johnoliphant 795d0433's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
Washington, D.C.

Peacock Room

This stunning blue and gold room changed cities twice before becoming part of the Smithsonian.
Washington, D.C.

National Building Museum

Fittingly, America's museum of architecture is itself a magnificently designed old building.
Washington, D.C.

Lincoln Memorial Undercroft

A cavernous three-story, 43,800-square-foot basement that was forgotten about for 60 years.
Washington, D.C.

Catacombs of Washington, D.C.

Franciscan monks created a facsimile of the Holy Land for North Americans who couldn’t afford the trip overseas.
Washington, D.C.

National Bonsai Museum

One of the dwarven trees dates back to 1625 and survived the Hiroshima bombing.
Washington, D.C.

National Capitol Columns

The United States Capitol's former columns still stand.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

SS United States

Current docking place of the SS United States, the fastest transatlantic ocean liner.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia City Hall

This elaborate towering structure was once famed for its revolutionary height.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Rocky Statue

Yo, Adrian!
Prague, Czechia

Prague Metronome

Steadily reminding Czechia of its past.
Prague, Czechia

The Heydrich Terror Memorial

Bullet holes in the church wall are a reminder of the violence that followed the assassination of a high-ranking Nazi officer.
Prague, Czechia

Defenestration of Prague Window

The palace window through which Protestant nobles flung two Catholic regents, thus sparking the Thirty Years' War.
Prague, Czechia

Lennon Wall

Despite attempts by local police to discourage it, Beatles-inspired graffiti has been a means for artists to air grievances for decades.
Prague, Czechia

Tančící dům - Dancing House of Prague

This tipsy office building in downtown Prague was originally called “Fred and Ginger.”
Prague, Czechia

Old Jewish Cemetery

Around 100,000 bodies are buried below the medieval headstones, many of which mark graves with multiple bodies stacked up to 12 deep.
Prague, Czechia

Prague Astronomical Clock

Macabre astrological automaton clock dating to the late 1400s.
Prague, Czechia

Strahov Monastery

Two stunning 17th-century libraries and a cabinet of curiosities.
Berlin, Germany

Memorial to the Sinti and Roma Victims of National Socialism

Dedicated to the European Sinti and Roma peoples murdered during the Holocaust.
Berlin, Germany

Berlin Victory Column

A monument to the three wars that led to German unification towers within a Berlin traffic circle.
Berlin, Germany

Stolpersteine Holocaust Memorials

Tiny memorials honor individual victims of the Holocaust.
Berlin, Germany

Berlin-Friedrichstrasse Railway Station

Cold war icon and onetime "hole" in the iron curtain.
Berlin, Germany

Marx and Engels Forum

One of downtown Berlin's last reminders of its Communist past.
Berlin, Germany

Tempelhof Airport

Berlin's old airport.
Berlin, Germany

Soviet Graffiti in the Reichstag

The walls of Germany's Parliament still show the scars of the Red Army takeover in World War II.