The dead, decomposing whale that once toured the United Kingdom

A forgotten 'Last Supper' painting, a virtual shipwreck tour, and more. Email not displaying correctly? View in your browser. October 21, 2019 A Nun’s ‘Last Supper’ Plautilla Nelli's "Last Supper" painting, completed around 1568, is remarkable for several reasons. It's portable, painted on a canvas that moved several times over the centuries. More strikingly, it is the first-known depiction of the Last Supper by a woman. Now, after years of hiding inside a Florence monastery, it was just unveiled in public for the first time in 450 years. Read More → The Dead, Decomposing, Traveling Whale Named after the Scottish waters it was hunted in, the Tay Whale was a product of a 19th-century impulse to merge science, spectacle, and creative license to turn a buck. After its death, the smelly, rotting humpback whale carcass was auctioned off and spent months traveling around the United Kingdom, falling to pieces before viewers' eyes. Read more → Virtually Tour a Shipwreck To commemorate the 360th anniversary of Melckmeyt, a Dutch merchant ship that wrecked off the minuscule Icelandic island of Flatey, archaeologists have released a 360-degree virtual dive experience so the public can experience the shipwreck (nearly) firsthand. Read more → SPONSORED BY MITSUBISHI MOTORS Mysterious Pirate Tower This enigmatic seaside tower on California’s Victoria Beach looks like something out of a storybook. Built in 1926, the 60-foot building, lovingly known as the “Pirate Tower,” is, in reality, a private staircase. The stone turret supposedly got its name after a former owner with a deep passion for pirate culture hid coins among the rocks. Watch now → KAZAN, RUSSIA Temple of All Religions Located in the Russian city of Kazan, the colorful Temple of All Religions is a mish-mash of architectural flourishes culled from most of the major world religions to create an uber-complex where all religions can come together in harmony. Read more → From our friends at JSTOR Paper Theaters In the early 1800s, live theater was so popular that it regularly inspired riots. People were hungry for affordable entertainment, so enterprising toymakers developed a novel way to bring entertainment into the home: paper theaters. Read more → SAUDI ARABIA The Lonely Castle Created around the first century, the remote tomb known as Qasr al-Farid was carved right into a giant Saudi Arabian boulder. Read more → Visit AtlasObscura.com · View in Browser · Unsubscribe · See All Newsletters 61 Greenpoint Ave #622, Brooklyn, NY 11222