From the religious cat cult of ancient Egypt, to the booming popularity of modern Japanese cat cafes, it’s clear that the human fascination with cats is a far from new concept. With all the fuss made over felines, it hardly comes as a surprise that there are several locations dedicated exclusively to their well being and entertainment.

Below are eight sites where cats are king:

CAT ISLAND
Tashirojima, Japan

Cat Island kitty (photograph by Nakae/Flickr)

The small Japanese Island of Tashirojima is well-deserving of its nickname: "Cat Island." Stray cats were originally brought to island to aid in protecting silkworms from predatory mice. However, the locals formed a kinship with the felines, and the cats' importance grew long after the silk trade ended.

At present, the island’s population of feral cats massively dwarfs its human population of only 100. Islanders believe that feeding the cats brings good fortune, and fishermen feel the cats can help in predicting fish and weather patterns. As a result, in Tashirojima cats hold a high status. Dogs have been effectively banned, and the copious cat tours and exhibitions have made the tiny island an unlikely tourist stop for feline lovers. The cats have even made an impact on Japanese pop culture after a movie and series were based on a Tashirojima stray nicknamed “Droopy-Eared Jack.” A paradise indeed.

A cat shrine on Cat Island (photograph by Kakei.R/Flickr)

Cat Island resident (photograph by Nakae/Flickr)

ERNEST HEMINGWAY HOUSE & MUSEUM
Key West, Florida

Cat at the Hemingway House (via Florida Keys Public Libraries)

Ernest Hemingway: writer, adventurer, bon vivant, world traveler, bastion of manliness, and felinophile. The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum was the main residence for the legendary author for nearly a decade, often cited as the location for some of his most prolific years as a writer. However, the home is also a tourist draw due to the abundance of felines of the polydactyl variety.

Story goes, Hemingway was given a white six-toed cat by a ship’s captain. A lifelong cat lover, Papa Hemingway named the cat Snowball and let the tomcat run amok on his Florida estate. Today, one can see the results of Snowball’s romantic exploits in the form of the 40 plus cats that call the grounds home, the majority of them with extra digits. The cats range in breed and temperament, but following a tradition started by Hemingway, all of them are named after famous contemporaries of the author.

Ernest Hemingway with his sons & cats in Cuba (1942) (via Ernest Hemingway Photograph Collection, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library)

Hemingway cat cemetery (photograph by Ray Smith/Flickr)

Cat sleeping in Hemingway's former bedroom (photograph by Roger Wollstadt/Flickr)

DE POEZENBOOT
Amsterdam, Netherlands

View of De Poezenboot in an Amsterdam canal (photograph by Jorge Royan/Wikimedia)

What do you do if your passion for taking in stray cats and kittens causes your home to overflow with felines? If you’re Henriette van Weelde, the obvious choice is to buy the cats their own houseboat.

Founded in 1966, De Poezenboot — which translates simply to "Cat Boat" — is a floating cat sanctuary on Amsterdam’s Herengracht Canal. While cats and water are typically not an ideal combination, the residents of the Cat Boat seem blissfully unaware of their wet surroundings as they receive food and veterinary care inside their floating home. The boat houses up to 50 cats at a time and serves as a means to get many of its furry inhabitants adopted into loving homes. Around 14 of the cats remain as permanent residents, the most dominant of which is named Koeienkat — translated to Cowcat — a surly black and white male that serves as the ship’s honorary captain, or cat-pain.

A welcome sign for the Poezenboot (photograph by Shadowgate/Flickr)

Kitty passenger (photograph by Heidi De Vries/Flickr)

THE STRAY CAT HOSTEL
Istanbul, Turkey

Stray Cat Hostel (via hostelstraycat.com)

Stray cats in Turkey’s imperial capitol are afforded a respect that alludes felines elsewhere. The predominantly Muslim population there holds cats in high regard. As a popular adage goes, "if you've killed a cat, you need to build a mosque to be forgiven by God,” and over the years stray cats have become a much beloved icon of Istanbul city life.

As homage to the felines that roam their streets, the Stray Cat Hostel offers itself as a whimsical lodging for cats and human alike. Its common areas are covered in cat artwork, and the seating is taken up freely by resident felines.

INTHAR HERITAGE HOUSE
Lake Inle, Burma

Cats roaming at Inthar Heritage House (photograph by butforthesky.com)

Once the royal cats of palaces and the guardians of temples, in contemporary times the Burmese pedigree cat has become a rarity in its homeland. In an attempt to preserve and revive this majestic breed, the Inthar Heritage House in Myanmar has become a permanent residence to over 50 purebred Burmese cats. The cats are free to roam both their indoor “sanctuary” and their outdoor “cat village,” both of which are flanked by copious toys and contraptions to keep them occupied.

Shipped in from Australia and the UK, the cats at the house serve as not only as a means to further the breed and reintroduce them to Myanmar, but also a venue to let people appreciate the beauty and grace of the cats. Visitors are welcome to get coffee at the onsite cat café and mingle with the animals, provided they show them the respect mandated by their regal pedigree.

Inthar Heritage House (photograph by butforthesky.com)

Burmese cats lounge at the Inthar Heritage House (photograph by butforthesky.com)

CAT VILLAGE
Houtong, Taiwan

Capturing the beauty of the cats in Houtong, Taiwan (photograph by Hsu Luke/Flickr)

At one time a prosperous coal-mining town, by the mid 2000s Houtong had fallen into severe decline. As the town’s human residents dwindled out, the empty streets became home to an increasing population of stray cats. In 2008, a local Houtong cat lover enlisted volunteers to aid in feeding the city’s abundant strays, posting photos and videos of Houtong’s felines online to garner support. In the tradition of Keyboard Cat and Lil’ Bub, the Houtong cats ended up becoming a viral sensation and the small town became a must-see destination for cat lovers.

Houtong has fully embraced its newfound status, or cat-us, and a series of cat-themed souvenir shops, bakeries, and cafés have provided a much-needed boost to the town’s economy. The notoriously friendly Houtong cats thrive on the attention they get from visitors and the main bridge to the town now includes a special elevated wooden “catwalk” so that the cats can personally greet tourists arriving by train.

A cat overlooking Houtong (photograph by Dickson Phua/Flickr)

Cat houses in Houtong (photograph by P1340/Wikimedia)

CHORA
Mykonos, Greece

A cat in Chora (photograph by Chris Booth/Flickr)

The temperate beaches and whitewashed streets of Chora, a picturesque Greek beach town, have long been a frequent haunt for stray cats, but the locals have not always considered the feral animals a welcome sight. Recently the town’s inhabitants indulged their feline inhabitants, much to the delight of tourists.

In Chora every street has an accompanying feline mascot, and every corner offers a cat photo op. The formerly neglected strays of Chora have been reinvented as celebrities. The cats have even been immortalized in a coffee table book full of candid shots of the famous felines.

Cat in the old section of Chora (photograph by Random_fotos/Flickr)

Sleeping cat in Chora (photograph by Luigi Rosa/Flickr)

LARGO DI TOREE ARGENTINA
Rome, Italy

Cat at the Torre Argentina sanctuary (photograph by Andrea Schaffer/Flickr)

Located in the Campis Martius, the ancient square of Largo di Torre Argentina was uncovered by Mussolini’s reconstruction efforts in the late 1920s. A landmark rich in history, the square hosts the remains of four holy temples, as well as the infamous “Theater of Pompey,” the site of Julius Caesar’s brutal assassination. Shortly after the site was excavated, it unwittingly became a safe haven for Rome’s large feral cat population, where the felines thrived off the attention of the local gattare, or Italian cat ladies. One of these women was legendary Italian actress Anna Magnani, who famously spent her breaks from filming at the nearby Teatro feeding the cats.

The cats' influence over the area became so great that the Torre Argentina, a no-kill sanctuary for the cats, was founded. Today, it serves as a home for over 250 needy cats and kittens. Cared for by volunteers, the felines are given food and medical care as they lounge and sun on the ancient ruins while awaiting adoption.

Cat at the Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary (photograph by Vix_B/Flickr)

View of the cat sanctuary (photograph by Seth Pipkin/Flickr)

For more fine felines, check out Atlas Obscura's compendium of cat places >

Huastec Life-Death Figure, front and back view, sandstone (900-1250) (via Brooklyn Museum)

While centuries separate us from the creators of this Huastec statue, its dual perspectives of a sturdy young man on one side and a skeleton draped, grinning on the other, still have an immediate message: death is always near. 

The sandstone sculpture stands at the center of the Brooklyn Museum's ongoing Life, Death, and Transformation in the Americas exhibition, which focuses on life's transitions through its Art of Americas collection. The Huastec "Life-Death Figure" is joined in a gallery on death by such artifacts as a miniature of a Los Hermanos Penitentes Society cart pulled in Holy Week, Doña Sebastina, the "female Angel of Death," perched inside, and a 19th-century Heiltsuk ladle with a skull symbolizing the rebirth from a cannibalistic death state to life in society. 

As the Brooklyn Museum explains of their "Life-Death Figure": 

Representing life, the human figure is the Aztec wind god, Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl, who created humankind and is identifiable by his J-shaped ear pendants. Representing death, the skeletal figure with a protruding heart wears a collar and skirt decorated with a half-circle motif that was associated with the sun and the planet Venus.

Venus in particular was linked with the underworld, and further details on the sculpture, like the dense tattoos laced over the man's skin, echo the sun and Venus, life and death. The Huastec culture on the Gulf Coast of Mexico has a particularly rich history in sculpture, with the figure at the Brooklyn Museum dating between 900 and 1250 only one example of how the transition between different states was represented. As Richard E. W. Adams wrote in his Preshistoric Mesoamerica book, several "sculptures from the Huasteca seem to represent life images of a person on one side and a death image on the other." Others have a child clinging to the back of the slab-style sculptures. 

This Mesoamerican figure, with its contrast between virility and inevitable mortality, is similar to later memento mori art, like this 18th-century wax Vanitas at the Wellcome Library of Queen Elizabeth I, with half her skull exposed and attacked by bugs, or the 15th-century Braque Triptyph altarpiece, which when folded shows a skull to contrast with the portraits of vibrant holy figures. The visual of our inevitable decay is one that echoes endlessly through art, stone images of death reminding us of each beginning's end long after their creators have turned to dust. 

Huastec Life-Death Figure at the Brooklyn Museum (photograph by the author)

Huastec Life-Death Figure at the Brooklyn Museum (photograph by the author)

Huastec Life-Death Figure at the Brooklyn Museum (photograph by the author)

Morbid Mondays highlight macabre stories from around the world and through time, indulging in our morbid curiosity for stories from history's darkest corners. Read more Morbid Mondays>

In Part One of the Seven Summits series, we saw the highest peaks of Australia and Oceania; Antarctica, with its staggering logistical challenges; and Europe, with its large snow fields and infamous outhouses. In this second stage we visit mountains with familiar names towering over their continents, and one mountaineer calling into question the prestige of this list.

Africa
Kilimanjaro
5,895 meters / 19,340 feet

Standing alone over the plains of east Africa near the Tanzania-Kenya border, Kilimanjaro has a reputation as an easy climb to its highest point — Uhuru Peak — the top of three volcanoes that form the mountain. The standard route, Marangu Route, is called the “Coca-Cola Route” by locals due to the sheer number of well-to-do foreigners using it to climb.

This route is deceptive, because even though the climb is technically easy, climbers can fail to properly acclimatize to the altitude if they rush to the summit, suffering altitude sickness, and thus needing to descend quickly or die of a pulmonary or cerebral edema. Climbs up Kilimanjaro now, by law, must be guided and take at least five days to allow climbers to acclimatize.

An elephant with Mount Kilimanjaro (photograph by Charles Asik)

North America
Denali (aka Mount McKinley)
6,168 meters / 20,237 feet

Because of the high latitude of Denali, climbing it is likened to a higher Himalayan mountain due to the air’s much lower barometric pressure. This is because the troposphere is thinner near the poles of the Earth. The West Buttress Route is the standard route in recent years, among at least 40 other routes and variations, and climbers must face jet stream winds and punishing snowstorms on their ascent.

Denali viewed from McKinley Princess Lodge (photograph by Nic McPhee)

South America
Aconcagua
6,960 meters / 22,837 feet

Towering over the Andes Mountains in western Argentina, Aconcagua has a reputation of being a technically easy climb on its standard route. Much like Kilimanjaro, it's a long scramble up scree fields until the summit area. This easy reputation has led to deaths due to improper acclimatization. Climbs on the standard route can take up to two weeks to properly acclimatize to the nearly 7,000 meters of altitude.

View of Aconcagua from Argentina's Mendoza region (via KMG.ca/Wikimedia)

Asia
Mount Everest
8,850 meters / 29,035 feet

To ascend to the highest point of land on Earth, the climb up Mount Everest can take over a month with a well-stocked expedition on its standard route: the Southeast Ridge. Climbers face one of the ultimate tests of endurance in merely staying at the high altitudes of this mountain where oxygen levels are almost impossible for the human body to adjust. Beyond 8,000 meters, climbers call these altitudes the “death zone.”

Only a third of the oxygen at lower elevations is available to breathe there, so expeditions must carry bottles of supplemental oxygen. The temperatures and winds cause frostbite on any exposed part of the human body. Those who die at the higher elevations on Everest are usually left up there, as the air is too thin for a helicopter to function to retrieve their bodies. For those who can survive one of the most hostile environments on Earth and reach the summit, they can stand over the entire planet.

Mount Everest (photograph by Kimberly Casey/NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

But, This Journey Could Be Even Tougher…

Climbing the Seven Summits is a challenging endeavor, but not all would agree on its prestige. American mountaineer Jon Krakauer, in his book Into Thin Air, wrote that it would be tougher to climb the "Seven Second Summits" — the second highest peaks on the continents. K2 requires much more technical climbing skill than Everest, and of all known climbers, one in four have died on the mountain. Africa’s Mount Kenya requires technical rock climbing expertise. More time must be spent on Canada’s Mount Logan at high altitude than to summit then Denali. Only ten people are known to have climbed Antarctica’s Mount Tyree. Only one climber, Hans Kammerlander, has claimed completion of this list.

The author would like to thank the authors at summitpost.org for their route descriptions on these mountains. Revisit The Seven Summits, Part 1 for the whole list.

Sammezzano castle (all photographs by Diana Di Nuzzo)

The Sammezzano castle in Tuscany near Florence was designed by the Marquis Ferdinando Ximenes Panciatichi of Aragon between 1853 and 1889. Faithful supporter of the Italian national cause, he was animated by a notoriously difficult personality. He financed and built the entire structure — all materials were created "on the spot," with a local workforce educated for the occasion, even building a kiln to bake pottery — inspired by a wide range of styles that the Marquis had known only through his readings (it seems he did not travel outside the country).

Disillusioned by politics, and by the attitude of the Florentines of his day, he decided to finally retire into this world of his own creation, surrounded by a park of great redwood trees and rare plants (in addition to being an architect, bibliophile, and entrepreneur, he was also considered a botanical expert). Inside the palace, he embedded messages for the few visitors allowed, such as the famous inscription Non plus ultra, "nothing farther beyond," with reference to the uniqueness and originality of his treasure. 

After the Marquis passed on, the castle became a hotel, then was abandoned in 1990. In 1999, the castle was bought by a British company, which did not adequately address the preservation of this architectural masterpiece. The rooms, each individually decorated with care and imagination, were sometimes robbed by intruders, as the castle was not protected by any kind of security system.

These days, the only people who are really taking care of Sammezzano are the members of the FPXA Committee, headed by Massimo Sottani. They are hoping for a restoration of the building backed by investors, while in the meantime they still organize rare openings to the public. 

The visionary talent of the Marquis evoked an atmosphere of One Thousand and One Nights, which he used to take refuge from the frustrations arising from the present. Many more meanings are supposedly hidden in the mystical colors and fantastical shapes of the castle, along with messages of architectural modernity: uplifting the function of beauty in architecture, the demand for freedom and human dignity, and even spirituality and religion are issues that are taken into consideration in the magnificent rooms of the castle.

Of outstanding beauty are the Room of the Lilies, the Room of the Lovers, the Room of the Stalactites, the Room of the Mirrors, and the Room of the Peacocks. Entering each of these environments, the viewer is taken by a peculiar atmosphere, a changing light, the iridescence caused by the light itself, but also by the immaculate whiteness and the mathematical perfection of the individual architectural elements that intersect in a frenzy not seen anywhere else in Italy.

To have the opportunity to visit this castle is a real privilege right now (the next tour will be in October, check out the FPXA Committee site for details). It would be magnificent if this place could become a property open regularly to the public, so that everyone would have the opportunity to know the genius of the Marquis and live this fairytale experience, while helping with their financial aid the survival of a castle that now lies abandoned.

While waiting for this day to come, here is a video that shows the hidden rooms of Sammezzano, as well as more photographs below: 

A version of this article previously appeared on Artribune. 

From August to September, Eames Demetrios, Geographer-at-Large for Kcymaerxthaere, is serving as the Geographer-in-Residence at Atlas Obscura. Here he explores the lines between Kcymaerxthaere, a world parallel to our own, and Atlas Obscura.

Since our communities enjoy finding wonder out in the world, Atlas Obscura and Kcymaerxthaere have a couple of public activities in mind for this Geographer-in-Residency. From the beginning, it seemed like a road trip would be a perfect Atlas Obscura event — especially since the story of the Tehachapi is so important to Kcymaerxthaere. So let me tell you about our Atlas Obscura/Kcymaerxthaere Caravan (or Kcy-ravan if you prefer!) this September 27th and 28th. It will be posted on the Atlas Obscura events page soon, too.

Folks on a road trip to a Kcymaerxthaere site in Joshua Tree, California

We're going to have a weekend of three-dimensional storytelling across three great Great Lake States culminating in a Spelling Bee that features words from the parallel world of Kcymaerxthaere! We'll stop at nine Kcymaerxthaere Markers, one Kcy Historical site, see another in process, enjoy a Disputed Likeness exhibition, and groove on that 9th Annual Kcymaerxthaere All-Kymaericas Spelling Bee. At the Spelling Bee, you can be in the audience or, even more fun, compete for the cash prize by spelling words from the parallel world. The prize is 100 US Dollars (since no winner yet has accepted Kcy dollars).

For two days, the stories of Kcymaerxthaere will reveal themselves in myriad ways — always with the Geographer-at-Large (yours truly!) as your personal guide and storyteller. It is not simply a tour of sites, it is a saga of some of the great overarching narratives of the xthaere. Icons like Culev Larsze, the woman who was so clever she tricked the Gods into not helping their believers; communities forced to license their very form of government; Forrest Bess, a man disaggregated in time while crossing a ywreng (or time frontier); the unexpected tale of New Singapore; the courage of Gevrian Milam; and the many journeys of Amory Frontage. And much more.

Reenactors recreating the arrival of Amory Frontage & his followers at a new Paris.

The trip is free (well, not really, you DO have to pay for your own gas and food and whatnot — but WE won't charge!), but we do ask you to register so we can co-ordinate a magical experience. You will need to provide your own wheels (it will be a caravan) and buy your own meals — though we have found reasonably priced places for each meal where we can all go together. We also offer the tours a la carte — just one day at a time if that is better for you!

If you are based in the Michigan area — or are visiting for the marvelous ArtPrize experience — you can start bright and early Saturday. I'll share the interwoven stories of Kcymaerxthaere as we visit the five markers in downtown Grand Rapids.

The Erailen Gwome marker where the tour starts in downtown Grand Rapids

There is something wondrous in telling and hearing stories in the very places great things happened in the parallel world, with the markers there to anchor the narratives. And when you add to that the magical spectacle of ArtPrize, it will be a unique experience. This group of five markers is one of only four clusters of Kcy installations we have around the world. (A cluster is a few markers close enough together that one almost experiences its stories in unison). So it is a perfect place to take intrepid explorers. 

Forest's Rest Marker along the Grand River (sometimes called the Lekcenne)

Then we’ll head to Holland and Saugatuck — two other towns in west Michigan. If you choose to to head back to Grand Rapids after these first seven markers — we will miss you, but we'll give you a fond farewell as the rest of us head South to the Crossroads of Kymaerica in Indiana and after that to beautiful New Harmony, Indiana, where you'll see the latest work on our next big installation: A Healing Palindrome.

Detail of plan for A Healing Palindrome, work-in-progress in New Harmony, Indiana

The full day of storytelling coincides with the last day of the Kcymaerxthaere show at the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art. This show focuses on depictions of Kcymaerxthaere stories from around the world — we call these Disputed Likenesses. Some have been done locally, others in Namibia, Singapore, Armenia, and places around the world. We'll ask you to contribute at least one postcard yourself.

Locally contributed interpretation of A Healing Palindrome, with embroideries & works on wall of New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art

After a good night’s sleep, on the second day we’ll head out Sunday morning to Paris, Illinois, where we will see the Faerie Traces marker and then Embassy Row of the Parisian Diaspora, which has one of my favorites vistas in the whole project — the corridor of color.

Embassy Row of the Parisian Diaspora (Paris, Illinois)

And then it will be time for the Spelling Bee. I hope you’ll be doing some last minute study as you prepare to triumph! You’ll even get a free Kcymaerxthaere t-shirt from Teri, the proprietor of Teri’s Threads.

Spelling bee in action

And if you can’t make it this weekend, we'll be tweeting and instagramming the whole time. And, the good news, you can do most of it any time on your own — with Atlas Obscura as your guide. See you there!

Pike Place Market in 1968 (via Seattle Municipal Archives)

The upstairs of Pike Place Market in Seattle bustles with tourists buying fresh produce and crafts, but the downstairs spills into something stranger, its walls honeycombed with shops that seem to exist in another space and time. Walking those corridors, catching glimpses of blue Puget Sound through dusty windows, it’s easy to think that nothing’s changed there for decades. And much of it hasn’t. The market as a whole is just shy of its 100th birthday: it was founded in August of 1907 by eight farmers determined to cut out greedy middleman and sell their wares directly to the public.

Plenty of other guides will tell you where to get the best cheese in the market, or when to catch the guys at Pike Place Fish Co. doing their aerial show. But here is a brief guide to the more unusual nooks and crannies of Pike Place — its uncanny corners that seem like portals into the past. 

The Gum Wall

photograph by Eli Duke/Flickr

Straddling that fine line between art and public nuisance, the Gum Wall has been around since the early 1990s, when some patrons in line for an improv show at the Market Theatre got bored and decided to squish their gum against the brick wall. Somehow the practice took off, and the blobs of gum in all shapes and colors festoon a long expanse of wall that continues into a nearby alley. The gum has been scraped off several times, but around 1999, market authorities decided to preserve it as an attraction. It's now a frequent stop for tour groups, and the first location for one of the market's many ghost tours. It's also a strangely popular place for wedding photos.

photograph by David Fulmer/Flickr

photograph by Rubert Ganzer/Flickr

Tenzing MoMo

photograph by Joe Mabel/Wikimedia

Giant amber jars filled with herbs, hundreds of bottles of essential oils, and packets of incense from all over the world crowd the mysterious Tenzing MoMo shop, which always seems more dimly lit than the rest of the market. Knowledgable staff will custom-blend teas and oils, and on-site tarot readers tend to more metaphysical problems.

 Pike Place Magic Shop

The exterior of the Pike Place Magic Shop (photograph by the author)

Said to be the longest-running magic shop in the Pacific Northwest, the Pike Place Magic Shop is coated with images of legendary early 20th-century magicians such as Claude Alexander Conlin, better known as Alexander, “The Man Who Knows.” Budding magicians will find plenty of supplies and props, while the merely curious can peruse gag gifts, antique books, and postcards. Outside, a giant folder holds stacks of beautiful vintage posters for old magic shows, and a mysterious mannequin will tell your fortune for 50 cents. 

Pike Place Magic Shop fortune-telling automaton (photography by author)

Old Seattle Paperworks

photograph by stereogab/Flickr

Opened in 1976 by a former rare book dealer, Old Seattle Paperworks is a browser's delight, stuffed with old postcards, posters, advertisements, magazines, photographs, and other forms of ephemera. Whether it's aviation history, old medical ads, or vintage pin-ups you're after, they'll have it. They even had the entire Seattle Public Library's collection of old out-of-town newspapers at one point, although it's not clear how well they fit into the 500-square-foot shop.

Giant Shoe Museum

Giant Shoe Museum (photograph by author)

The colorful hand-painted façade next to Old Seattle Paperworks, built in 1997 by local graphic artist Sven Sundbaum, holds a mini-museum devoted to novelty shoes. At the Giant Shoe Museum, guests can peer into brass eyepieces and, for a quarter, see a shoe "actually worn by the world's tallest man," which, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, was Robert Wadlow. They can also read all about a pair of Wadlow's shoes that went missing, and for which there is a thousand-dollar reward.

The Great Wind-Up

photograph by Lord Enfield/Flickr

Do you need a potato gun? A wind-up sad cat? Bandages that display Shakespearean insults? Bacon-related accessories? The Great Wind-Up, a combination toy store and kids museum, features a wide selection of wind-up and animated toys, both new, vintage, and collectible. A great place to regress to your childhood. You can even race the wind-up toys. 

Heaven's Gate Cult Floor Tile

photograph by Jason Brackins/Flickr

In 1985, before the mass suicide they thought would allow them to board a UFO trailing a comet, the Heaven’s Gate cult was one of thousands of donors who purchased a floor tile in the market. The tile campaign raised $1.6 million for renovations, although it's not clear what inspired the alien-obsessed cult to donate. The tile is on the upper floor of the market, near the produce stands.

Carved Sasquatch Statue

Sasquatch statue by Richard Beyer (photograph by the author)

On the North wall of the Economy Atrium building, beneath a sculpture of a young squid dangling from the ceiling, stands a seven-foot tall Sasquatch carved in the 1970s. The artist, Richard W. Beyer, once sold miniature versions from a stall in the market. (Beyer also created Fremont's famous "People Waiting for the Interurban" sculpture, in 1978.) The mythical creature is supposed to have brought well-being to local tribes, and reflected the terrifying power of the forest. 

Discover more of the world's most curious markets on Atlas Obscura >

Why are people fascinated by fire? Candles, campfires, bonfires, and flickering flames seem to tap into a primal sense of safety. And if there's anything better than a small fire, it's a massive one, so why not throw a party for the occasion?

Here we explore some of the best fire festivals around the world where that safety gets a little dangerous.

Up Helly Aa
Lerwick, Scotland

Townspeople in full regalia (photograph by Mike Pennington)

Up Helly Aa is Europe's biggest fire festival, and since the 1880s the festival has only been cancelled three times: Queen Victoria's death in 1901, and for the two World Wars. The local townspeople spend countless hours designing elaborate costumes, dressing as Vikings, and lighting thousands of torches for a grand procession.

The Wednesday after the event is always public holiday so that everyone can recover.

Date: Last Tuesday in January

photograph by Anne Burgess

Daizenji Tamataregu Shrine's "Oniyo"
Fukuoka, Japan

Onlookers surrounded by giant torches for the devil fire (photograph by Pontafon/Wikimedia)

 The Oniyo ceremony performed by the Daizenji Tamataregu Shrine for the past 1600 years is intended to drive away evil spirits.
 
The fire ritual marks the end of the Onikai festival, which begins on New Year's Eve. At 9 pm on January 7, the Oniyo ("devil fire") which has been guarded at the temple is transferred to six massive torches more than three feet in diameter and almost 45 feet tall. Rowdy crowds of men in loincloths parade the torches around the shrine, and attendees to the ceremony are blessed with good luck with embers or ash fall on them.

Date: January 7

Jeongwol Daeboreum Deulbul Festival
Jeju, South Korea

photograph by buddhaflow/Flickr

Since 1997, the Jeongwol Daeboreum Deulbul Festival has celebrated the traditional folk culture of the local Korean villages on the island of Jeju. Historically, farmers used to set fire to the mountain fields to burn off the dead grass and to eliminate pests. Festival participants commemorate this by setting a hilltop on fire to wish for heatlh and a good harvest. Straw rope making competitions, strength demonstrations, and a torch-lit procession round out the entertainment. 

Dates: Three days in March

photograph by buddhaflow/Flickr

Quema del Diablo
Antigua, Guatemala

photograph by Keneth Cruz

In the first week of December, the Guatemalan town of Antigua begins selling devil figurines made of papier-mâché. And at the center of the festivities is a large wooden statute of the Devil, which is burnt every December 7 to prepare for the feast of Mary of the Immaculate Conception. In colonial times, the rich would decorate their homes with lanterns, but the poor could afford only to burn trash outside their homes. As time passed, communities in Antigua formalized the event, and the idea is now to burn all of the bad stuff from one year to start anew in the next. 

Date: December 7

Guy Fawkes Night
England

Spectators around a bonfire near Dudley (photograph by Sam Roberts)

"Remember, remember, the fifth of November." is the refrain commonly associated with this night of bonfires across Great Britain. The burnings of effigies and fires commemorate the events of November 5, 1605 when a Catholic man named Guy Fawkes was arrested in a plot to detonate explosives under the House of Lords. To celebrate that King James I had escaped an assassination attempt, the English lit bonfires around London, and the day was made official by law in 1606.

Date: November 5

A Guy Fawkes effigy aflame in Essex (photograph by William Warby)

Diwali
India

photograph by Harpeet Singh

Known as the festival of lights, Diwali is a Hindu festival that signifies the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, and hope over despair. While the festival preparations and rituals extend over five days, the main night coincides with the darkest new moon of the Hindu month of Kartik. In 2014, October 23 will be the key festival night in which Hindus dress up in their best, light candles both inside and outside the home, and pray as a family to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity. Fireworks liven up the night, followed by a family feast of sweets and an exchange of gifts.

Date: A day between mid-October and mid-November

Diwali festivities over Mysore (photograph by UrbanUrban_ru/Wikimedia)

Walpurgis Night
Multiple locations in Europe

photograph by Karin Jonsson

Walpurgis Night is the evening before the feast day of Saint Walpurga, an 8th century abbess in Germany. According to German folktales, Walpurgis night is when witches meet in the wooded hills of central Germany. Appropriately, the Church of Satan was also founded on this date. Each country celebrates the night differently. For example, Estonians dress up as witches to wander the streets, while the Czech burn straw witches and broomsticks around roaring fires. In Sweden, choirs sing around giant bonfires, while students in Uppsala ride through the center of town on homemade rafts.

Date: April 30

photograph by Montecruz Foto

Beltane Fire Festival
Edinburgh, Scotland

The Red Men of the Beltran Fire Festival (photograph by SixSigma/Wikimedia)

Inspired by the Gaelic festival of Beltrane, the modern fire festival began in 1988, and now involves over 300 performers. Holy bonfires are kindled, and traditionally, cattle were driven around or over the embers to bless them. Surrounded by handmaidens, the May Queen leads a procession of ritual dancers, fire-twirling sprites, and curious onlookers in a fiery celebration of the start of spring.

Date: April 30

The May Queen presents herself to the crowd. (photograph by Stefan Schäfer, Lich)

A fire dancer performs by a bonfire (photograph by Stefan Schäfer, Lich)

Burning Man
Black Rock Desert, United States

El Pulpo Mecánico lighting up the desert night (photo by the author)

With the often-repeated motto "Welcome Home," Burning Man is the behemoth of fire festivals, with over 50,000 people conjuring a bustling city in the middle of the northern Nevada desert. Since 1986, and growing ever larger each year, a giant wooden figure has been incinerated to mark a week of impossible buildings and otherworldly vehicles (most of which belch flame).

The popularity of this festival inspired the creation of regional burns around the world. The biggest of these is AfrikaBurn, which started in 2007 and is held annually by Tankwa Karoo National Park in South Africa.

Dates: Last Monday in August until the first Monday in September (Labor Day)

One of the lesser temples burning (photo by the author) 

Les Jardins de Feu
London, England

Kinetic fire sculptures (Photograph by the author)

Nestled by the shores of the Thames, the Jardins de Feu (Gardens of Fire) by the French outfit Carabosse takes over the gritty site of the old Battersea Power Station with whirling installations of flame. As the sun sets over London, a flaming chandelier is hoisted over the crowd while Parisian musicians croon away. 

Dates: Two days a year in early September.

Battersea Power Station (photo by the author)

Spinning gyroscope of flame (photo by the author)

Falles
Valencia, Spain

Drummers celebrating Falles (photograph by Chamaeleon/Wikimedia)

Over a festive five days, the celebration of Falles commemorates Saint Joseph in the city of Valencia. Committees of people in the community build massive sculptures that are also called falles, often in the shape of people. The 2012 pieces included Barack Obama and Lady Gaga.

Each morning of the festival, brass bands march down every street playing upbeat tunes while other people throw massive firecrackers into the street. Around 2 pm, fireworks displays are set off. On the final night of Falles, midnight marks the burning of the sculptures, each packed with fireworks. For burnings on narrow streets, fire brigades drench the buildings with hoses to prevent them from catching fire. The main event is the largest sculpture, which rests in front of the town hall. 

Dates: March 15 - 19

(Thanks to Mario for suggesting Falles!)

A firework-filled Falles going up in flames (photograph by Chameleon/Wikimedia)

Discover more of the world's incredible and strange festivals on Atlas Obscura >

Wat Pa Non Sawan (photograph by Chris Backe)

Welcome to Buddhist hell. Between ghastly, oversized concrete statues, and a number of violent scenes, you'll quickly be asking yourself: "what's going on here?"

Entering a Buddhist hell temple (also called a hell garden) means entering a dark side of the religion. In short order, you learn that in Buddhism, the punishment fits the crime. If you are caught stealing, you get your hands cut off. Alcoholics are made to drink hot oil, and adulterers are made to climb thorny trees. A rapist has his genitalia cut off or mutilated in some way — and believe me, this is one sight you'll want to steer your kids away.

Animals also figure in heavily – you might be turned into one, or you might become animal food. At Wat Pa Non Sawan, animals pray on their knees and bow for forgiveness, and some sinners are pecked alive by birds! There's plenty of symbolism around, far more than a layperson would be able to explain. Wat Pa Non Sawan also features dinosaurs to go with its hellish statues, and is about 25 kilometers outside of Roi Et in eastern Thailand.

Dinosaur at Wat Pa Non Sawan (photograph by Chris Backe)

Hell, to a Buddhist, is a complex sort of state. You might end up in any number of undesirable places based on your sins in this world, but it's also not a permanent, eternal damnation. How long you'll be there is dependent on which hell it is, but let's start by calling it by the right name — naraka. These temples serve as a reminder of naraka, and begin to give you a sense of why Buddhists make merit in this world. Most temples lack English explanations, unfortunately, so it's best to go with a Thai friend or to get someone to translate the signs for you.

After a Buddhist dies, the mythology states that your name is checked in the “Traibhumi Phra Ruang,” a record of good deeds (like making merit) and bad deeds. You'll be judged based on those; if you have more good than bad in your ledger, you are reborn into the next life. If you have more bad than good, you'll go to one of the punishment pits in naraka. Another ancient text, the Abhidharma-kosa (literally, the Treasure House of Higher Knowledge) describes eight "cold" pits and eight "hot" pits, where your suffering — and its length — grow exponentially based on your deeds. You will eventually be reborn, but that might be billions of years away. You can see some stages of this judgment process at Wat Pa Thewapithak, about eight kilometers north of Roi Et. Keep your eyes out for the Santa suits by the entrance!

Wat Pa Thewapithak (photograph by Chris Backe)

Wat Mae Kaet Noi (photograph by Chris Backe)

The hell temples can be disturbingly gory. Some, like Wat Mae Kaet Noi, seem to take pride in having the most shocking images of all — bloody heads hanging from trees and bodies being mutilated in a number of ways. You may also see children in these hell gardens, as these temples are a perfect way to introduce the fear of Buddha into a kid, in the mind of some Thai parents. If you're geared up for it, Wat Mae Kaet Noi is in northern Thailand, about 20 kilometers north of Chiang Mai.

These are great places for Buddhists to make merit — essentially, doing good deeds such as donating money to the temple, or offering food to monks. Some Thais believe what you donate has a direct impact on your next life. For example, by offering flashlights or candles, you will have beautiful and bright eyes. Offer up soap or skin lotion, and you will have nice, beautiful skin. Some hell temples feature additional opportunities, such as animatronics that look like they came from the 80s, and start when you insert a coin. It's all in Thai, but it's an interesting diversion while at a gruesome sort of place.

Hell temples are a fascinating look into the Buddhist belief system. Without resorting to endless religious texts, they aim to correct wrongdoing in this life, and give visitors a taste of what might happen in the next. In short, you're reminded of a universal truth: good deeds are rewarded while bad deeds are punished.

Wat Mae Kaet Noi (photograph by Chris Backe)

Recently we interviewed Chandler O'Leary of the fantastic illustrated travel blog Drawn the Road Again. We are thrilled to be sharing a series of O'Leary's illustrations of roadside attractions, along with their place on Atlas Obscura, in a summer series. 

The World's Largest Axe (illustrated by Chandler O'Leary/Drawn the Road Again)

Up in Nackawic, Canada, a quiet little park has been pierced by the World's Largest Axe. Created in 1991, it commemorates the small town's appointment as the Forestry Capital of Canada, and stands at nearly 50 feet tall in a concrete stump as tribute to that lumber history.

As its plaque reads: "This giant axe symbolizes the importance of the forest industry, past, present and future, to the town of Nackawic and the province of New Brunswick." Chandler O'Leary of Drawn the Road Again writes on the illustration that she happened upon the axe "by complete accident," before giving it a fine portrait against the St. John River with a few trees that might shudder in terror if they knew what was beside them.

The axe with its 55-ton, 23-foot steel blade was made in Woodstock, New Brunswick, and journeyed to its permanent site early on a Sunday morning so its domination of the highway wouldn't cause too much trouble. There's said to be a time capsule somewhere inside all that metal.

It isn't the only giant chopping implement in the world, with the Big Axe made of wood in 1979 in Kew, Australia, not to mention the numerous giant Paul Bunyans standing guard around the United States. However, the World's Largest Axe keeps its title. Yet if that time capsule ever emerges, it will be to a very different industry. In 2004, the town's pulp mill closed, with workers later suing for their lost income. The axe may someday outlive the lumber business.

Dead-on view of the axe (photograph by Dennis Jarvis/Flickr)

Follow more of Chandler O'Leary's travels through illustrations at Drawn the Road Again. Stay tuned for more illustrated roadside attractions on Atlas Obscura, or revisit Salem Sue, Wall Drug, and Roswell.

Derinkuyu Underground City in Cappadocia, Turkey (photograph by Nevit Dilmen/Wikimedia)

The history of underground cities is a complex and meandering one, ranging from the Ancient Era in the Middle East and Europe to those sunk during the height of Cold War paranoia, such as the bunker complexes of Cheyenne Mountain or Beijing's Underground City. There are also more recent underground cities, some of which are simply underground shopping centers or networks of tunneled roads, like those in Vancouver and Tokyo, as well as others which will begin to be built only in the future, due to the constraints of small islands and the opportunities for vast wealth, which are being considered in Singapore and in Hong Kong.

Now, we're not talking about mole people (or even their modern namesakes). The primary reason for digging underground cities in the ancient world was for protection, as the spaces could be closed by rolling heavy boulders across the entrances. So-called "fairy chimneys" allowed for the ventilation of the chambers, and the smoke from within would rise to the surface many miles away from the cities. Some of the oldest known underground cities are in Spain, with the village of Setenil de las Bodegas showing evidence of occupation dating at least from the Roman invasion of Iberia in the First century CE, and possibly from much earlier. The town has an especially florid history, having been occupied by the Romans, as well as being a Moorish stronghold from the 12th century until the early 15th, when it was finally taken during the Christian Reconquest. The town is not what you would imagine an underground city to be, however, as it is mostly above-ground, with large boulders overhanging the houses. 

Setenil de las Bodegas (photograph by Andrei Dimofte/Wikimedia)

Setenil de las Bodegas (photograph by Samu/Flickr) 

The cities of Özkonak, Derinkuyu, and Kaymaklı in Cappadocia, Turkey, are some of the most complete (and most underground) of our underground cities. Denrikuyu is estimated to have once been capable of housing 20,000 people, and actually connects to Kaymakli via an underground tunnel, eight kilometers long. The cities are just three of a huge number of underground refuges in Turkey, and each is suggested to have been occupied since antiquity. They contain churches, storerooms, and staggering staircases, as well as artefacts of Zoroastrianism, Byzantine Christianity and of more mundane activities, with oil presses and gigantic storerooms occupying large portions of the site. The history of the region provides an explanation of why so many underground cities exist in Turkey - not only was the region under constant pressure from foreign invaders (the Greeks, Persians, Scythians and Romans all fought over this territory for millennia), but the region also sheltered Christians during the persecutions of the Roman Empire and of the area's later Muslim overlords.

Derinkuyu Underground City in Cappadocia, Turkey (photograph by Nevit Dilmen/Wikimedia)

Derinkuyu Underground City in Cappadocia, Turkey (photograph by Nevit Dilmen/Wikimedia)

Underground City of Kaymakli (photograph by Andrea Schieber/Flickr)

Kaymakli Underground City (photograph by Nevit Dilmen/Wikimedia)

Petra, in Jordan, was settled as early as 312 BCE, although the area around the city had been settled around 7000 BCE. It is mentioned in accounts of Egyptian military campaigns, as well as in the Biblical book of Exodus, as the country of the Horites, with the city itself referred to as Sela, or "the cleft in the rock."

Archaeologists believe that the city was originally settled as a means to control the natural reservoirs that form beneath it, or possibly as a burial site. Writers such as Pliny the Elder recognized Petra as a major trade site between Gaza and Syria, and then on into Rome, which allowed the city to prosper. It wasn't until its conquest by Rome in 106 CE that the city began to enter a slow decline. The site was forgotten, until 1812, when it was rediscovered by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. The site is now on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List, and the agency declared Petra to be "one of the most precious cultural properties of man's cultural heritage."

An entrance to Petra, Jordan (photograph by Eric Borda/Flickr)

View of the entrances to Petra (photograph by bachmont/Flickr)

Inside Petra (photograph by alljengi/Flickr) 

The Pueblo People (or the Anasazi, "ancient enemies" in the language of the Navajo) first began to settle in what is now the southwestern United States in around 1300 BCE. Their famous, cliff-side pueblos, such as the Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde sites, were not first constructed and occupied until around 1100 CE.

Although not all the Pueblo People lived in the cliff-houses, these are what the civilization is best remembered for. Most sit within the Mesa Verde National Park, which is the only National Park in the United States dedicated as a National Cultural Park. More than 4,000 archaeological sites sit within this 81 square mile park. The current scientific consensus as to the decline of the Pueblo People's civilisation is linked to a drought that lasted in the area for a quarter of a century. 

Mesa Verde at night (photograph by jE Norton/Flickr)

Mesa Verde National Park "Spruce Tree House" (photograph by Andreas F. Borchert/Wikimedia)

Other underground cities exist, although not of such ancient provenance. Matmâta, in Tunisia, is famous as the home of Luke and Anakin Skywalker in its role as the set for the planet Tatooine. Coober Pedy, in South Australia, is almost entirely underground, was only founded in 1916, and now has a population of 1,600. The Wieliczka Salt Mine, beneath the city of Wieliczka, in Poland, was first exploited in the 13th century, and until production stopped in 2007, was one of the world's oldest salt mines still in operation. The caves include a cathedral, carved entirely (chandeliers and all) from salt. 

Matmata, Tunisia (photograph by Arian Zwegers/Flickr)

Underground bookstore at Coober Pedy, Australia (photograph by duremi/Flickr)

Chandelier made of salt,  from St. Kingy Chapel, Wieliczka salt mine, Poland (photograph by Andrzej Barabasz/Wikimedia)

And now into the M.A.D world of the Cold War. Huge underground cities exist in the United States, at Cheyenne Mountain, and in Great Britain, at Burlington (or "Subterfuge," as it was enigmatically called). These glorified nuclear bunkers (which, for some reason, Switzerland has enough of to house their entire population) are rumored to be able to protect vast numbers of people — in the case of Burlington, more than 4,000 for a period of around three months. The numbers for Cheyenne Mountain are not so concrete, as the site is still occupied by the US military (as NORAD's Alternate Command Centre).

NORAD Blast Doors (photograph by an unidentified government employee/Wikimedia)

China, on the other hand, has built an underground city worthy of the name. Dixia Cheng, or, more simply, "the Underground City," sprawls for 85 square kilometers beneath Beijing, with more than 90 currently known entrances. At the time of its construction the Chinese government claimed it would be able to accommodate all of Beijing's civilian population.

While it has never been put through its paces in any official capacity, the Underground City is still maintained by the city government, and is apparently in a good state of repair. The tunnels have been designed to make longterm survival possible, with mushroom farms, silk factories, cinemas, a hospital, and even a roller skating rink. 

Entrance of the Underground City at Xidamochang Jie (photograph by Dingruogu/Wikimedia)

Most of these underground cities have either incredibly small populations, or were born from some now-extinguished threat, and will, it seems, be slowly abandoned (or already have been). Yet there are still underground cities that pop up around us, with Russian police raiding an illegal underground city with a population of around 300 in 2013, which, despite its small numbers, still featured an underground casino, a Turkish cafe, and movie theatre. There are also plans afoot in cities like Singapore, Helsinki, and Hong Kong to try and avoid skyrocketing property prices (in Singapore's and Hong Kong's case, the fact that ever-more people are living on their tiny islands) by expanding their cities' footprints deeper underground. And as the cities of the Pueblo Peoples, Petra, and the Cappadocia region show us, it might not be such an impossible idea.

Inside Brazil's Caverna da Torrinha (photograph by Coen Wubbels)

Stalagmites and stalactites are common calcium salt formations in caves. But have you ever heard of helictites? Needles of gypsum? Aragonitas? Bolas?

Each of these formations can be found elsewhere in the world, but Caverna da Torrinha is one of Brazil's most complete limestone caves considering the richness and diversity of its speleothems (cave formations), making it a fascinating place to visit. It is also one of the world's largest caves.

Gruta da Torrinha, as it is also called, lies just north of Chapada da Diamantina National Park, 450 kilometers west of Salvador da Bahia. Until 1992, only one cave of the Caverna da Torrinha complex was known to the surrounding inhabitants. Rock paintings near the entrance of that cave are testimony to indigenous people who once inhabited the area.

When a French speleologist with Meanders Speleological Group investigated this chasm, she set down her lantern to take a rest. The flame flickered, betraying a current of air coming from a narrow passage between fallen blocks. It gave access to a much vaster underground area, of which only some 14,000 meters have been mapped.

Sign for Caverna da Torrinha (photograph by Coen Wubbels)

Rock painting at the entrance (photograph by Coen Wubbels)

View underground (photograph by Coen Wubbels)

By clambering over the same boulders as the French speleologist once did, and wriggling your way through the narrow passage, you will get to the two adjacent caves — together with a mandatory guide who will bring a lantern and provide you with a helmet. The caving requires physical fitness and a moderate degree of limberness. The four-hour tour includes quite a bit of walking, often with bent heads for those taller than 1.70m (about 5.6 feet). It is most certainly no trip for claustrophobics.

One of the most impressive — if not somewhat terrifying — moments is when the guide asks you to sit down and be quiet for a minute. He turns down the gas lamp, and all of a sudden you feel how you are in the bowels of the Earth, cut off from any noise or light. For me, it was the closest experience of what the world must be like when being deaf and blind. In fact, it took me an effort not to panic. I focused on my breathing, relaxed my muscles, and allowed the silence to penetrate my being. Suddenly the moment was no longer scary, nor beautiful. It was perfect.

Inside the caverns (photograph by Coen Wubbels)

Stalactites on a low ceiling (photograph by Coen Wubbels)

Inside the caverns (photograph by Coen Wubbels)

In the region, more than 200 caves have been discovered, five of which are open to the public. Some are under scientific research, and it is assumed that many, if not all, caves are the remaining proof of a river that once flowed here. Nowadays most of the caves are dry, while some have underground lakes.

Ten meters (about 33 feet) under the Torrinha Cavern, a new underground river was discovered. It may be that all of the caves are still connected; it may be a matter of finding the passages. While the first cave is home to general stalagmite and stalactite formations, the true gems lie in these deeper hidden caves. Through the second cave meanders a 1,500-meter path, featuring an aragonite flower and gypsum needles. The third cave is a major hall of 100 by 200 meters, home to helicitite and an aragonite flower in a bola.

Stalactites (photograph by Coen Wubbels)

The cavern illuminated by lantern (photograph by Coen Wubbels)

Stalagmites & stalactites (photograph by Coen Wubbels)

Helictite (photograph by Coen Wubbels)

A helictite is a distorted form of stalactite. The cave formation changes its axis during its growth, defying gravity by the force of crystallization of the mineral, often growing in curving or angular forms (contrary to a stalactite, which hangs like an icicle from the roof, or a stalagmite, which rises as a column from the floor). It is still a mystery as to how they are generated, although there are several hypotheses (such as the formation of capillary forces, impurities in the deposited calcite, and/or air currents).

Aragonite (photograph by Coen Wubbels)

The aragonite flower (shown above) is unique in the world. The world's second largest of the rare speleothem grows in the Caverna da Torrinha. The formation of calcium carbonate resembles a flower, hence its name. This cave features a helictite with an aragonite flower on its tip, which has become the symbol of this cave, as well as of all other caverns in the region.

Aragonite (photograph by Coen Wubbels)

Bola (photograph by Coen Wubbels)

A bola (ball) is an uncommon, brittle structure of calcite that looks like an eggshell. In it grows an aragonite flower. One bola in this cave is still open, and the flower is visible; the second known bola is closed, and scientists speculate whether there is a flower inside it as well.

At the deepest point of the cave are needles of gypsum (calcium sulfate), thin blades of gypsum that look like needles, which radiate from clusters on the floor of the cave. From a distance it looks as if somebody has strewn about narrow metal needles on some dry clay. The needles, straight and four inches long on average, would break almost immediately if you touched them. In Caverna Torrinha grow the world's largest gypsum needles at 25 inches long.

Gypsum needles (photograph by Coen Wubbels)

Stalactites & stalagmites (photograph by Coen Wubbels)

There are two ways to visit the cave (there is no public transport going there): Drive up there independently, or rent a car in Lençois, drive to Iraquara, and ask for directions. The cave's owner is Eduardo Figueiredo da Silva and he can provide you with a guide. You could also email or call him beforehand (recommended when you want an English speaking guide). Tel. 75-364-2488 / cavernatorrinha@ig.com.br. You can book a guided tour with one of the travel agencies in Lençois (inside Chapada da Diamantina National Park). The maximum size of a group is six, the cave is open daily from 9am to 6pm, and the price depends on which caves you want to visit.

From August to September, Eames Demetrios, Geographer-at-Large for Kcymaerxthaere, is serving as the Geographer-in-Residence at Atlas Obscura. His Kcymaerxthaere explores the lines of a world parallel to our own with historic markers around the world. 

I have always been interested in the idea that in any culture that makes representations of its stories, religious and otherwise, one can often see very different depictions of the same character or story, and yet everyone who sees these images knows they are the same person. It is true of the Ganesh (the god with the elephant head) who is seen in myriad, but clearly expressed, ways all over India. It is true of Christian saints like St. Sebastian — who despite many differences in the individual person's physical features from painting to painting — were often recognizable because of talismanic items in their presentation (for St. Sebastian it was the martyrdom in arrows). It is even true today, when James Bond has been played by six different men, and yet we accept that each is the same character.

Here are Andrea Mantegna and El Greco's depictions of St. Sebastian as examples:

Andrea Mantegna, "St. Sebastian" (1457-59), oil on wood (via Kunsthistorisches Museum); El Greco, "El martirio de San Sebastian" (1577-78), oil on canvas (via Museo Catedralicio, Palencia)

What I think that means is that there is part of the human programming that permits our visualizations to be clusters of understandings, not literal representation.

So as Kcymaerxthaere began to expand, and I wanted to share such visualizations, I realized that I wanted to be sure there was this kind of visual richness and ambiguity. I wanted to create a story and a universe, but I wanted it to be conjured up fresh in each reader's imagination and experience. From this came the notion of a disputed likeness — something looked like the character or creature, but did not have to be a photographic representation.

Rather than one official version, I liked the notion that the image would start with the story — whether right after a talk of mine, or from reading the text. Because remember (from an earlier post), these stories are new stories, created by me for Kcymaerxthaere, not based on local stories at all. So the visual track record is thin! Though I do some drawings, I have to be careful. After all, if I draw an animal, then people will say, of course he knows what they look like — he wrote it!

So I just started doing it: asking people to draw what they thought I was talking about. One of the first creatures we did this with was the gnacien, a seven-legged, deer-like creature whose prime numbered legs are very nutritious, but whose non-prime-numbered legs are poisonous unto death. Its story was first told here, outside Pedraza in Spain.

Here are four different versions of the beloved gnacien from four continents. One painted on a wall in Spain:

Another embroidered by a woman from the collective known as Penduka in Namibia:

Or this drawing from a Kcymaerxthaere disputed likeness work shop in Marfa, Texas:

Or a wood carving done in Armenia:

All the same, but all different. Each expressing the big idea clearly. Like multiple tellings of the story of Robin Hood.

Here is the story of Nature of the Waters, installed in San Marcos, Texas. It tells the tale of a place, with many hills and valleys, where in every spot the water is exactly the same depth — so, even on the hilltops your houses need stilts.

Here is how one person showed it:

Then there are other creatures, like the dangaroos, the famous war kangaroos of Estrelliia (the initial "k" is silent), who grazed on Harsh Pastures. Dangaroos had armored pouches and could disembowel a man from 20 paces. Here are some representations:

And it is fun!!! I certainly love seeing how people see my stories — but audiences of all ages love the engagement as well. Now this process has expanded in other ways.

In fact, Disputed Likenesses suggest a new way of connection around the world. Because we do workshops in different places all the time, but when you create a card, YOU don't keep the card, we mail it to someone else who participated in another workshop. It is your gift to a stranger. THEN, you get a card from someone else — maybe even someone in another country. Or this special postmark from New Harmony — home of an upcoming site.

You can see all the cards (including your own — when you do it!) on our website.

Here are some cool interpretations of Hongsedaunts (or Interpreter Villages):

And if you come on the Atlas Obscura/Kcymaerxthaere Caravan weekend after next, you'll visit New Harmony, Indiana, where we have an ever growing exhibition of the whole disputed likeness experience — and we hope you'll contribute your drawing. At the end of the residency, we'll talk about other ways you can participate, even before a workshop comes to your neck of the woods. Here is one girl's interpretation of Sin Palabras (Speechless):

Our last picture is of the story of Eliala Mei-Ning, the singer whose voice was too beautiful to be concealed, as depicted by the women of Penduka, a collective based in Windhoek, Namibia. You can visit her story here, here, and here.

But here is one embroiderer's interpretation of the entire story of the singer:

More disputed likenesses at our website devoted to it.

And if you want to participate in the exchange of postcards, please email us: info@kcystories.com.

Til next week, Shoaf,

Eames Demetrios
Geographer-in-Residence

The foundation of Atlas Obscura is contributed by intrepid users around the world, out exploring the places no one else is noticing, or delving into history that's been all but forgotten. Here we are highlighting five of our favorite recent additions to the Atlas. Have a place we've missed? Create an account and become a part of our community.

CROSSNESS PUMPING STATION
London, England

photograph by Amanda Slater/Flickr

Victorian London had far outgrown its sewage system, and in 1858 a hideous incident known as the Great Stink brought a wretched stench to the streets. In order to combat the smells, the city overhauled its infrastructure for dealing with human waste. Thus the gorgeous Crossness Pumping Station was born. Added to the site by Atlas Obscura user jhope, the station completed in 1865 has stunning ironwork around its four giant steam pumps. 

THOR'S WELL
Cape Perpetua, Oregon

photograph by Bill Young/Flickr

The incredible sight of Thor's Well, added to Atlas Obscura by user DCrane Photo, appears as an abyss that is pulling in the ocean like a black hole. However, all is not as it seems, and it's really a 20-foot-deep hole in the Oregon shoreline rock that creates a perpetual waterfall. 

FLOODED CRYPT OF SAN FRANCESCO
Ravenna, Italy

photograph by Terry Clinton/Flickr

The crypt below San Francesco in Ravenna, Italy, contributed by user Nikel, was constructed between the 9th and 10th centuries, and over time the marshes in the area have gradually retaken the ground. Now a steady level of seawater covers the mosaic floors in the burial chamber, while goldfish and sometimes even ducks swim below the vaulted ceilings. Visitors now have a tradition of tossing in coins to this curious wishing well of the dead. 

WORLD'S FIRST RESIDENTIAL TELEPHONE LINE
Somerville, Massachusetts

photograph by Magicpiano/Wikimedia

The very first telephone number was set up in 1877 in the Charles Williams, Jr. House on Arlington Street in Somerville, Massachusetts, added to Atlas Obscura by user tmzinn. Naturally, the number was "1" and it dialed Williams' office, which was "2." Williams was a businessman and manufacturer of communications supplies, eager to get on the edge of telephone technology and promote it to the world. 

OLD SARAJEVO CLOCK TOWER
Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina

photograph by Aaron Austin-Glen

Visitors to the Old Clock Tower in Sarajevo, added to the site with lovely photographs by Aaron Austin-Glen, may think it is keeping the wrong hour. But they just aren't on its time. Dating to the 17th century, this is believed to be the world's only lunar clock, keeping time to the movement of the moon and the sun. This was so worshipers at the neighboring mosque could coordinate their prayers. It's still kept accurate every three days even if it's not so spiritually necessary, by the same clock keeper who was worked on it since the 1960s. 

Thanks to our intrepid users for uncovering these wondrous places, and we look forward to more! Help us show how incredible and curious the world is by adding your own discoveries. 

Kings Theatre on Flatbush (photograph by Allison Meier)

The ruins of America's great movie palaces are now almost as famous as their original splendor. Driven out of business by franchises and waning interest in one grand space showing one film at a time, the velvet curtains in their gilded interiors fell one by one. On Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, the Kings Theatre has been abandoned for nearly four decades, its roof caving in and water streaming over the sculpted faces and towering columns meant to be a 20th-century version of the Opera Garnier in Paris. 

Numerous failed restoration projects were pitched since it closed in 1977, but finally last year the Kings Theatre Redevelopment Company, with heavy backing from the city, broke ground on a $93 million restoration and modernization project. Now set to reopen in January of next year, the over 3,000-seat complex is nearing its second chance as the biggest theater in the borough.

This Tuesday, Atlas Obscura joined a hardhat tour of the Kings Theatre, where corners of the French Renaissance Revival still in their crumbled state contrasted to the meticulous reconstruction by Martinez+Johnson Architecture and Evergreene Architectural Arts with general contractor Gilbane. Chicago-based architecture firm Rapp & Rapp designed the Kings Theatre as one of Loew's five extravagant "Wonder Theatres" in the New York City area (three of these are now churches, while the one in Jersey City still screens movies and hosts music). The 1027 Flatbush Avenue location was unique when it opened in 1929 as being at the end of the silent film age, merging sound and vaudeville entertainment from the beginning with its screenings. 

In the lobby of the Kings Theatre (photograph by Dylan Thuras)

The Kings Theatre auditorium (photograph by Dylan Thuras)

Gary Martinez of Martinez+Johnson Architecture described the theatre as a "spatial progression of rooms," and as we moved from the lobby with its conjoined soaring spaces, into the over 80-foot-tall auditorium, it did open up in an incredible way that its terracotta façade now peaking out from behind construction boards only hints at. Each room has its own aesthetic patterns and design techniques, the only visuals repeating are the numerous sculpted faces that gaze down at you from every angle, often hidden in floral flourishes or positioned high on the ceilings.

Bringing the structure out of deterioration required a "forensic investigation" as Martinez described it, into how the Kings Theatre was built, from taking paint samples for microscopic analysis to examining archive photographs. They even happened to get in touch with a former house manger who had kept some of the original furniture which will reappear in the lobby. Anywhere too waterlogged or vandalized is being carefully replicated as seamlessly as possible with molds to match the plaster walls, and the exact tree species to blend with the wood paneling. An additional structure is now hidden behind the stage to add loading docks and dressing rooms, while the sight lines of all the seats were reconsidered for stage shows rather than film. 

Soon the restored crystal chandeliers will be rehung, the hundreds of plush seats installed, and then the next challenge will be to reestablish the Kings Theatre as an entertainment hub for performance, rather than its decades-long identity as one of the city's most incredible ruins. Below are more photographs from the theatre, and to get an idea of what it looked like before, we recommend checking out Matt Lambros at After the Final Curtain's beautiful series of photographs from 2011.

All photographs by Dylan Thuras and Allison Meier.

All photographs by Dylan Thuras and Allison Meier. Visit Kings Theatre for more on its reopening.

Aerial view of Prague in early morning (screenshot from Aerial Prague, via YouTube)

For three months between the hours of 4:30 am and 7 am, a group of filmmakers flew above the spires of Prague in the light of sunrise. Or at least their vision did, as they soared quadcopter drones up from the empty streets to simulate a "magic carpet ride" in the quiet of early morning.

They've compiled the footage into a video at Aerial Prague. Directed with camera work by Jeffrey Martin, produced by John Caulkins, and edited by David Nitzsche, the video backed by soaring violoncello and piano music by Geraldine Mucha takes you on a journey that's like an out-of-body experience to tourist-free streets. "Everyone dreams they can fly," they explain on their site. "So we decided to try to create a video that could simulate that feeling of floating over rooftops — with the river Vltava below and Prague's castle above."

The editing can be a little rushed, but it's just the first in what they plan will be more aerial explorations of the city at its most peaceful (you do catch a glimpse of a bridal party also taking advantage of the emptiness). Check it out below, and glimpse the sunrise of Prague from an angle usually reserved for the birds.

St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome (photograph by Dnalor 01/Wikimedia)

The Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome has seen its share of destruction. Since 340, it’s been struck by lightning, damaged in an earthquake, accidentally burnt to the ground, and sacked by pirates. It seems nothing shy of the apocalypse will keep this church down. But according to local legend, the four horsemen might be riding in sooner rather than later. The collection of papal portraits here are linked to the end of the world.

Papal portraits (photograph by ho visto nina volare/Flickr)

Every pope is depicted in a large mosaic installed in a niche around the perimeter of the church. They're all exactly the same size and neatly laid out in a single-file line under the windows. The only problem is, there’s a finite number of niches. A second row would certainly throw the aesthetic off so the legend says that when the niches run out, the world ends.

Even though the tradition of the portraits was started by Pope St. Leo the Great in the 5th century, the niches and the legend are newer than you might expect. At first, the portraits were frescos. They were only added sporadically, frequently falling behind the times, until 1823 when a fire ravaged the building. During the rebuilding of the basilica, Pope Pius IX ordered the portraits to be reinstated and brought up to date, this time using mosaics. If a pope’s likeness wasn’t well-documented, artist Filippo Agricola arbitrarily assigned him a face (so even the most devout Catholics won't recognize a few). The project was completed in 1875, and since then the mosaics have been added pope-by-pope.

Mosaic portrait of Pope Francis (photograph by Antoine Taveneaux/Wikimedia)

There are six empty spaces next to the portrait of Pope Francis, but that doesn’t give us much of a timeline for the end times. Will there be six popes like Pope Pius IX who reigned for over 31 years? Or will the next six vacancies be filled like they were in the late 600s, when six popes reigned in less than four and a half years? Only time will tell, but another architectural element in Rome might give you a clue.

Pope Sylvester II cenotaph (photograph by Savidan/Wikimedia)

Since popes typically die in office, a sign indicating the death of a pope might help you gauge your concern about the end of the world. At the Lanteran, a cenotaph to Pope Sylvester II is said to sweat when the death of a pope is imminent. There were plenty of people keeping an eye on it near the end of Pope St. John Paul II’s life, but no word on how it will react with one current pope and one retired.

Death on a pale horse, from "The Book of Revelation ; a study of the last prophetic book of Holy Scripture" (1919) (via Internet Archive Book Images)

Elizabeth Harper writes about saint relics and other morbid history at All the Saints You Should Know. You can also find more on the remains of the holy departed at the All the Saints You Should Know Facebook page.

German U-boat with its crew (1918) (via SMU Central University)

The German Unterseeboot, or U-boat, was a submarine that appeared seemingly out of nowhere to destroy both military and commercial ships. Despite their prevalence during WWI and WWII, only four U-boats exist today. Preserved as museum vessels, these "undersea boats" are the last reminders of the Battle of the Atlantic, and the thousands of men who died in these “Iron Coffins.”

U-505
Museum of Science and Industry
Chicago, Illinois

Boarding party from the USS Pillsbury on the U-505 (1944) (via United States Navy)

The USS Chatelain made sonar contact with the U-505 on June 4, 1944. Supported by two other destroyers, the Chatelain began firing Hedgehog anti-submarine weapons. Two F4F Wildcat airplanes launched off a nearby aircraft carrier spotted the U-boat and fired their guns into the water to mark its position. Additional depth charges forced the U-505 to surface.

The command was given to abandon ship, but the crew was unable to finish scuttling the U-505. A team of American sailors was able to board the U-505, and secure multiple charts and codebooks which proved useful in breaking the Nazi’s Enigma code. This made the U-boat the first warship captured on the high seas by United States forces since the war of 1812. The U-505 was then towed to Bermuda, where she was studied by U.S. Navy intelligence and engineering officers.

In 1954, with no further use for the U-505, the Navy donated her to Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. She was authentically restored and remains on display at MSI.

The U-505 today (via Museum of Science & Industry)

Inside the U-505, with a view of the bunks & torpedo (photograph by KBE/Flickr)

Aerial view of the U-505 (photograph by Daderot/Wikimedia)

U-534
Woodside Ferry Terminal
Birkenhead, England

U-534 under attack on May 5, 1945 (via Australian War Memorial Collection Database)

Accurate weather reports were vital for both Allied and Axis forces in the North Atlantic. Because the jet stream flows west to east, Allied forces received weather information from the United States, but Axis forces relied on weather reports from U-boats throughout the Atlantic.

The U-534 served on weather reporting patrols from June 1943 to May 1945. She never served in combat, though she shot down two RAF bombers during skirmishes.

By May 5, 1945, all U-boats were ordered to surrender, but the commander of the U-534 refused to raise the black flag. She was intercepted by three RAF planes, who dropped depth charges and breached the hull. The commander ordered his crew to abandon ship.

U-534 sank and was forgotten until 1986, when a Danish diver discovered the wreck approximately halfway between Denmark and Sweden. In 1993, U-534 was raised from the seabed. Her 50-year-old ammunition was still live and had to be neutralized. By 1996, she was moved to Birkenhead, England, where she is now the centerpiece of U-boat Story, a display at Birkenhead's Woodside Ferry Terminal.

It is still a mystery why U-534 ignored the surrender order. The most widely-accepted theory relates to three Zaukönig T11 torpedoes found in her aft section. Only 38 of these torpedoes, which included acoustic countermeasures to a British decoy system, were made. It is unknown why these torpedoes would be on a weather-reporting U-boat.

The U-534 in 2007 (photograph by Nigel Cox/geograph.org.uk)

Inside the U-534 in 2010 (photograph by Roger Marks/Flickr)

Inside the U-534 in 2010 (photograph by Roger Marks/Flickr)

U-995
Kiel, Germany

Inside the U-995 (photograph by Noop1958/Wikimedia)

The U-995 was launched on July 22, 1943. Within days, she was severely damaged by an Allied bombing raid. Axis U-boat forces were stretched thin, though, and with great effort she was repaired and returned to service by September 16. Over the next two years, she completed nine patrols and sank four ships.

When Admiral Karl Donitz ordered the surrender of all ships in May 1945, the U-995 was moored at Trondheim, Norway. Rather than scuttle their boat, her crew surrendered to Allied forces. The Norwegian Navy took possession of U-995 and, in 1952, recommissioned her as the Kaura.

She served in the Norwegian Navy and was decommissioned in 1965. As a symbol of friendship, U-995/Kaura was sold back to Germany for the symbolic price of one deutsche mark. She was taken to Kiel and restored to her WWII appearance. In October 1971, she opened her doors as a museum ship, and a memorial to the men who died during the war.

Aerial view of the U-995 in 2011 (photograph by Phileas Fogg/Wikimedia)

Inside the U-995 (photograph by Noop1958/Wikimedia)

View of the U-995 in 2009 (photograph by McKarri/Wikimedia)

U-2540
German Maritime Museum
Bremerhaven, Germany

The U-2540 in 1970 (via German Federal Archives)

Launched on January 13, 1945, the U-2540 served as a training ship during the final months of the war. She was one of the most technologically advanced U-boats built by the Nazis, and one of the first submarines designed to operate primarily while submerged, rather than on the surface and only diving for a short time.

On May 4, 1945, the U-2540 was scuttled in an inlet between Denmark and Germany. A decade later, the newly-formed German Federal Navy needed submarines to patrol their coast. Rather than build new ships, they located and salvaged the U-2540 and other U-boats. She was retrofitted and rechristened the Wilhelm Bauer. She was decommissioned in 1982.

A non-profit group of U-boat enthusiasts later purchased the Wilhelm Bauer. Restored to her wartime condition, she was permanently moored next to the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven in 1984. Today, the U-2540 is the only U-boat still floating in the sea. The U-2540 is open to visitors and dedicated to the preservation of peace.

The U-2540 torpedo tubes (photograph by Clemens Vasters/Flickr)

Inside the U-2540 (photograph by Heribert Pohl/Flickr)

The Wilhelm Bauer in 2004 (photograph by Sicherlich/Wikimedia)

This article has been updated to correct the type of aircraft that participated in the capture of the U-505. We apologize for the error.

Discover more unusual military history on Atlas Obscura >

Old postcard of Paris sewer workers (19th century) (via Claude Shoshany/Wikimedia)

When the sewers of Paris get clogged with putrid waste, they're sometimes cleaned the same way they were over a century ago: with a giant, rolling ball.

Models of these iron and wood "boules de curage" are on display at the Paris Sewer Museum (Musée des Égouts de Paris), which is a working sewer station that lets visitors explore the evolution of this hidden infrastructure. The museum is accessed through a rather unassuming stairwell at the Quai d'Orsay, something which almost vanishes into the waterfront not far from the Eiffel Tower and the Jean Nouvel-designed Musée du Quai Branly with its pristine gardens by the Seine. 

While reading museum placards while you walk on grates above a constant flow of sewage below (the smell isn't as bad as you might think) may seem unusual, people have been touring the Paris sewers since the 19th century, including during the Exposition of 1867 when boats rode over the sewage. This municipal-sponsored tourism wasn't just a pungent curiosity — the city really wanted to show off its subterranean half. Baron Haussmann, the city planner so influential with the broad boulevards we know Paris for today, worked with engineer Eugène Belgrand in the 1850s to modernize the formerly haphazard array of tunnels into something that would accommodate the city's booming population. (A similar problem was being addressed at the same time in London to combat its "Great Stink" of 1858.)

Sewers of Paris (1861) (photograph by Nadar)

Different shapes of sewer tunnels (1906) (via Internet Archive Book Images)

But despite the vast improvements, the over 2,100 kilometers of centuries-old sandstone tunnels were far from uniform, and while dredging boats, and even people who raked the muck, helped to keep the flow, sometimes it was out of their reach. Enter the sewer balls, measuring between three to five meters in diameter, an idea dating to Belgrand's day. Sort of like a drain snake for a sink clog, the metal and wood balls of varying sizes to fit the assorted old tunnels would be given velocity and then bowled through the blocking sludge.

The sewer ball on a vintage postcard (via delcampe.net)

The balls on display in the Paris Sewer Museum (photograph by the author)

Long before the modern Paris Sewer Museum, an example of the ball was displayed at the Exposition Universelle of 1878, the third Paris World's Fair. A glowing article in La Revue Scientifique described how the ball was rolled against the blockage and, let loose to "passe avec violence" against the obstruction. If there was "matières solides" ("solid material"), it was "chased," but "toujours suivies par la boule" — "always followed by the ball."

Victor Hugo called the Paris sewers in his 1862 Les Misérables, a "colossal subterranean sponge," another Paris beneath the streets soaking up the filth of the surface. While you can no longer (legally at least), take a boat tour of this labyrinth, through the museum you can get an idea of just how impressive this necessary infrastructure is, and how some unusual methods had to be developed to keep it working for so long. It may not have the same allure as the "Grands Boulevards" above, but there is an odd beauty to the human ingenuity constantly at work below. 

The Paris Sewer Museum (photograph by the author)

Walking below the pipes (photograph by the author)

One of the service access points (photograph by the author)

Memorial to Paris sewer workers from WWII (photograph by the author)

Entrance to the Paris Sewer Museum (photograph by the author)

READ MORE: PARIS SEWER MUSEUM, Paris, France

Old postcard of Paris sewer workers (19th century) (via Claude Shoshany/Wikimedia)

When the sewers of Paris get clogged with putrid waste, they're sometimes cleaned the same way they were over a century ago: with a giant, rolling ball.

Models of these iron and wood "boules de curage" are on display at the Paris Sewer Museum (Musée des Égouts de Paris), which is a working sewer station that lets visitors explore the evolution of this hidden infrastructure. The museum is accessed through a rather unassuming stairwell at the Quai d'Orsay, something which almost vanishes into the waterfront not far from the Eiffel Tower and the Jean Nouvel-designed Musée du Quai Branly with its pristine gardens by the Seine. 

While reading museum placards while you walk on grates above a constant flow of sewage below (the smell isn't as bad as you might think) may seem unusual, people have been touring the Paris sewers since the 19th century, including during the Exposition of 1867 when boats rode over the sewage. This municipal-sponsored tourism wasn't just a pungent curiosity — the city really wanted to show off its subterranean half. Baron Haussmann, the city planner so influential with the broad boulevards we know Paris for today, worked with engineer Eugène Belgrand in the 1850s to modernize the formerly haphazard array of tunnels into something that would accommodate the city's booming population. (A similar problem was being addressed at the same time in London to combat its "Great Stink" of 1858.)

Sewers of Paris (1861) (photograph by Nadar)

Different shapes of sewer tunnels (1906) (via Internet Archive Book Images)

But despite the vast improvements, the over 2,100 kilometers of centuries-old sandstone tunnels were far from uniform, and while dredging boats, and even people who raked the muck, helped to keep the flow, sometimes it was out of their reach. Enter the sewer balls, measuring between three to five meters in diameter, an idea dating to Belgrand's day. Sort of like a drain snake for a sink clog, the metal and wood balls of varying sizes to fit the assorted old tunnels would be given velocity and then bowled through the blocking sludge.

The sewer ball on a vintage postcard (via delcampe.net)

The balls on display in the Paris Sewer Museum (photograph by the author)

Long before the modern Paris Sewer Museum, an example of the ball was displayed at the Exposition Universelle of 1878, the third Paris World's Fair. A glowing article in La Revue Scientifique described how the ball was rolled against the blockage and, let loose to "passe avec violence" against the obstruction. If there was "matières solides" ("solid material"), it was "chased," but "toujours suivies par la boule" — "always followed by the ball."

Victor Hugo called the Paris sewers in his 1862 Les Misérables, a "colossal subterranean sponge," another Paris beneath the streets soaking up the filth of the surface. While you can no longer (legally at least), take a boat tour of this labyrinth, through the museum you can get an idea of just how impressive this necessary infrastructure is, and how some unusual methods had to be developed to keep it working for so long. It may not have the same allure as the "Grands Boulevards" above, but there is an odd beauty to the human ingenuity constantly at work below. 

The Paris Sewer Museum (photograph by the author)

Walking below the pipes (photograph by the author)

One of the service access points (photograph by the author)

Memorial to Paris sewer workers from WWII (photograph by the author)

Entrance to the Paris Sewer Museum (photograph by the author)

READ MORE: PARIS SEWER MUSEUM, Paris, France

Old postcard of Paris sewer workers (19th century) (via Claude Shoshany/Wikimedia)

When the sewers of Paris get clogged with putrid waste, they're sometimes cleaned the same way they were over a century ago: with a giant, rolling ball.

Models of these iron and wood "boules de curage" are on display at the Paris Sewer Museum (Musée des Égouts de Paris), which is a working sewer station that lets visitors explore the evolution of this hidden infrastructure. The museum is accessed through a rather unassuming stairwell at the Quai d'Orsay, something which almost vanishes into the waterfront not far from the Eiffel Tower and the Jean Nouvel-designed Musée du Quai Branly with its pristine gardens by the Seine. 

Reading museum placards while you walk on grates above a river of sewage (the smell isn't as bad as you might think) may seem unusual, but people have been touring the Paris sewers since the 19th century, including during the Exposition of 1867 when boats rode through the tunnels. This municipal-sponsored tourism wasn't just a pungent curiosity — the city really wanted to show off its subterranean half. Baron Haussmann, the city planner so influential with the broad boulevards we know Paris for today, worked with engineer Eugène Belgrand in the 1850s to modernize the formerly haphazard array of tunnels into something that would accommodate the city's booming population. (A similar problem was being addressed at the same time in London to combat its "Great Stink" of 1858.)

Sewers of Paris (1861) (photograph by Nadar)

Different shapes of sewer tunnels (1906) (via Internet Archive Book Images)

But despite the vast improvements, the over 2,100 kilometers of centuries-old sandstone tunnels were far from uniform, and while dredging boats, and even people who raked the muck, helped to keep the flow, sometimes it was out of their reach. Enter the sewer balls, measuring between three to five meters in diameter, an idea dating to Belgrand's day. Sort of like a drain snake for a kitchen sink clog, the metal and wood balls of varying sizes to fit the assorted old tunnels would be given velocity and then bowled through the blocking sludge.

The sewer ball on a vintage postcard (via delcampe.net)

The balls on display in the Paris Sewer Museum (photograph by the author)

Long before the modern Paris Sewer Museum, an example of the ball was displayed at the Exposition Universelle of 1878, the third Paris World's Fair. A glowing article in La Revue Scientifique described how the ball was rolled against the blockage and let loose to "passe avec violence" against the obstruction. If there were "matières solides" ("solid materials"), there were "chased," but "toujours suivies par la boule" — "always followed by the ball."

Victor Hugo called the Paris sewers in his 1862 Les Misérables a "colossal subterranean sponge" — another Paris beneath the streets soaking up the filth of the surface. While you can no longer (legally at least), take a boat tour of this labyrinth, through the museum you can get an idea of just how impressive this necessary infrastructure is, and how some unusual methods had to be developed to keep it working for so long. It may not have the same allure as the "Grands Boulevards" above, but there is an odd beauty to the human ingenuity constantly at work below. 

The Paris Sewer Museum (photograph by the author)

Walking below the pipes (photograph by the author)

One of the service access points (photograph by the author)

Memorial to Paris sewer workers from WWII (photograph by the author)

Entrance to the Paris Sewer Museum (photograph by the author)

READ MORE: PARIS SEWER MUSEUM, Paris, France