Although Columbus was a mapmaker in his pre-expedition days, he left behind no known maps of his explorations. Luckily for us, Juan de la Cosa, who sailed with Columbus on three journeys, did -... »

Marvelous Maps and Measures | Edited by Annetta and Dylan

The Gala Dalí Castle (Casa-Museu Castell Gala-Dalí) in the medieval village of Púbol, Spain, adjoins a fourteenth-century church. The village, in the La Pera municipality of the Baix Empordà... »

Museums and Collections, Catacombs, Crypts, & Cemeteries, Eccentric Homes | Edited by wythe and Dylan

It has been said that the history of humanity is based on the stories that our ancestors have bequeathed to us, quite often represented by funerary monuments, by cults to the dead, and in the... »

Rites and Rituals | Edited by gregorius and Dylan

It is, at its simplest, an ex-monk's act of faith. After eight years in a Trappist order--and just prior to taking his vows--Don Justo Gallego Martinez was obliged to leave, considerably weakened... »

Curious Places of Worship, Outsider Architecture | Edited by Dylan and Henry

Mercury, also known as quicksilver, is a beautiful, mirror-skinned metal that is liquid at room temperature. Unfortunately, it is also extremely toxic. For many years, the world's greatest... »

Unusual Monuments | Edited by spopkes, mrobscurity and 2 others

Though Spain may have loaned its name to one of the most famous Christian witch-hunts in human history, the country's capital city holds unique bragging rights for having what is commonly... »

Strange Statues | Edited by littlebrumble

Nothing is more confusing to archeologists and historians then old hoaxes, hoaxes that are now themselves parts of history. The crystal skulls, for example, which were "discovered" in the jungles... »

Architectural Oddities | Edited by arztriper and Xof

Known as a jameo, it is a geographic feature similar to a sink hole and is caused when a lava tube (an underground tunnel created by flowing magma) ceiling collapses in on itself, or as in this... »

Geological Oddities | Edited by taylorstevens, Dylan and others

One could only hope that our entire energy future will look as whimsical as the solar power station in Sanlúcar la Mayor near Seville. This power plant consists of a pair of "concentrated... »

Inspired Inventions, Architectural Oddities | Edited by stanestane, kevinjoyce8 and 2 others

Cadiz is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Spain, an ancient (even by Andalusian standards) cluster of buildings on a tiny spit of land jutting into the Atlantic Ocean. Every old city has... »

Instruments of Science, Architectural Oddities, Outsider Architecture | Edited by Alpha and Henry