ElzbietaJ's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Niles, Illinois

Leaning Tower of Niles

Half-sized replica of the Leaning Tower of Pisa built to honor Galileo.
Chicago, Illinois

Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures

This surprising gem is a world-class archeological museum hidden at the University of Chicago.
Rome, Italy

Meridian Line of the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs

Installed in an act of one-upsmanship, the annual sundial in this church is also a symbolic victory for the Gregorian calendar.
Rome, Italy

Servian Wall at McDonald's

Inside this McDonald's you can dine on your Big Mac and fries next to a 2,500-year-old Roman wall.
Rome, Italy

The Globe of the Vatican Obelisk

Legend has it that this bronze orb, which sat atop an ancient Egyptian obelisk, once held the ashes of Julius Caesar.
Venice, Italy

Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs

This Roman statue is missing a limb from when the Venetians stole it from Constantinople during the Crusades.
Venice, Italy

Peggy Guggenheim's Grave

The only museum with its curator—and her pets—buried inside.
Padua, Italy

Scrovegni Chapel

Built to repay the sins of the father, this church is home to one of the most valuable works of Western art.
Orvieto, Italy

Pozzo di San Patrizio

Water and windows define this defensive Italian well.
Venice, Italy

St. Mark's Lost Third Column

Two stone columns flank the grand Venice square, but there were supposed to be three.
Venice, Italy

Reliquaries of St Mark's Basilica Treasury

An extensive collection of reliquaries containing the bones of saints housed in the largest Catholic church in Venice.
Venice, Italy

Piraeus Lion

Thousand-year-old Viking runes adorn an ancient Greek lion at the entrance to the Venetian Arsenal.
Venice, Italy

Palazzo Dario

Those who own or stay at this 500-year-old, allegedly cursed house often meet terrible fates.
Orvieto, Italy

Orvieto Underground

This picturesque Umbrian city has a subterranean side that has long remained hidden.
Venice, Italy

The Mad Colored Houses of Burano

This community on a small Venetian island has taken to painting their houses in bright neon hues.
San Francisco, California

V. C. Morris Gift Shop

Early prototype for Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim.
San Francisco, California

Palace of Fine Arts

The last remaining relic of San Francisco's glittering 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition.
San Francisco, California

Japanese Tea Garden

Relics of the 1894 Midwinter Exposition continue to delight visitors today.
Seattle, Washington

Center of the Universe Sign

Residents of Fremont in Seattle have considered it the center of the universe since the 1970s.
Paris, France

Rue du Chat-qui-Pêche

The narrowest street in Paris.
Paris, France

Remnants of the Paris Guillotine

Indents in the pavement are all that remain from a grisly death machine in Paris.
Paris, France

Shakespeare and Company

This iconic Parisian bookstore doubles as the "Tumbleweed Hotel" for traveling writers.
Florence, Italy

Ospedale degli Innocenti (Hospital of the Innocents)

Renaissance hospital featuring a rotating door into which unwanted babies were dropped.
Florence, Italy

Fresco of John Hawkwood

In Florence's great Duomo, a 26 foot fresco honors a mercenary famous for attacking Florence.