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In the middle of Main Street, a sculpture depicts two athletes reaching for the sky, holding long sticks with netting at the end, competing over a ball. A third athlete lays in the scrum, trampled underneath. The game? Lacrosse. The city? La Crosse, Wisconsin. The Lacrosse Players is a tribute to the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin […]
In the year 60, St. Paul was sailing across the Mediterranean Sea as a Roman prisoner when the ship carrying him was caught in a severe storm. After the storm passed, the sailors spotted the island of Malta and tried to land there but got stuck on a sandbar. With heavy surf pounding the vessel, […]
The clock on Česká Street is a fairly popular meet-up spot in Brno. If you wait for a friend here, there’s someone to keep you company, even if you don’t see him. He happens to be the smallest public statue in the city. Created by sculptor Václav Sigurson Kostohryz, the 20-centimeter-tall statue sits on a metal bar, […]
At first glance, tiny Iola, Wisconsin, does not look like the seat of a publishing empire, but maybe it was just a flip of a coin that led to its success. For Iola was the home of Chester L. “Chet” Krause, one of the world’s most famous numismatists, and in 2023, a park was dedicated […]
Route 135 through Ashland, Massachusetts is a relatively quiet area dotted with residential neighborhoods, businesses, offices, and other establishments. However, once a day in April, this road is packed with thousands of people who run in the Boston Marathon cheered on by spectators. There are several historical markers commemorating the event but one located directly […]
King Eric VII was a king-turned-pirate who spent years pillaging the realm that he had once ruled over after being overthrown. Along with many treasures, he brought back a golden dove from the island of Gotland that was said to. hold the power of everlasting love. With this token, he remained happily married to his […]
In Portland’s Chinatown, a collection of two sculptures and eight informative signs can be found along 5th and 6th Avenues. They tell of mysterious green archers, armed with arrows of fantastic power. If you are hit with one of them, you see aspects of the world that are hidden from most people. You witness flowers […]
Hachi, also known as Hachiko (https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hachiko-hachi-shibuya-station), is arguably one of the best-known dogs – or historical figures, even – in Japan. He famously waited for his master outside Shibuya Station for a decade after his death, becoming a symbol of loyalty. Now a statue of Hachiko stands on the spot, an iconic meet-up spot in […]
As strange as it might be to see Lady Liberty lifting her lamp not on Ellis Island, but in Aomori, this large-scale replica is not even the only one in Japan. Arguably the most famous copy in the land is the Odaiba Statue of Liberty, which overlooks Tokyo Bay. There’s also the Statue of Liberty […]
One of the largest temples in Yamagata City, the main building of Senshōji dates back to 170. Its roof is supported by a quartet of guardian statues attributed to Hidari Jingorō, a legendary sculptor best known for his carvings of the Three Wise Monkeys and the Sleeping Cat in Nikko. As the statues were so […]