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Washington, D.C.

Japanese Stone Lantern

A gift from Japan, 17th-century lantern stands among the cherry trees at D.C.'s Tidal Basin.
Cheltenham, England

Gordon Lamp

Unwanted and reluctant ownership, Gordon Lamp glimmers faintly and serves as a relic of the bygone Victorian era.
Hong Kong

Duddell Street Lamps

The last street gas lamps in Hong Kong.
Bandicoots are just one of many mammals that fluoresce.
animals

Blacklight Studies Reveal That Most Mammals Secretly Glow

"It is, quite literally, seeing things in a whole new light.”
Sunny Fitzgerald October 10, 2023
Hyde Park Picture House is the last cinema in the world to be lit by gas lamps.
theaters

How to Ensure the Last Gas-Lamp Theater in the World Doesn’t Blow Up

Though safe today, antique lights once posed risks of poisoning, suffocation, asbestos, radioactivity, and explosions.
Jenny Elliott September 7, 2023
Anaheim, California

Walt Disney’s Lamp

Allegedly haunted by Walt Disney himself, this inconspicuous lamp is always kept lit in his honor.
Of the 151 species they studied, all of them, including this tree frog, <em>Dendropsophus rhodopeplus</em> (shown under blue light), displayed some level of fluorescence.
science

Biologists Threw a Fluorescent Frog Rave in the Amazon, for Science

Turns out many of the frogs glow, maybe to communicate.
Roxanne Hoorn August 22, 2023
Pune, India

The Modak and The Mount Street Lamps

Artistic streetlamps depicting Lord Ganesh’s favourite food and divine mount around an iconic temple of the deity in the heart of Pune.
The sun sets over West Bali National Park, ushering in the first of three twilights that herald night the world over.
sailors

Why Are There Three Twilights?

And we’re not talking about vampire books.
Gemma Tarlach July 5, 2023
List

14 Places Brightened by Bioluminescence

Where nature puts on its very own light show.
Jonathan Carey June 5, 2023
Berlin is home to more than half the world's working gas streetlamps. They first illuminated Unter den Linden, Berlin’s central boulevard, almost two centuries ago.
politics

The Last Days of Berlin's Gas Streetlamps

Looking at the German city in a different light.
Alex Rennie June 1, 2023
Monterrey, Mexico

'Espíritu de Luz'

This ”skyspace,” which bears a resemblance to a spacecraft, is designed to disappear in the presence of light.
Itinerary

8 Out-There Art Destinations in Texas

Plan a road trip around the Lone Star State’s eclectic, exciting, and strange collection of art.
Charlotte, North Carolina

‘Fairy Ring’

A permanent outdoor art installation made up of more than 100 mushroom-shaped lights.
List

9 Winter Traditions You Might Not Have Heard Of

From a beautiful light memorial in Japan to a massive ice pillar in Sweden.
Jonathan Carey December 16, 2022
Gifts for the home can be as intricate or as simple as you want them to be.
maps

Unique Gifts for the Home

A giving guide from the Atlas Obscura team.
Atlas Obscura November 29, 2022
All illustrations: John Mata for Atlas Obscura
museums

Puzzle Monday: The Art of Illumination

AO Puzzles October 24, 2022
Blue Apples
Rennes-le-Château, France

The Blue Apples Of Rennes-le-Château

The way that light hits a stained glass window on a specific day is one of many "clues" to a mysterious treasure.