The history and mystery of Russia’s ‘Valley of Death’

The return of the cuneiforms, a park for Kurt Cobain, and the fresco sent to space. Email not displaying correctly? View in your browser. December 05, 2019 Russia’s Mysterious ‘Valley of Death’ The Kamchatka Peninsula, in Russia’s Far East, is a volcanic winter wonderland. It is as beautiful as it is biodiverse, with a myriad of aquatic, aerial, and terrestrial species. But there’s lethal trouble in this chilly paradise. Read More → Cuneiform Homecoming Over 300 cuneiform tablets that were excavated from the ruins of Ur, a major city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, are heading home to Iraq after spending 100 years at Philadelphia's Penn Museum. Read more → Atlas Obscura Trips Just Announced: Inside Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival Each August, Edinburgh swells with activity and nearly every street corner and square transforms into a stage. Join us over the course of five days where we’ll revel in the unexpected and embrace the spectacle of it all, considering creative freedom, the interaction between history and the contemporary, and the cycles of borrowing from the past in performance. Learn more → Aberdeen, Washington A Park for Kurt Cobain Immortalized in the song “Something in the Way,” the Young Street Bridge was one of Kurt Cobain’s favorite locations to hang out. A tribute to the Nirvana frontman—complete with a memorial plaque and guitar sculpture—now hides beneath the bridge. Read more → Community Wondrous Places of Worship From monasteries that appear to float above the earth to mosques that shimmer in the sunlight, there are many unique places to worship all over the world. Tell us about some of the most memorable ones you’ve visited. Share Now → MILEŠEVO, SERBIA The Fresco Sent to Space Located in the Serbian Orthodox monastery of Mileševa, this angel fresco was hidden for centuries after it was painted over in the 16th century. Once it was rediscovered, an image of the fresco was sent as a message in the first satellite broadcast signal from Europe to America in 1963 and was later sent to space. Read more → Disappearing Railroad Cuisine Newly digitized menus from Northwestern’s Transportation Library (almost all, impressively, unstained) offer a mouthwatering capsule of deluxe railroad dining, when well-heeled travelers once sat at tables draped in white linen and indulged in outstanding meals plated on china. Read more → Visit AtlasObscura.com · View in Browser · Unsubscribe · See All Newsletters 61 Greenpoint Ave #622, Brooklyn, NY 11222