22 Items Tagged

Relationships

Villa Pandolfi Elmi

A chapel where women can demand their true love.

A woman enjoying the sights of a new city alone.

AO Mailbag: Is It Rude to Travel Without Your Significant Other?

The Atlas Obscura team answers audience questions about all things solo travel.

The Podcast Team August 25, 2025

Two suitcases in an empty airport hall.

AO Mailbag: Is It Normal to Share a Checked Bag With Your Boyfriend?

Our hosts offer unsolicited relationship advice.

The Podcast Team June 21, 2025

A sculpture of the Dover Demon, a cryptid supposedly seen in Massachusetts in the 1970s, on display at the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

Take a Podcast Tour of Some of the World's Most Unusual Museums

Visiting some of our favorite very specific collections from the last two years.

April White April 5, 2023

Podcast: Museum of Broken Relationships

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.

The Podcast Team July 1, 2021

A family poses outside their homestead, somewhere out west, in the late 19th century.

How Personal Ads Helped Conquer the American West

That tradition of finding partners in the face of social isolation persists today.

Linda Rodriguez McRobbie April 29, 2021

Every airplane ride is an opportunity for connection.

19 Stories of Incredible Connection at 30,000 Feet

Atlas Obscura readers share their most unforgettable encounters with strangers on airplanes.

Eric Grundhauser May 10, 2019

A woman looking at a backpack in the Museum of Broken Relationships.

A Visit to the Museum of Broken Relationships

A unique collection focused on what happens after love dies.

Lizzie Philip August 6, 2025

A Visit to the Museum of Broken Relationships

You must climb a ladder to place your letter in the Bridegroom's Oak.

Bridegroom's Oak

This ancient oak tree plays matchmaker for singles willing to branch out from the usual dating scene.

Yasui Kompira-gu Shrine.

Yasui Kompira-gu Shrine

Crawl through the hole in the middle of this stone to break off a bad relationship or initiate a good one.

Matchmaker Amy Van Doran in the Modern Love Club.

New York, New York

Modern Love Club

This narrow shop in the East Village hosts a matchmaking service for the new millennium.

A rough time for Copenhagen's polar bears.

Two Danish Polar Bears Are Getting Divorced

They can't seem to get along.

Cara Giaimo January 6, 2017

The Chap Record, in which women would record their reviews of gentlemen suitors.

objects of intrigue

Chap Records Were Basically Yelp for 1900s Eligible Bachelorettes

The books helped women keep track of—and review—their suitors.

Rick Paulas December 1, 2016

John F. Kennedy and Chep Morrison share a slightly awkward handshake in 1961.

The Strange World of Political Handshakes

They date back to ancient Babylonia.

Cara Giaimo October 21, 2016

Friends.

How Our Make-Believe Relationships With Celebrities Shape Our Social Lives

It’s in our nature to want to form relationships with others—even if they don’t know who we are.

Lauren Young September 23, 2016

Permanently Closed

The Museum of Broken Relationships in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles' Museum of Broken Relationships

Where the leftovers of love affairs can live on forever.

Why Did American Cats Get Blamed for So Many Divorces?

A century of couples pinning their marital woes on felines.

Natalie Zarrelli July 12, 2016