surf's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Schweindorf, Germany

Westerholt E-66 Observation Wind Turbine

Giant wind turbine with observation deck at the very top.
Genoa, Italy

Genoa Cathedral

This cathedral hides a sculpted dog that determines your fate and an unexploded shell from World War II.
Genoa, Italy

Roman Polanski's Neptune

Massive galleon from a box-office bomb docked in Genoa.
Venice, Italy

Tomb of Antonio Canova

A sinister pyramid in the Frari contains the heart of the famous neoclassical sculptor.
Essen, Germany

Zollverein

The Bauhaus-style former industrial complex is considered the world's most beautiful coal mine.
Oberhausen, Germany

Gasometer Oberhausen

An industrial relic is now one of Europe's most staggering art spaces.
Blegny, Belgium

Blegny-Mine

Descend into the tunnels to experience the life of a coal miner.
Gräfenhainichen, Germany

Ferropolis

Retirement home for giant obsolete machines.
Nagold, Germany

Platanenkubus

A German town is growing a building out of trees.
Wehringen, Germany

Fasan Explosives Factory

Hidden in the forest are the crumbling, graffiti-covered remains of the factory where most of Germany's explosives were produced during World War II.
Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France

The Venus of Brassempouy

This prehistoric figurine is the oldest known realistic depiction of a human face.
Le Raincy, France

Notre Dame du Raincy

1920's reinforced concrete church by architect Auguste Perret changes the face of modern design.
Bourg-la-Reine, France

Francois Hennebique's Concrete Manor

The man who introduced reinforced concrete to the world demonstrated its genius by using it to build his own house.
Boulogne-Billancourt, France

Le Corbusier's Studio-Apartment

Experience architect Le Corbusier's modernist design for living in the home he designed for himself.
Paris, France

Notre Dame du Travail Church

The industrial architecture honors the laborers who brought the Exposition Universelle of 1900 to life.
Paris, France

Remnants of the Paris Guillotine

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

La Promenade Plantée

The first green space constructed on an elevated viaduct.
Paris, France

Musée des Arts et Métiers

France's national museum of scientific and industrial instruments.
Paris, France

The Last Original Standard Metre

An overlooked marble is the only surviving in-place 18th century example of the measurement that changed how we define distance.
Paris, France

Cannonball of the Hotel de Sens

A lone cannonball remains lodged in the walls of the Hotel de Sens as a sober reminder of a revolution.
Paris, France

Julien Aurouze and Co.

A Parisian exterminator's shop whose storefront displays stuffed rats hanging from traps.
Paris, France

Foucault's Pendulum

19th century pendulum and a clock restored by a rogue group of guerilla artists.
Mechernich, Germany

Brother Klaus Field Chapel

This German art chapel is perfect for those who like their worship hard, modern, and utterly alien.
Borgloon, Belgium

Reading Between The Lines

Part modern art project, part traditional chapel, this see-through church is only substantial from the right angle.