Mereja

Author: CPilgrim and Dylan

  • Zucker-Museum

    Image of Zucker-Museum located in Berlin, Germany

    Zucker-Museum

    A sweet museum focused on beets

    The Zucker-Museum in Berlin was opened in 1904 as a tribute to the city’s rich history with beet sugar. In 1747, popular German chemist Andres Sigismun Marggraf discovered the presence of sugar in beet plants. By 1798 Marggraf’s student and successor, Franz Carl Achard, produced the first beet sugar. In 1801, with financial help from Friedrich Wilhelm III, the world saw its first sugar beet factory and by 1802, was producing sugar. Beet sugar is famously noted to be a favorite of Napolean I, who, setting up an army camp in Berlin in 1806, noted that beet sugar helped Europe move away from its dependence on colonial sugar.
    The museum itself features eleven departments, each of which portray different influences beet sugar (and other sweeteners in general) has had on Berlin and the world. With the museum’s large collection, visitors can see how the sugar has influenced technology, science, the economy, art, and even folklore.

    Read more about Zucker-Museum on Atlas Obscura…

    Category: Museums and Collections
    Location: Berlin, Germany
    Edited by: CPilgrim, Dylan

  • La Lobera

    Image of La Lobera located in Mexico

    La Lobera

    Huge hole looks down onto an underground beach populated with sea lions

    It probably started small. Maybe a gopher dug a burrow, or perhaps the foot of a donkey broke through the ground. However, over the years, rain and gravity have grown that small hole in the roof of a sea cave on the coastline of Mexico to enormous proportions.
    The hole, which is now surrounded by a rope-fence to keep people from falling in, is roughly 200 feet across and 80 feet deep. Known as La Lobera, the hole looks down into a sort of underground beach, which has now been populated by sea lions the seem to enjoy laying in the shade of La Lobera very much indeed.
    There is a nearby restaurant, and one can camp along the beautiful coastline for only a few dollars.

    Read more about La Lobera on Atlas Obscura…

    Category: Watery Wonders, Geological Oddities
    Location: Mexico
    Edited by: CPilgrim, Dylan

  • Mini-Paris

    Image of Mini-Paris located in Region Midi-Pyrenees, France

    Mini-Paris

    A miniature Paris built out of trash is one mans two decade labor of love

    Frenchman Gerard Brion has spent almost two decades of his life on a single project. He has recreated his very favorite French city in his backyard and garden area. Amongst the flower beds is an immaculately detailed model of the city of lights made completely out of rubbish. Brion used cardboard, soup cans, and baby food jars to create his miniature masterpiece.
    Brion started his project on a much smaller scale, as buildings sprouted up around his backyard. However as he spent time building recreations of the largest and most famous Parisian landmarks the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe, Brion’s passion for the miniature city grew. As this passion grew, so did his tiny metropolis; today in his backyard one can see most of Paris.
    Occasionally Gerard Brion lends small portions of his masterpiece to a Parisian museum that focus in miniature models. For the most part however, he likes to keep his city complete among the flowers and insects in his own backyard.

    Read more about Mini-Paris on Atlas Obscura…

    Category: Miniatures, Small Worlds and Model Towns
    Location: Region Midi-Pyrenees, France
    Edited by: CPilgrim, Dylan