Valentine's Day - Atlas Obscura
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Valentine's Day

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13 Places for a Smooch

Spots and statues that celebrate kissing.
Roxanne Hoorn February 14, 2025
Peacock spiders love to show off their colorful butts.
animals

Animal Courtships: Our Favorite Reads

Fish with bumping bass, disco-dancing spiders, and other extreme ways animals attract a mate.
Roxanne Hoorn February 14, 2025
Sonnets still have a reputation for being about the unrequited love of a man for a woman.
shakespeare

The Most Romantic Poems of the Renaissance Weren't Always for Lovers

Declaring your love in a sonnet was not a couples-only endeavor.
Shannon McHugh February 12, 2024
Terni, Italy

Basilica of St. Valentine

Terni calls itself the "City of Lovers" and celebrates its links to Saint Valentine on February 14th—but is it the right Saint Valentine?
Alley of the Kiss
List

11 Sites for Clandestine Romance

Because famous—and famously doomed—lovers have been sneaking around forever.
Diana Hubbell February 14, 2023
Same-sex “smashes” or “crushes” — ranging from one-sided adoration to mutual devotion — were common at women’s colleges in Victorian America.
victorian

In the Victorian Era, Valentine’s Day Was a Celebration of Same-Sex Romance

Such "smashes" were encouraged when women were considered "passionless."
Anya Jabour February 14, 2023
All illustrations: John Mata for Atlas Obscura
puzzles

Puzzle Monday: Be My AO Valentine Crossword

AO Puzzles February 13, 2023
A closeup of the plaque on the obelisk.
List

11 Places to See Real Hearts

Hearts stand still for eternity at these memorials.
Jonathan Carey February 10, 2023
Methods for determining if love is true date back centuries. In the early 1900s, serious scientists and penny-arcade entrepreneurs alike tried to measure the emotion.
science

Inside a Decades-Long Quest to Measure Love

The journey of the "Love Tester," from serious-seeming science to the penny-arcade amusements.
April White February 10, 2023
Churches from Poland to Missouri claim to possess some of Saint Valentine's remains. This, from the Basilica di Santa Maria in Rome, is supposed to be his skull.
relics

4 Truly Unexpected Ways to Express Your Feelings on February 14th

What does Valentine's Day have to do with wounding insults, bone relics, and meat juice?
April White February 9, 2023
The label for Meat Juice (bottom right) often attracts visitors' attention at the Apothecary Museum.
food

In the 1800s, Valentine’s Meant a Bottle of Meat Juice

An act of love in the form of a medicinal tonic.
Stephanie Castellano February 10, 2022
Ted and Mabel Thompson bronze relief.
Loveland, Colorado

Loveland’s Sweetheart Couple

A tribute to Loveland’s most famous sweethearts, who helped spread cupid’s message to millions.
A sweet sampler.
collections

Why a Museum Owns a Chocolate Company's Embroidery Collection

The Whitman Sampler Collection is pretty sweet.
Anne Ewbank February 15, 2019
Gastro Obscura

Lovespoons

This ancient token of betrothal lives on as a Valentine's Day gift in Wales.
Gastro Obscura

Jjajang Myeon

On April 14, lonely South Korean singles are encouraged to drown their sorrows in black noodles.
Show someone you love them this Valentine's Day.
valentine's day

Atlas Obscura's Last-Minute 2018 Valentine's Day Gift Guide

Unusual ideas for the trickiest holiday.
The Editors February 9, 2018
This 18th-century illustration shows a heart in various stages of dissection.
valentine's day

The 2017 Atlas Obscura Last-Minute Valentine's Day Gift Guide

Don't panic, we're here to help.
Lex Berko February 13, 2017
A 1921 valentine.
victorian

The Rude, Cruel, and Insulting 'Vinegar Valentines' of the Victorian Era

Nothing like getting surprise hate mail from a would-be lover on February 14.
Natalie Zarrelli February 6, 2023