chronopsis's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Galway, Ireland

Seven Churches

While only two of the ancient buildings at this site are actually churches this was one of the earliest Irish pilgrimage sites ever.
Duluth, Minnesota

Uncle Harvey's Mausoleum

The watery grave of an impractical idea.
St. Joseph, Minnesota

Saint John's Abbey Church

A jaw-dropping brutalist space church seems to have crash-landed in the middle of America.
Cold Spring, Minnesota

Grasshopper Chapel

After four years of grasshopper plagues, this chapel was erected as a plea to God to make them end.
Rome, Italy

Basilica di San Clemente

A Nesting Doll of Churches.
Rome, Italy

Passetto di Borgo

The Pope’s secret escape route.
Rome, Italy

Tempietto at San Pietro in Montorio

More sculpture than building, this architecturally significant temple was built on the spot of Saint Peter's crucifixion.
Rome, Italy

Santa Maria dell'Orazione e Morte

At the crypt of St. Mary of Eulogies and the Dead you are left alone to ponder mortality among piles of skulls.
Rome, Italy

Campo de Fiori

This ritzy Italian market is built around a statue of an unforgiven heretic who was burned for his belief in an endless universe.
Rome, Italy

Museum of the Holy Souls in Purgatory

A collection of objects supposedly singed by the hands of souls in purgatory.
Rome, Italy

The Head of St. John the Baptist at San Silvestro in Capite

One of several skulls claiming to belong to the beheaded St. John the Baptist is on display at this Roman church.
Rome, Italy

The Dome Illusion

A master of trompe-l'oeil creates a stunning, tourist-fooling dome out of a flat ceiling.
Rome, Italy

Torre Argentina (Roman Cat Sanctuary)

Hundreds of lucky felines haunt the ruins where Caesar was murdered.
Rome, Italy

St. Valentine's Skull

The skull of the patron saint of lovers lies in the Basilica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin—maybe.
Rome, Italy

Porta Alchemica

An alchemist's "magic door" stands in the middle of a Roman park.
Rome, Italy

Meridian Line of the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs

Installed in an act of one-upsmanship, the annual sundial in this church is also a symbolic victory for the Gregorian calendar.
Rome, Italy

Keats-Shelley Memorial House

Museum dedicated to literary greats of the Romantic Period is also the home in which Keats met his untimely end.
Rome, Italy

Santa Maria della Concezione Crypts

The crypts of Capuchin friars decorated with the bones of over 4,000 friars, including an entire "crypt of pelvises."
Rome, Italy

Papal Hearts at Santi Vincenzo e Anastasio a Trevi

This former Roman Catholic Church still contains the embalmed hearts and organs of 22 popes.
Florence, Italy

Galileo's Middle Finger

The middle finger of modernity.
Siena, Italy

St. Catherine of Siena's Severed Head

A dismembered holy head stares out from her beautiful reliquary at the St. Dominic Basilica.
Rome, Italy

Santa Francesca Romana

St. Francesca Romana, patron saint of drivers, resides in the church she founded.
Rome, Italy

Lacus Curtius

A mysterious chasm in the heart of the ancient Roman Forum, the Lacus Curtius was once believed to be a gateway to hell.
Rome, Italy

The Mouth of Truth

The yawning maw of this pagan visage is said to bite off the hands of liars.