Category: Bazaar News

Walrus sightings are a rarity in the British Isles, so the arrival naturally became a spectacle and gathered large crowds — many of whom witnessed the exhibitionist display.

When an Arctic walrus named Thor showed up in Scarborough’s harbor, it caused quite a stir — so much of one, in fact, that the town canceled its New Year’s fireworks display so as not to disturb the animal.

In response, Thor masturbated in front of a crowd and left town.

The video of Thor’s public display has been shared on Twitter and TikTok, accompanied by an assortment of hashtags and captions ranging from #WankingWalrus to “This is the energy we need in 2023.”

Per the BBC, the walrus’ arrival in Scarborough is thought to be the first sighting of a walrus in Yorkshire, and the spectacle drew large crowds. Wildlife experts also urged locals to leave the mammal be and suggested he may simply have been “taking a break” as he journeyed north.

Out of respect for Thor, at the behest of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue, Scarborough canceled its firework display, concerned that the explosions would cause the walrus “distress.”

Many locals reported seeing the walrus by the harbor before the viral video, as well. Stuart Ford, operator of the Sealife Safari boat tour agency, told the BBC, “I was going down to my boat and there it was on the slipway – magnificent. It’s got to be half a ton. I think it’s a once-in-a-lifetime, first-time-ever thing in Scarborough to see.”

“Please do not worry – he appears well and is just taking a well deserved rest after his long adventure!” the Sea Life Scarborough aquarium wrote on social media. The aquarium’s care team was monitoring Thor’s situation alongside the RSPCA and British Divers Marine Life Rescue.

“Please be respectful of his rest and try not to disturb him,” they continued. “While it is a very exciting opportunity for us, naturally they do not like lots of noise and are not familiar with domestic animals so please keep pets on leads and remain a safe distance for your own welfare and his.”

A small barrier was erected at the top of the slipway where Thor had set up a temporary residence, allowing locals to observe him from a safe distance and take in the spectacle.

“It is absolutely teeming with cars and people. It’s amazing how much attention it’s brought,” local Richard Coulson told the BBC. “It’s the first time I’ve ever seen one. It’s huge. We see seals quite regularly round Scarborough coastline but something of that size, it’s enormous. You respect nature when you see something of that size. Its tusks are bigger than my arms.”

Of course, it seems that the respect was not mutual, and Thor may have become a bit too comfortable — and the morning after his exhibitionist act, he was gone. In short: Thor showed up in Scarborough, got the fireworks display canceled, publicly pleasured himself, and then skipped town.

Luckily, based on comments made online, it seems as if most of the townspeople had a good laugh about the whole thing, and Thor is unlikely to face any public indecency lawsuits.

All things considered, the situation played out fairly well for the locals and for Thor — and a big reason for that is that people left him alone.

Elsewhere, however, walruses haven’t always been so fortunate. In fact, just last August, a walrus named Freya appeared in a Norwegian harbor, and when locals didn’t heed warnings to keep away, officials had her euthanized.

Freya wasn’t known to have hurt anyone, but officials worried that her closeness to humans could inadvertently lead to someone being injured.

“She chased people on paddle boards and kayaks,” said Olav Lekver, a spokesman for the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries. “In the end, we couldn’t see any other options. She was in an area that wasn’t natural for her.”

A number of factors contributed to Freya’s arrival in Norway, but one of the most prominent is the ongoing climate crisis that has caused temperatures to rise, melting the icy waters in which walruses normally live and forcing them to seek new environments.

In fact, The Guardian reported that some experts believe Thor’s stop in Scarborough — and his later arrival in Blyth — was also the result of habitat loss caused by rising temperatures.

“It’s not very normal to see walruses down here so we imagine it is because of climate change,” Molly Gray of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue told The Guardian.

Despite this, some climate change deniers continue to argue that the environment is not being impacted by a warming earth. But incidents like those involving Thor and Freya paint a different picture: Walruses are showing up in areas far from their natural habitats, and in some cases, it’s getting them killed.

Fortunately, Thor’s journey continued uninterrupted, and though the spectacle of his arrival may have overshadowed the reason behind it, it’s getting harder and harder to deny that climate change is having a major impact on wildlife.

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After reading about Thor’s highly publicized stop in Scarborough, read about the walrus who fell asleep on an ice floe and traveled thousands of miles to Ireland. Then, read about the time a walrus sank a small Russian naval vessel during an Arctic expedition.

When Doug Malewicki attended his first monster truck car show in the late 1980s, he walked away thinking it was extremely stupid. Giant, oversized trucks battering and steamrolling junk cars? Silly.

But Malewicki couldn’t help but think about the possibilities. What if he could craft a car-eating robot? What if it resembled a Tyrannosaurus rex? What if it could breathe fire? And then transform into a trailer?

These were the thoughts of 14-year-old boys doodling on loose-leaf paper. But Malewicki was an accomplished inventor. And after two years of development, his adolescent fantasy came true. Robosaurus was born.

Malewicki, who was born in Illinois, got his start in engineering with North American Aviation, helping design escape pods for NASA’s Apollo astronauts in the 1960s. After moving to California, he started AeroVisions, which was the incubator for a series of inventions. He designed the Skycycle, a jet-powered motorcycle operated by daredevil Evil Knievel in his failed bid to jump Snake River Canyon; a prototype car, the California Commuter, got 157 miles to the gallon; a 400-horsepower electric car reached speeds of 250 miles per hour; but his biggest hit was an apocalyptic card game, Nuclear War, that became a bestseller.

Robosaurus was something else entirely. After being inspired at the monster truck show, Malewicki assembled a crew of partners and engineers. With Gary Cerveny and Mark Hays, he formed Monster Robots, Inc., and raised roughly $2 million to fund his ambition.

Malewicki sorted out the hydraulics needed for Robosaurus, which was to stand 40 feet tall and weigh in at approximately 56,000 pounds. The goal was to craft a robot that was articulated enough to pick up a car, “chew” it by crushing it with its mandibles, and then discard it. If the robot felt like ingesting something cooked, it could spew fire from flamethrowers placed in its mouth to toast the vehicle first. Two operators would be hidden in the beast’s skull to operate it.

“It’s King Kong, Godzilla, and Star Wars rolled into one,” Malewicki said in 1990.

It was Hays who had the idea to make Robosaurus a homage to Transformers, the robot toy line that exploded in popularity in the 1980s. When he was done dining on vehicles, Robosaurus would collapse into a trailer, which also made it portable. It resulted in two patents—one for a “trailerable robot for crushing vehicles” and one for “monster toy robot.”

Robosaurus made quite an impression when it debuted in 1990. “It spits fire as far as 20 feet, and it emits red smoke from behind what looks to be its head,” wrote Los Angeles Times columnist Scott Miller. “It is loaded with woofers hiding in secret compartments for sound effects. It looks like something from a space movie. It sounds like a giant video game.”

Robosaurus popped up at events with names like the Coors Extra Gold Motor Spectacular. Although it could roll short distances on rear tires, it could be tied to a vehicle for towing from one event to the next. And although it couldn’t exactly “transform,” it could collapse to make moving it easier.

Once in place, Robosaurus got to work. Rear tires allowed it to scoot into position, where its claws could act as a jack for a hapless car. Once it got hold of the vehicle, foot-long teeth “bit” into the chassis it held with lobster-like pincers. It might get only a nibble of the roof before the car was crushed in its grasp. Sometimes, it would attend air shows and masticate small propeller planes.

Some children, cowed by the sight of a fire-breathing, car-ingesting monster, were apprehensive about Robosaurus. Later, Hays said, the kids would be “begging to go back” the next day.

The potential for Robosaurus to become a multimedia sensation was not lost on Hollywood. In 1992, the attraction acted as the basis for the NBC television pilot Steel Justice. In the not-distant future, cop David Nash is grieving over his young son, who has been killed by a roving gang. David soon encounters a shaman named Jeremiah, who magically transforms his son’s small Robosaurus toy into a 40-foot-tall weapon of destruction. In spite of (or due to) this berserk premise, the series failed to make it to air.

In 2008, Malewicki and partners decided Robosaurus needed a new home. They placed the robot up for auction via Barrett-Jackson’s car collector event in Scottsdale, Arizona, where it was expected to fetch as much as $5 million, the rough cost of trying to build it from scratch. Ultimately, it sold for $632,500 to a buyer named Brooke Dunn out of Las Vegas: Dunn later took it to display on the Vegas Strip during a Barrett-Jackson auction in the city. The somewhat unwieldy mechanical beast damaged a streetlight, but nothing else was harmed.

In 2011, Robosaurus appeared on The History Channel series Pawn Stars with a price tag of $1 million. The show’s proprietors declined the offer. The robot has continued to make appearances at events, though there have been few updates to its official Facebook page since 2020.

Why didn‘t Robosaurus retain its 1990s momentum? It could be that, despite the dramatic car-munching spectacle, the tedium of actually eating one wasn’t terribly exciting. (Robosaurus needed several minutes to grasp and hoist its meal.) In today’s era of CGI dinosaurs, perhaps Robosaurus is considered quaint. But there’s still something quintessentially American about its invention, in which a man believed there to be need for a car-eating robot dinosaur and then set about making one.

People have long wondered how geckos manage to stick to the sides of structures without falling off. The short answer is that they have sticky feet. But did you know geckos turn off sticky feet when they need to run faster?

How do geckos turn off sticky feet?

Geckos use toe hairs to turn the stickiness of their feet on and off. Oregon State University (OSU) discovered the details of this mechanism in 2014. They published their results in an article that appears in the Journal of Applied Physics.

The researchers noted that the geckos’ “adhesion system mechanism” has long been a curiosity. According to Science Daily (cited below):

“‘Since the time of the ancient Greeks, people have wondered how geckos are able to stick to walls — even Archimedes is known to have pondered this problem,’ said Alex Greaney, co-author and an assistant professor of engineering at OSU. ‘It was only very recently, in 2000, that Kellar Autumn and colleagues proved unequivocally that geckos stick using van der Waals forces.’”

Geckos have a system of hairs called “seta” on their toes. The seta can bend when they come into contact with rough surfaces in order to provide points of contact that keep the sticky surface of the gecko’s toe pads from adhering. Those hairs provide millions of points of contact to allow the creatures to maneuver over terrain without sticking.

Other insects and spiders also have this adhesion system. That’s why they can stick sideways to walls, seeming to defy gravity.

The stickiness system

Greany told Science Direct: “Understanding the subtleties of the process for switching stickiness on and off is groundbreaking. By using mathematical modeling, we’ve found a simple, but ingenious, mechanism allows the gecko to switch back and forth between being sticky or not. Geckos’ feet are by default nonsticky, and this stickiness is activated through application of a small shear force. Gecko adhesion can be thought of as the opposite of friction.”

The stickiness of geckos’ feet has long fascinated scientists seeking to produce material for use in adhesives. The ability of geckos to turn off sticky feet is yet another piece of the materials science puzzle that may come in handy someday in fields like construction and robotics. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Geckos use toe hairs to turn stickiness on and off” — ScienceDaily

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Notre-Dame Cathedral. The Taj Mahal. St. Peter’s Basilica. The world is full of stunning architectural achievements, many of which can only be appreciated to their fullest when you’re up close and personal. It’s a big reason people plan trips.

Recently, homeowner guide Angi had a go at listing the most beautiful buildings in every country. Aesthetics are highly subjective, so they came up with a creative approach when compiling the list: The company evaluated reviews on Tripadvisor and looked for the word “beautiful.” The building with the most mentions was declared the best-looking in its country. Take a look at their findings—maybe it’ll inspire your next trip.

The site also broke down the top 20 most beautiful, with Basilica de la Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain, netting the most “beautiful” mentions. The awe-inspiring temple is technically unfinished, having been under construction in one form or another for 140 years.

They also examined the most striking buildings in the U.S., with the Biltmore in Asheville, North Carolina, coming out on top. A French Renaissance castle built by George Vanderbilt, it’s believed to be the country’s largest private home, with 250 rooms.

[h/t Angi]

It’s no surprise that writing the first comprehensive dictionary (complete with linguistic and historical details) took many years. But writing the Oxford English Dictionary took many decades. To give you some perspective, it took the writers five years just to reach the word “ant.”

The history of writing the Oxford English Dictionary

The OED (as it’s abbreviated) project took a long time to get going. It all started in 1857 when members of the Philological Society of London decided that no current English dictionaries were acceptable and that they should spearhead the ultimate version. It wasn’t until 1879 that, according to the OED website (cited below) “the Society made an agreement with the Oxford University Press and James A. H. Murray to begin work on a New English Dictionary (as the Oxford English Dictionary was then known).”

The goal was to produce a 4-volume dictionary of roughly 6,400 words with every English word recorded from 1150 AD to the present. The writers estimated that the project would take 10 years.

However, after five years, the writers had just reached the word “ant” near the middle of the A section. There was a long way to go!

This was partly due to the level of detail necessary to trace the origins of words as well as their evolution. And since language never stops evolving, some work had to be redone during the writing of the Oxford English Dictionary. To this day it remains a “living document,” updated frequently.

The first part (or fascicle) of the OED was planned for an 1884 publication, but that didn’t quite work out. It would take an extra 30 years.

The dictionary required teamwork

As the team of writers grew larger, the work moved more quickly.

Murray directed a growing team and the last fascicle was published in April of 1928. Sadly, Murray did not live long enough to see the completion of the original OED since he died in 1915.

The final version of the OED was far larger than planned. It stretched to 400,000 words and phrases in 10 volumes (instead of the planned six). It continues to be updated to this day. — WTF fun facts

Source: “History of the OED” — Oxford English Dictionary

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The beginning of a new year is a time to set ambitious goals. Maybe you resolved to visit a new country, learn a new skill, or read a certain number of books in 2023. If you’re looking for a more manageable goal to kick off the new year, consider putting your drawing capabilities to the test.

This website judges your ability to draw a perfect circle under pressure. That may sound more doable than learning Mandarin in 12 months, but as you’ll soon find, it’s easier said than done.

Neal.fun has a number of quirky online games and tools, including a live birth rate map, a comprehensive life checklist, and a simulator for spending Bill Gates’s money. The “Draw a Perfect Circle” challenge is exactly what it sounds like.

Click and drag your mouse to draw a full circle around the white dot in the middle of the page. The game measures your speed as well as your accuracy. If you move the cursor too slowly, it will force you to stop and start over. After completing your full circle (or coming as close to one as you can get), it shows how near you were to getting it right with a number score. Any percentage above 90 is a cause for celebration, and earning 100 percent indicates a freakish level of control.

Don’t be discouraged if you barely score above a 50 percent on your first try—the beauty of the tool is that you can redo it as many times as you like. And if you do manage to draw a perfect circle after hours of practice, you can count that as your first big accomplishment of the year. Try it for yourself here.

“Here is the house. It is green and white. It has a red door. It is very pretty. Here is the family. Mother, Father, Dick, and Jane live in the green-and-white house. They are very happy. See Jane. She has a red dress. She wants to play.”

So begins Toni Morrison’s debut novel, 1970’s The Bluest Eye, which tells the heartbreaking story of an impoverished Black girl growing up in Ohio who—having been fed the American narrative that beauty lies in whiteness—desperately prays for blue eyes. Told through multiple narrators in four sections, the novel also deals with intergenerational racism, poverty, and the American Dream. Here’s what you need to know about The Bluest Eye.

During her time as a teacher at Howard University (her alma mater), Toni Morrison joined a writer’s group. “At a certain point they wouldn’t let you bring your little high school essays or whatever,” she recalled in an interview. “So I had to write something new.” Morrison didn’t touch the story—which featured a Black girl who desired blue eyes—for years, but eventually, she incorporated what she wrote into The Bluest Eye.

At the time, most of the books written by Black male authors—fiction or non-fiction—were “very powerful, aggressive, revolutionary” with a “positive, racially uplifting rhetoric,” Morrison said, including mantras like “Black Is Beautiful.”

“I thought, ‘Yeah, but why so loud?’” Morrison recalled. “They’re going to skip over something, and no one’s going to remember that it wasn’t always beautiful.” She wanted to write about internecine—and, by extension, internalized—racism, and, as Morrison put it, “the feelings of being ugly.”

Ultimately, Morrison wrote The Bluest Eye because it was a book she wanted to read, about a particular audience—“all those peripheral little girls”—whose stories weren’t featured in literature. “What was driving me to write was the silence—so many stories untold and unexamined,” she told The New Yorker in 2003. “There was a wide vacuum in the literature. I was inspired by the silence and absences in the literature.”

In the documentary The Pieces I Am, Morrison recalled a moment from her childhood where she and a friend were having a conversation about the existence of God. The friend told Morrison that she didn’t believe in God anymore because, she said, “I have been praying for two years for blue eyes and he never gave me any.”

According to Morrison, her friend was “very, very Black and she was very, very, very, very beautiful. How painful—can you imagine that kind of pain? About that? About color? So I wanted to say, you know, this kind of racism hurts … This is interior pain. So deep for an 11-year-old girl to believe that if she only had some characteristic of the white world, she would be OK.” Morrison used that story as a basis for Pecola. She also chose her hometown—Lorain, Ohio—as The Bluest Eye’s setting, and the house the Breedloves live in is based on a specific building in the town.

In the mid-1960s, Morrison took a job as an editor at Random House, where she would publish books by writers Gayl Jones, Toni Cade Bambara, Lucille Clifton, Henry Dumas, Muhammed Ali, and more. It was during this time that she began writing would become The Bluest Eye.

“After I got into publishing, I took [writing] more seriously,” Morrison said. “I had written little things before, and I was very shy about it, although I liked it.” Eventually, she would say that “Being a Black woman writer is not a shallow place but a rich place to write from. It doesn’t limit my imagination; it expands it. It’s richer than being a white male writer because I know more and I’ve experienced more.”

Morrison, who was recently divorced and raising two sons while working her day job, wrote The Bluest Eye over a period of several years. “I wrote like someone with a dirty habit,” she said later. “Secretly, compulsively, slyly.” The Bluest Eye was turned down by a number of publishers, but was ultimately published by Holt, Rinehart, and Winston in 1970.

The small Ohio town featured in The Bluest Eye has a few wealthy—mostly white—characters. But Morrison keeps them on the sidelines and focuses on the marginalized members of the town: Black women, sex workers (China, Poland, and Miss Marie, who live above the Breedloves and are among the only characters who show kindness to Pecola), and the abused and abandoned child.

Morrison presents homeownership as a divider between the lower class and the middle class. At one point, Claudia, one of the book’s narrators, says that “there is a difference between being put out and being put outdoors. If you are put out, you go somewhere else; if you are outdoors, there is no place to go … Being a minority in both caste and class, we moved about anyway on the hem of life.” As the Bloom’s Guide to The Bluest Eye notes, “The precariousness of one’s ‘place’ in terms of class and race creates an anxious energy that permeates the novel; and the consequences of being in the ‘wrong’ place—poor, Black, bereft of one’s own culture and sustaining traditions, bereft of any hope of measuring up to the expectations of the dominating culture—are so dire as to incite frantic, desperate actions.”

The novel also shows how racism and the trauma of potential racism turned the American Dream into a nightmare for Black people in the United States. Nowhere is this more evident in the novel than the internal self-loathing present in Pecola, her mother, Polly; and other Black characters. Pecola’s mother works as a maid for a white family and, just like Pecola, sees white skin as the pinnacle of beauty.

Morrison opened The Bluest Eye with the text that could have come from a Dick and Jane book, presented three ways. First, the text has proper punctuation and capitalization; then it appears without punctuation or capitalization; and, finally, the text is presented with no punctuation, capitalization, or spaces between the words. According to Britannica, the three versions symbolize the different types of families depicted in the novel: white families, “well-adjusted” Black families, and the “distorted” family life of Pecola’s family, the Breedloves. (Many of the chapter titles, Britannica notes, also come from “the simulated text of a Dick and Jane reader.”)

There’s more significance to the choice than just that, though. Dick and Jane books were often used in schools; Morrison’s choice of a children’s story depicting what is presented as the ideal all-American family signifies to the reader that this is something Pecola does not have, and spells out the differences between white and Black families as well.

When it was finally published in 1970, The Bluest Eye had a print run of fewer than 2000 copies—and it was “hated” by the Black community, according to Morrison: “The nicest thing I ever heard wasn’t from a critic, it was from a student who said, ‘I liked The Bluest Eye, but I was really mad at you for writing it.’ And I said, ‘Why?’ And she said, ‘Because now they will know.’”

The Bluest Eye did receive pockets of positive critical acclaim—one critic wrote that “Miss Morrison exposes the negative of the Dick-and‐Jane‐and‐Mother‐and‐Father‐and‐Dog-and‐Cat photograph that appears in our reading primers, and she does it with a prose so precise, so faithful to speech and so charged with pain and wonder that the novel becomes poetry.” But the majority of it was negative and dismissive. 

Nearly 25 years after novel was published, Morrison said that “the initial publication of The Bluest Eye was like Pecola’s life: dismissed, trivialized, [and] misread.” By 1974, it had fallen out of print. These days, the book is considered an American classic: Not only is it frequently on the lists of literary greats and widely read by students of literature, it’s also taught in schools.

Thanks to its subject matter and themes, The Bluest Eye is a mainstay on the American Library Association’s list of frequently challenged books—but the book has been controversial basically since its debut, in part due to its depictions of the sexual abuse of a child. And it’s not just challenged in schools: The Bluest Eye is banned by some prison systems, too.

Among the works of art The Bluest Eye has inspired is The Marigolds, a photo installation in a Cleveland, Ohio, storefront by artist Amanda King. Those familiar with the novel know that marigold flowers feature heavily as a metaphor. The Bluest Eye has also been adapted for the stage on a number of occasions, including a production directed by Awoye Timpo in Boston in 2021.

Are you wondering what are the beautiful churches in Venice, Italy that is worth visiting for your trip? I have been to Venice, Italy during our 2-week Interrail trip around Europe. I travelled to Venice with my husband and friends, and we had a great time exploring Venice and Lagoon Island.

In Venice, there are 137 churches, which serve as the city’s museums. They were created by the leading architects, contain works by the greatest artists, and exhibit all the various architectural styles that have influenced Venice’s buildings over the years. Some of them have enigmatic myths about their origins and hidden meanings in their statues and paintings.

Hence, I would like to share with you some of the beautiful churches in Venice, Italy that I would recommend you visit. I also wrote another article about the Best Things to Do in Venice, If you are looking for more activities and attractions within the Veneto region.

Read more: Beautiful Places To Visit In Italy For The First Time

15 Beautiful Churches in Venice (Italy):

1. San Marco Basilica (St. Mark’s Basilica)

One of the most stunning churches in the world, the Basilica of San Marco is the most well-known church in Venice, Italy. It was constructed in the Byzantine style, and each year, thousands of tourists visit St. Mark’s Square because of its distinctive architecture. It was widely regarded as the best activity in Venice, and many still hold that opinion.

The interior features gold-ground mosaics featuring saints, prophets, and biblical scenes, while the exterior is an impressive display of marble, mosaics, and statues.

Some of the golden mosaics, which are masterpieces of medieval art, are based on traditional Byzantine representations, while others are inspired by preparatory sketches created by well-known Renaissance artists from Venice and Florence, such as Paolo Veronese, Tintoretto, Titian, Paolo Uccello, and Andrea del Castagno.

The basilica’s original purpose was to house St. Mark the Apostle’s relics, which the Venetians had taken from Alexandria. St. Mark’s Basilica would act as the personal chapel of the Doge and the political and religious hub of the Republic of Venice during this time.

In 1807, it was designated as the city of Venice’s cathedral. It now functions as a museum and a major tourist attraction. I wrote another article about the Best Museums in Venice, I encourage you to read it to help you decide which museums to visit while you are in Venice.

The fact that St. Mark’s Basilica has the most historical significance of any structure in Venice may contribute to its allure. It is after all one of Venice’s oldest structures.

2. Santa Maria della Salute Basilica

The stunning Basilica of the Madonna della Salute, also known as the Church of Salute, is situated in a stunning area not far from St. Mark’s Basin (Church of Health). The structure was constructed as an ex-voto to Our Lady of Health in thanks for her protection from the plague that ravaged Venice between 1630 and 1631. Since then, November 21st has been set aside to remember the occasion.

Any visitor to Venice will undoubtedly notice the Church’s distinctive dome, whether they are there to take part in the Feast or just to explore the city.

Although the Basilica’s interior is quite sombre, there are still some hidden treasures. The Marriage at Cana, one of Tintoretto’s most well-known works, is located in the sacristy.

3. Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari

The Basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, also known more colloquially as the Frari, is not only one of the most stunning buildings in Venice but also one of the most expansive.

Because of its imposing size, it already looks magnificent from the outside, but once you step inside, you can see the full extent of its splendour. In point of fact, this area contains works such as Titian’s Assumption, which can be found toward the high altar and is completely enclosed by stained glass.

In addition, there are mausoleums that were designed by Titian himself as well as by the sculptor Antonio Canova. The latter’s pyramid-shaped tomb, which can be found in every part of the world, was constructed by the individual’s own students. An absolute masterpiece.

4. Church of San Giorgio Maggiore

The Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, which is in fact a Basilica, boasts an impressive presence in front of the Basin of St. Mark. It is impossible for tourists to visit the most significant square in Venice and not be impressed by the magnificent facade that was designed by Andrea Palladio.

In point of fact, however, the presence of paintings by Tintoretto as well as a choir constructed entirely of wood are two of the features that establish this location as one of the churches in Venice that you simply must go to. In addition, the entire island of San Giorgio Maggiore, not just the Basilica, is a treasure trove that contains incomparable works of art and architecture.

5. Basilica dei Santi Giovanni Paolo

San Zanipolo is the name that many locals in Venice give to this Basilica, despite the fact that it is situated in one of the most beautiful parts of the city.

The structure of the Basilica, which is flanked on either side by the Scuola Grande di San Marco, which serves as the monumental entrance to the Ospedale Civile, stands out due to its striking contrast in form and colour. One is invited to enter the bright Basilica through its inviting facade made of crimson bricks, which features a magnificent portal that is surrounded by four blind arcades that bear the tombs of four doges.

Before the time of Napoleon, this location held nearly the same level of significance as St. Mark’s. In fact, due to the fact that it contains the tombs of numerous doges, this church is frequently referred to as the Pantheon of Venice. The title of Basilica was not bestowed upon it until the year 1922.

6. Church of San Zaccaria

During the time of the Doges and the Serenissima, the Church of San Zaccaria was considered to be one of the most important locations for Easter festivities. In point of fact, the Doge and his entire court would come here, where they would be greeted with respect and honour by the abbess and the nuns.

It is still considered to be one of the city’s most fascinating churches to visit, thanks to the magnificent facade it was given in the 15th century. Even the establishment of St. Mark’s Basilica came after the Benedictine community had already been established, making it one of the wealthiest in Venice for a considerable amount of time.

The interior of the church houses a number of works of art as well as tombs that are dedicated to a selection of Doges from Venice’s history. As a sign of goodwill toward the city from the Byzantine emperor Leo V, the body of Saint Zacharias himself was laid to rest in this location.

7. Church of Santa Maria Assunta

Its official name is the Church of Santa Maria Assunta, but everyone refers to it as “the Church of the Jesuits.” You can find it in the Cannaregio neighbourhood of Venice, not too far from the Fondamenta Nuove.

The Order of the Crucifers of Venice owned and operated this location in the past. In later years, during the 17th century, it was reconstructed after having been purchased by the Jesuits and the adjacent monastery.

The entrance is opulent and decorated in a baroque style with round sculptures and plastic embellishments all over the facade. The interior is certainly not less impressive than the exterior: the church is magnificent, and the abundance of detail that it contains may even be considered excessive by some. Alternating between green and white marble, this space is where priceless works like “The Martyrdom of St. Lawrence,” one of Titian’s final canvases, can be found.

8. Church of Saint Sebastian

The Venetian painter Paolo Veronese, who lived during the 16th century, was so enamoured with this particular church that he chose to be laid to rest in San Sebastiano.

This tiny church, which has a very unpretentious exterior, can be found in the Sestiere of Dorsoduro. It is shielded from the large crowds of tourists that visit the area. In point of fact, the visitor’s jaw drops at the sight of the interior.

One of the most fascinating and difficult-to-understand cycles of paintings by Veronese can be found here. It was the Venetian master himself who was responsible for spending a significant portion of his career here, in the decoration of several areas of the Church. The Scenes from the Life of Esther, which were created in the ceiling of the nave, are particularly notable among these areas.

Converted into one of the buildings that make up the University of Venice, the convent that once stood adjacent to the church no longer exists.

9. Church of Madonna dell’ Orto

As we make our way back to Cannaregio, we continue our search for the Venetian master painter Tintoretto, who was active in the 16th century. In point of fact, he was born right about here, in the neighbourhood of the Church of Madonna dell’ Orto, and it was here that his remains made their permanent abode.

It is also one of the most interesting churches to visit in Venice because its facade is made of terracotta. This facade is a witness to the transition from Romanesque to Gothic and then to Renaissance architecture. The interior, which features ancient terracotta and an Istrian stone floor, is undoubtedly another detail that will contribute to the overall attractiveness of the property.

10. Chiesa di Santa Maria del Giglio

Santa Maria del Giglio, also known as Santa Maria Zobenigo to Venetians, is a church that dates back to the late 17th century and is located just a few minutes away from St. Mark’s Square. There are a number of statues on the facade that are dedicated to the Barbaro family, who were responsible for providing financial support for its construction.

The interior is organized around a single nave and features a collection of works dating from the 16th and 17th centuries.

There are a number of paintings in this collection that were created on canvas by Palma the Younger, Veronese, Tintoretto, Zanchi, and finally Rubens. The canvas of the latter, titled Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist, is the only one of the artist’s canvases that has been preserved in Venice. It can be found in the sacristy of the church.

11. Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta

One of the oldest churches in Venice is the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, which dates back to the 11th century. It was first constructed in 639 AD on the island of Torcello, and since then, it has undergone several renovations.

When compared to the facades of other Venetian churches, this one is rather unremarkable; however, the interior of the building is truly breathtaking. The interior of the church features a stunning mosaic floor designed in the Byzantine style. The floor is almost entirely covered by the mosaic, and it is adorned with animal figures and geometric shapes.

It is believed that this magnificent piece of artwork, which was created by master craftsmen from Venice in the 11th or 12th century, is one of the oldest mosaics that are still in existence on the entire planet.

It’s possible that the skull of Saint Cecilia, which is kept here as a relic, is what brings the most visitors to the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, despite the fact that it houses a number of beautiful works of art, including a rendition of the Last Judgement.

If you want to get a feel for what Venice was like centuries ago, a trip to the Torcello Cathedral is a must if you want to feel like you’ve travelled back in time. If you are planning to visit Torcello, I wrote another article about the Beautiful Islands in Venice (Italy) That Are Worth Visiting. I would encourage you to read to know more about the Lagoon islands of the Veneto region.

12. Church of the Santissimo Redentore

Known also as the Church of the Santissimo Redentore, the Church of Il Redentore was designed and constructed in the 16th century by the renowned architect Andrea Palladio, who was also responsible for the construction of San Giorgio Maggiore.

This Venetian cathedral was constructed in 1575 and 1576 on the island of Giudecca, which is located just south of Venice’s main island. Its construction was done to commemorate the end of a devastating plague epidemic.

The impressive structure known as Il Redentore is a prime example of Palladian architecture. It has a grand Neoclassical facade that is adorned with six Ionic columns, two large bells on either side and a massive dome in the center.

The church’s interior is decorated with paintings created by influential artists such as Francesco Bassano, Lazzaro Bastiani, Carlo Saraceni, Jacopo Bassano, and Palma the Younger. The exterior of the church is constructed with white stucco and gray stone.

Redentore is a festival that is held in Venice every year in the month of July to celebrate the end of the plague. The fireworks are launched from Giudecca, and a bridge is constructed over the Grand Canal so that locals can get to the church without having to go around it.

If you find yourself in Venice during this spectacular event, don’t forget to take advantage of everything it has to offer!

13. San Giacomo di Rialto

Church of San Giacomo di Rialto is said to be the oldest of all of Venice’s churches, despite the fact that Venice is home to hundreds of churches, the majority of which date back a significant amount of time.

This church is said to have been consecrated on March 25, 421, the very date that the legendary founding of Venice is said to have taken place. The church can be found right next to the famous Rialto Bridge. Documents that date back to the 14th century attribute the construction of the church to a carpenter who was assisted in his work by citizens of Padua, which is located in close proximity.

The findings of recent research seem to disprove this story, suggesting that the church was founded much later. It is not shown on a map from the year 1097, and the earliest known document that refers to the church was written in 1152.

Regardless of its age, San Giacomo di Rialto is a peculiar church. It has a bell gable rather than the traditional bell tower, as well as a large 24-hour clock with only one hand and a rotated quadrant, which places noon on the left and midnight on the right. In addition, the church contains one of the very few Gothic porticoes that are still standing in Venice.

In front of the church was the important Rialto market, and there are some inscriptions on the apse of the church that encourage the merchants to conduct themselves in an honest manner.

14. Chiesa dei Santi Geremia e Lucia

In the Cannaregio sestiere of Venice, northern Italy, there is a church called San Geremia. Between the Palazzo Labia and the Palazzo Flangini, the church’s apse looks out onto the Grand Canal in Venice. The building is well-known for housing the shrine to Saint Lucy of Syracuse, whose remains are kept there.

Here, a church was built for the first time in the eleventh century, and it was later rebuilt several times. It is mentioned in 1206 as housing the remains of St. Magnus of Oderzo (died 670), who sought safety from the Lombards in this region.

Under Doge Sebastiano Ziani, there was a first reconstruction, and the new church was dedicated in 1292. Carlo Corbellini created the current building in 1753, and the façade was added in 1861. Two thin Romanesque mullioned windows can be found at the base of the brickwork bell tower, which is thought to have been built in the 12th century.

During their successful siege of the city in 1849 during the First Italian War of Independence, Austrian shelling caused damage to the church. On June 27, 1998, a fire occurred.

The walls inside are relatively neutral. With two statues of St. Peter and St. Jeremy Apostle (1798) by Giovanni Ferrari, the altar and its presbytery are noteworthy. Two Angels Holding the Globe is a monochrome Agostino Mengozzi Colonna fresco that decorates the altar background. The fourth altar is embellished with a piece by Palma the Younger, “The Virgin at the Incoronation of Venice by St. Magnus.”

The church houses statues by Giovanni Marchiori and Giovanni Maria Morlaiter, including the Madonna of the Rosary (Immaculate Conception). The presence of Saint Lucy’s relics, which were brought here in 1861 when the nearby church dedicated to her was destroyed, makes the church a popular destination for pilgrims and a source of widespread devotion. The saint’s face was given a silver mask in 1955 by Angelo Roncalli, who would later become Pope John XXIII and the Patriarch of Venice, to shield it from dust.

15. Santa Maria di Nazareth Church

The Church of the Scalzi, also known as Santa Maria di Nazareth, is one of the most significant structures in the Cannaregio Venetian District. A must-see stop on your “tourist pilgrimage to Venice,” the church is a genuine masterpiece of the late Venetian Baroque and is situated close to the Santa Lucia Railway Station and the Ponte degli Scalzi.

The Discalced Carmelites, who had obtained approval from the Senate of Venice to construct a new monastic complex, commissioned the construction of the sanctuary in the 18th century. In order to finally construct the much-desired church and monastery, the religious purchased gardens along the Grand Canal in the vicinity of Santa Lucia after experiencing some initial difficulties. The opulent building was commissioned by the Carmelites and designed by Baldassarre Longhena.

However, the prestigious facade, which was constructed with the help of the wealthy patron Gerolamo Cavazza, was designed between 1672 and 1680 by Giuseppe Sardi, another significant architect of the time. After the work was completed in 1705 and the church was solemnly consecrated, significant restoration work was done between 1853 and 1862 at the Austrian government’s request.

Among the over a hundred of beautiful churches in Venice, I hope you appreciate the beauty, history and cultural significance of these religious places and some turned into museums. It is an integral part of the Venetian culture and Italians due to their adoration and practice of the Roman Catholic faith.

Have you been to any of these beautiful churches in Venice, Italy? Which one is your favourite? Let me know in the comment box below!

The 1956 collision between the SS Andrea Doria and the MS Stockholm near Nantucket left 51 people dead and led to one of history’s largest civilian rescues at sea.

What it lacked in speed and size, the SS Andrea Doria made up for in beauty. Often called a “floating art gallery,” the luxury liner contained a multitude of paintings, tapestries, and murals — in addition to its three on-deck swimming pools.

The Andrea Doria wasn’t all style over substance, however. It boasted several notable safety features including a hull divided into 11 watertight compartments and two radar screens, which was still fairly new technology for the time.

Captained by a veteran of both World Wars, Piero Calamai, the Andrea Doria set out on its maiden voyage from Genoa, Italy to New York City on Jan. 14, 1953 and proved to be immensely popular, successfully completing 100 Atlantic crossings over the course of the next three years.

But on July 17, 1956, the Andrea Doria’s 101st trip would end up being its last. The Andrea Doria collided with a Swedish vessel, the MS Stockholm as they crossed paths in the Atlantic. A combination of heavy fog and misjudged courses caused the Stockholm to barrel into the starboard side of the Andrea Doria, tearing open several of its 11 watertight compartments.

51 people died as a result of the collision, but over 1,500 were saved in the subsequent rescue. Still, with so many successful journeys under its belt, a more than capable captain, and new radar technology, such a collision should have been easily avoided — so what happened?

The SS Andrea Doria And Post-War Italy

The years following World War II were a time of great change for the people of Italy, who had been trapped under the fascist rule of a disgraced and recently-executed Benito Mussolini.

Naturally, the Italian people were happy to be rid of their fascist dictator — as evidenced by the way his body was mutilated following his execution — but that still left the question of what came next. The general consensus was for a republic to replace the country’s monarchy, and in 1948, a new Italian constitution was drafted, and the Christian Democrats took over the governance of the country.

Then, in 1951, according to a timeline from the BBC, Italy joined the European Coal and Steel Community, a supranational conglomerate that sought to establish a common market for coal and steel across Europe and ideally expand the economy, increase employment, and promote a higher standard of living across regions that had been ravaged during the six years of the Second World War.

That same year, at the Ansaldo Shipyard in Genoa, the SS Andrea Doria made its debut, becoming the flagship of the Italian line and a source of national pride for the Italian people. The cutting-edge vessel was named for the Italian hero, Andrea Doria, an imperial admiral for what was once the Republic of Genoa at a time when the small commune faced constant threat from the Ottoman Empire.

Construction of the Andrea Doria cost a total of about $29 million — but it was apparently well worth the expense, as the Andrea Doria was widely regarded as a marvelously beautiful ship.

Its deck held three large swimming pools, and it boasted a series of specially commissioned art pieces that led many to refer to the ship as a “floating art gallery.”

By the time it was ready for its maiden voyage in 1953, transatlantic ocean liner travel was reaching its peak, and countless Italians and Americans boarded the Andrea Doria to discover the wonders of the world across the sea.

The Noble Maritime Collection describes life aboard the Andrea Doria as “a whirl of glamour and sophistication, with well-appointed staterooms, common areas adorned with fine art, and endless entertainment.”

The Sinking Of The SS Andrea Doria And The Tragic Story Behind It

In just three years, the Andrea Doria completed over 100 voyages across the Atlantic, but as fate would have it, its 101st ended in tragic disaster.

The Final, Fateful Voyage Of The SS Andrea Doria

On July 17, 1956, the Andrea Doria left Italy for its 101st transatlantic crossing with 1,134 passengers and 572 crew members on board. After stopping at three other ports in the Mediterranean, the Andrea Doria was ready to embark on another nine-day journey to New York City.

Around 10:45 p.m. on July 25, the Andrea Doria sailed across the waters just south of Nantucket. The Nantucket Lightship reported dense fog along the Eastern Seaboard that evening, but the Andrea Doria’s radar system was able to detect an approaching vessel 17 nautical miles away.

As reported by HISTORY, the MS Stockholm, a Swedish passenger liner, had departed New York that same evening, heading back to its homeport in Gothenburg. Like the Andrea Doria, the Stockholm was equipped with radar technology — so each ship knew the other was heading their way.

Bettmann/Getty ImagesNew York’s mayor Vincent Impellitteri (center) shakes the hand of Captain Piero Calamai after the Andrea Doria’s maiden voyage.

Captain Piero Calamai of the Andrea Doria maintained a quick speed despite the heavy fog, determined to dock in New York in the early morning. Likewise, the Stockholm, under third officer Johan-Ernst Carstens-Johannsen’s watch, was aiming to shorten its journey, and so the ship’s path was much further north than the recommended eastbound route.

Still, each of the men was an experienced mariner, and another vessel approaching was nothing new. Unfortunately, one of them inadvertently misread the radar, and Carstens and Calamai emerged with different ideas of what should be done. Intending to keep the Andrea Doria to his left, Carstens prepared for a port-to-port passing, the standard “rules of the road” for two passing vessels.

For some reason, Calamai intended to keep the Stockholm positioned to his right, and prepared for a starboard-to-starboard passing — meaning the ships were now steering toward each other. Neither officer realized this fact, however, until just before 11:10 p.m., when the Stockholm’s lights broke through the dense fog and an officer aboard the Andrea Doria screamed, “She’s coming right at us!”

The Andrea Doria And Stockholm Collide

Calamai instructed the officers to make a hard left turn; Carstens attempted to slow the Stockholm by reversing its propellors. Neither maneuver worked, and the Stockholm’s reinforced steel bow, meant to break through icy waters in the North Atlantic, crashed into the Andrea Doria’s starboard side, penetrating 30 feet into its hull.

A moment later, the Stockholm’s bow dislodged from the side of the Andrea Doria, leaving a massive hole in its place.

Bettmann/Getty ImagesThe mangled bow of the MS Stockholm after its collision with the Andrea Doria.

The collision killed five people aboard the Stockholm and 46 on the Andrea Doria.

In one cabin, an Italian immigrant named Maria Sergio had been sleeping with her four children when the Stockholm’s bow tore into the Doria’s side, killing them instantly. Elsewhere, a Brooklynite named Walter Carlin was in his cabin with his wife when the exterior wall of their room was ripped away — and his wife with it.

Another passenger, Linda Morgan, was sleeping in a side cabin at the time of the collision. The Stockholm’s bow burst into the cabin, killed Morgan’s stepfather and stepsister, but did not kill Morgan. Instead, she found herself launched onto the bow, breaking nothing more than her arm in the process.

“I was on the Andrea Doria,” she said to the crew member who found her. “Where am I now?”

The Rescue Of The Andrea Doria’s Passengers Became The First Major Event To Be Covered In Real Time By The Media

Almost immediately after the collision, the Doria began to list toward its starboard side. Seawater rushed into its watertight compartments.

Knowing the ship would not survive, Captain Calamai made the call to abandon ship, but now a new problem surfaced: The severity of the ship’s list meant that the eight lifeboats on the port side couldn’t launch.

With the lifeboats they could access still, the ship’s crew would only be able to transport 1,000 passengers.

Bettmann/Getty ImagesLinda Morgan being carried away on a stretcher after the Stockholm safely reached land.

And though the Stockholm was still seaworthy, there was no way to transfer every person on the Doria to the other vessel. But they were in a frequently traveled region of the Atlantic, and not far from the shore. The Andrea Doria radioed for help: “Here danger immediate. Need lifeboats — as many as possible — can’t use our lifeboats.”

News of the sinking ship quickly reached land, and its close proximity to the shore allowed reporters and photographers to capture the rescue in real time, an unprecedented moment in American news history — and one of the largest maritime rescues ever made during peacetime.

Two nearby vessels were able to quickly reach the sinking ocean liner: A freighter, the Cape Ann, took 129 of the surviving passengers, and a U.S. Navy ship, the Pvt. William H. Thomas, took 159. The Stockholm, after it was declared seaworthy, took 545.

Then, finally, a massive French liner, the Ile de France, came to the Doria’s aid, taking the remaining 753 passengers. For a time, the Doria remained afloat, threatening to capsize at any moment — but that moment didn’t come until 10:09 a.m., roughly 11 hours after the fateful collision.

Now, the Andrea Doria sits at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean at a depth of roughly 250 feet, with many divers visiting the sunken ship, referring to it as the “Mount Everest” of shipwreck dives. Yet it seems the tragedy of the Andrea Doria did not end with the ship’s sinking, as over a dozen divers have died while exploring the ship’s watery grave.

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After this dive into the tragedy of the Andrea Doria, learn about the wreck of the Andrea Gail and the “perfect storm” that caused it. Also read about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis that became a frenzy for hungry sharks.