510 Items Tagged

Libraries

Roman ruins underneath the library.

Roman Ruins of Salaborsa Library

The remains of an ancient Roman city are hidden underneath Bologna's beautiful public library.

The cat sign with a female crossing sign.

Uppsala, Sweden

Pelle Svanslös Crosswalk

Uppsala's adorable feline sign celebrates a popular children's book set in the Swedish city.

Inside the Namgyal Monastery in Ithaca on the Dalai Lama's 82nd birthday.

Ithaca, New York

Namgyal Monastery

This peaceful gem in upstate New York was chosen as the future home of the 14th Dalai Lama's Library and Museum.

The 1968 magazine, with the library's labels.

Found: A 'Life' Magazine Stolen From a Library 51 Years Ago

The sender returned it, confessed, and paid up.

Evan Nicole Brown March 5, 2019

Denzer's books remind you that books are objects. Also, cheese is fun.

objects of intrigue

Every Page of This Book Is a Slice of Cheese

And it's sitting on the shelves at several university libraries.

Abigail Cain February 18, 2019

This library wasn't meant to be so empty.

Inside the Belgian Library That Tore Itself Apart

In the 1960s, a conflict between Dutch-speaking and French-speaking students divided a historic collection.

Matthew Taub February 14, 2019

An artifact from the Cornell Hip Hop Collection.

Ithaca, New York

Cornell Hip Hop Collection

This rare archive of original recordings and photos uncovers the early days of hip hop culture.

When carving a boar's head, start with the cheek.

objects of intrigue

The Handy Playing Cards That Taught 17th-Century Cooks to Carve Meat Like a Pro

The decks suggested proper technique, and were a path to class mobility.

Jessica Leigh Hester February 6, 2019

There's Merlin's name in the text recently discovered by librarian Michael Robinson.

Found: A 13th-Century Tale of Merlin and Arthur, Reused as Bookbinding

The early text can help scholars understand how the legend evolved over time.

Noor Al-Samarrai February 1, 2019

Behold, a tiny library made from a tree stump.

The Most Magical 'Little Free Library' Is Built Right Into a Tree Stump

A rotting 110-year-old black cottonwood gets a second life.

Cara Strickland January 28, 2019

The Little Free Library next to its house.

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

Little Free Library in a 110-Year-Old Tree Stump

A black cottonwood gets a second life as a home for books.

Inside the library.

San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain

Royal Library of San Lorenzo de El Escorial

This influential Renaissance-era library was once the haunt of kings and monks.

Medieval bestiary manuscript showing a werewolf.

London, England

British Library Treasures Gallery

The library houses an incredible collection of some of the world's most impressive books and manuscripts.

Oh, the things that hit our earholes.

Overheard at Atlas Obscura in 2018

From bioluminescent fungus to random bone houses, here's what we talk about at the office.

Ella Morton December 27, 2018

The full sign.

Melrose Park, Illinois

Kiddieland Sign

The sign to a demolished amusement park now stands in front of a local library.

A pagoda at Mogao Caves.

Mogao Caves

Hundreds of caves filled with thousands of centuries-old statues and murals.

The models of three Lego figurines sent with the Juno spacecraft are Galileo Galilei and the Roman gods Juno and Jupiter.

Is There Anybody Out There… Keeping Track of the Weird Stuff We Send Into Space?

This catalog attempts to figure out what we're telling the rest of the universe about ourselves.

Sarah Laskow November 19, 2018

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati Mercantile Library

Hidden on two floors of downtown building, the library has an incredible deal on rent.