Boulders
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 23, 2018
In the early 17th century, fur traders traversing Lake Superior in North America heard tales of a fabulous boulder lying on the banks of the...
Chindōgu: The Japanese Art of Unuseless Inventions
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 18, 2018
You have definitely seen a chindōgu. They are those ridiculous Japanese inventions designed to solve a particular problem but are, in fact, ...
The Lighthouse That Wrecked More Ships Than it Saved
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 17, 2018
For more than forty years a lighthouse stood on a large anvil-shaped peninsula jutting into the Tasman Sea near Jervis Bay, in southern Aust...
When ‘Blowing Smoke Up Your Ass’ Was a Real Thing
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 15, 2018
This neat little box containing a pair of bellows and an assortment of pipes and other fixtures is a Tobacco Resuscitator Kit from the 18th...
Britain's Giant Hillside Chalk Figures
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 13, 2018
The Westbury White Horse carved on the hillside near Westbury in Wiltshire, England. Photo credit: tipwarm/Shutterstock.com A large portio...
How The London Bridge Was Sold to America
Kaushik Patowary
Oct 11, 2018
For centuries, children and kindergarteners have sung and danced to the tune of London Bridge is falling down , but when engineers discovere...
