loki1978de's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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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

St. Mark's Lost Third Column

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

St. Mark's Clock Tower (Torre dell'Orologio)

Go inside to really appreciate this 500-year-old technological masterpiece.
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.
London, England

The Great Bed of Ware

This intricately carved and hilariously huge bed was such a famous symbol both Shakespeare and Byron used it in their writing.
London, England

Clock of the Long Now: Prototype 1

A clock designed to run with perfect accuracy for 10,000 years.
London, England

Difference Engine #2

Charles Babbage's proto-computer, painstakingly brought to life.
London, England

Speakers' Corner

London's last remaining public soapbox site has seen speeches from Karl Marx, Vladmir Lenin, and George Orwell.
Rome, Italy

Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls

One of Catholicism's four major basilicas has a series of papal portraits that are said to predict the end of the world.
Rome, Italy

Basilica di San Clemente

A Nesting Doll of Churches.
Rome, Italy

The Dome Illusion

A master of trompe-l'oeil creates a stunning, tourist-fooling dome out of a flat ceiling.
Rome, Italy

Torre Argentina (Roman Cat Sanctuary)

Hundreds of lucky felines haunt the ruins where Caesar was murdered.
Rome, Italy

Campo de Fiori

This ritzy Italian market is built around a statue of an unforgiven heretic who was burned for his belief in an endless universe.
Rome, Italy

The Mouth of Truth

The yawning maw of this pagan visage is said to bite off the hands of liars.
London, England

Platform 9 3/4

Kings Cross Station pays tribute to its role in Britain's best-selling book series.
London, England

Peter Pan Statue

A statue marks the exact spot where The Boy Who Never Grows Up made his first literary appearance.
London, England

221b Baker Street

The popularity of Sherlock Holmes led to the creation of his fictional address, turning the orderly London street numbers askew.
San Francisco, California

Vaillancourt Fountain

This concrete tangle of square pipes has stood as a proud thorn in the city's side since the '70s.
San Francisco, California

Exploratorium

San Francisco's newly reopened hands-on science museum.
Tomar, Portugal

Convento de Cristo

The medieval castle built as headquarters for the Pope's secretive Knights Templar.
Dachau, Germany

Dachau Concentration Camp

The prototype for all Nazi concentration camps.
Munich, Germany

Schönheitengalerie (Gallery of Beauties)

King Ludwig I's collection of beautiful women.
Munich, Germany

WeiĂźe Rose Pavement Memorial

These bronze pamphlets remember a remarkable group of Germans who fearlessly opposed the Nazis in the very center of their power.
Munich, Germany

Eisbachwelle

Go surfing on this urban wave, "hacked" by local surfers.