radiant fracture

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/babe-ruth-and-cecil-b-demille-banyan-trees

In the early 1930's, tourism was still new to Hawaii and local leaders on all of the islands were seeking ways to make their locations stand out. In 1933, the city fathers of Hilo decided to invite famous visitors to plant banyan saplings along a circular drive on Waiakea Peninsula, near Hilo International Airport. This campaign began with American director Cecil B. DeMille in 1933. Later that year, after the World Series, baseball star Babe Ruth visited Hawaii for some exhibition games and also planted a tree in front of what is now the Hilo Hawaiian hotel.  At the time, "The Babe" was perhaps the most famous person in America.

Over time, the area disappeared from the tourists' radars as the drier Kona coast took most of the Big Island's vacationers.  Plans for more hotels were never completed.  One of the attractions in the area, Uncle Billy’s Hilo Bay Hotel, was closed, condemned, and left vacant, attracting drugs and illegal activity to the area. Today, the Hawaii state government is attempting to restore the area to something approaching its former glory.

More than two trees were planted in the 1930's — there are some which were planted by Amelia Earhart, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, and several notable actors.  Though not all banyans survived the tsunamis that hit Hilo in 1946, 1960 and 1964, those that did are now past 90 years old and far grander than saplings!

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/babe-ruth-and-cecil-b-demille-banyan-trees

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/basilica-di-santa-maria-di-collemaggio

A symbol of the of town of L’Aquila, the Basilica Santa Maria di Collemaggio is located just outside the town walls. It was built in 1288 on the spot in which Pietro da Morrone, founder of the now extinct Celestine congregation, dreamed that the Virgin Mary asked him to build a church in her name. When da Morrone, who lived as a hermit in a cavern in the Maiella mountain, was later elected Pope Celestine V, he chose to be crowned in L’Aquila instead of Rome because the capital of the Holy Roman Empire was experiencing religious and political unrest at that time.

To encourage harmony and peace among local populations in his realm, Celestine V instituted the Bull of Forgiveness in 1294, granting Plenary Indulgence to whomever passed through the Holy Door on the left side of the Basilica. This forerunner Jubilee anticipated by 6 years the first formal Catholic event of full remission of temporal punishment for sins, which was proclaimed in 1300 by his successor Pope Boniface VIII in Rome and was to be celebrated every 25 years. Instead, in L’Aquila, the Forgiveness Walk, 0r la festa della Perdonanza, is commemorated between the evenings of August 28 and August 29 and has been celebrated every year of the last seven centuries. During the celebration, the Holy Door is opened and thousands of citizens from the 23 villages involved, dressed in traditional costumes, take part to the Celestine Forgiveness procession. This traditional ritual of the “Perdonanza” is recognized by UNESCO as a Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The Holy Door is also the starting point of the Celestino pathway, or Cammino di Celestino, the 56 mile (90km.) pilgrimage route that follows the trail the old hermit followed on the back of a mule to reach L’Aquila from his cave to be crowned Pope in the Basilica di Collemaggio. The approximately 4-day journey will take you through striking villages beautifully restored from earthquake damage, along with breathtaking wilderness. The Cammino di Celestino crosses other walking trails in the Abruzzi such as Cammino Classico, and Cammino di San Tommaso. 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/basilica-di-santa-maria-di-collemaggio

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/gavrilo-princips-birth-house

Gavrilo Princip (1894-1918) was the assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Habsburg throne, and his wife Sofia Chotek in Sarajevo on June 28th, 1914. One month later, in response to this act, Austria declared war on Serbia, and the 1st World War began.

Gavrilo's home is in Obljaj, a little village in the Municipality of Bosansko Grahovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, near the Croatian border. It's a small, 2-floor house, demolished several times over the years: first by Austro-Hungarians, then Croatian fascists in the 40s (the Princips were a Bosnian-Serbian family), and again during the Yugoslavian war. It was rebuilt each time... I hope now it will last for a long while!

On the second floor, you can see the ambience of the Princip family household: the fireplace, tools for working in the garden, some furniture — the small things of a poor family (Gavrilo's father was a postman, his mother was a housewife). On the ground floor, a little museum that reminds visitors of the Sarajevo attack: photos from the time, the historical image of Gavrilo after the arrest, images of the trial, the guns of the killer and his accomplices, Gavrilo as a kid with his parents...

It's a little piece of history, and a place that deserves to be seen if you pass by — whatever your position on what Gavrilo Princip did. Visitation is free. You can leave a tip, if you want!

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/gavrilo-princips-birth-house

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/fantast-castle

The Serbian wine-making province of Vojvodina has been home to many wealthy people, who have built magnificent palaces and estates. Over 100 years ago, on his vast estate of over 2,600 acres, one such man created a world of his own — a fairytale realm known as Fantast Castle or Dunđerski Palace.

An avid horse collector, Bogdan Dunđerski named the castle after Fantast, the stunning horse of a Belgrade doctor. Having never married nor had any children, Dunđerski was a renowned Bohemian his whole life, and his great passions were horsemanship, being among beautiful women, and fine wine. Fantast Castle features a stud farm for racehorses that is still active today, as well as a neo-Byzantine Serbian Orthodox Church and chapel.

Dunđerski first began building his dream castle at the age of 57, inspired by his travels across Europe, where he studied many European grand castles, particularly pseudo-Romantic “fantasy castles” he had seen in Vienna and Budapest. For him, mystery was not just a theme, but a guiding principle in the building process. He followed this vision so closely that no original architectural plans for the castle have ever been found. Some say he built the Disney-like castle out of spite, to prove that he had not gone bankrupt.

To protect the secrets of his masterpiece, Dunđerski did not hire local workers, and instead sourced skilled craftsmen from Czechia. Their limited connection to the region ensured that evidence of the Fantast Castle remained untraceable. Once the complex was completed, the craftsmen returned home, taking the knowledge with them. Whispers of massive shipments of high-quality Slavonian oak arriving and vanishing overnight were the gossip of town. It is believed that the wood was used to line secret passageways connecting the castle to the stables. As for hidden chambers, at least two are said to exist within the estate.

Adjacent to the castle, a chapel was constructed in the neo-Byzantine style, dedicated to St. George. Its iconostasis was painted by Uroš Predić, one of Serbia’s most celebrated artists and a close friend of Dunđerski. Predić also created three mosaics on the portal, and a depiction of the Last Supper, completing them over two years. At Dunđerski’s request, the Virgin Mary in one of the paintings was modeled after a woman named Mara Dinjaški Đalinac, the wife of the estate's blacksmith and an object of Dunđerski’s affections.

The chapel, where Dunđerski is buried, is steeped in the same mystique that shrouds the rest of the estate. Visitors who come on the Feast of the Transfiguration often report a palpable sense of the otherworldly. One particularly curious feature is the icon of Stefan the First-Crowned, which bears a silver imprint of lips in its lower right corner. According to local myth, this mark mysteriously appears and fades, and is most visible at midnight on Transfiguration Day, when Dunđerski’s spirit is said to rise and roam his beloved Fantast Castle. 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/fantast-castle

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-paul-revere-house

Paul Revere's house, located in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts, is the oldest remaining structure in the city's downtown area and one of the few remaining from the colonial era. Built around 1680, the house is a fine example of early American colonial architecture, featuring a steep gabled roof and a distinctive facade made of wooden clapboards.

Originally constructed for merchant Robert Howard in 1680, the building became home to Paul Revere during the American Revolution. Revere purchased the house in 1770 when he was 35 years old, and it was from here that he left for his famous midnight ride in 1775. The house has two main stories with large, symmetrically placed windows and wooden shutters. The interior features several rooms, including a kitchen with a large hearth, a living room, and bedrooms, all restored and furnished in the styles typical of both the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

Today, Paul Revere's house serves as a museum operated by the Paul Revere Memorial Association. It showcases various historical artifacts, including items owned by the Revere family, providing visitors with a glimpse into daily life during the period in which Paul Revere played a crucial role in American history.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-paul-revere-house