Between the 11th and 14th centuries the practice of building "Round Churches" was championed by veterans of the Crusades. These churches are unique in that the original body of the Church is circular, rather than a round tower being attached…

A short distance from Oslo city centre is Vigeland Sculpture Park - home to more than 200 granite, bronze and iron sculptures mostly depicting naked human figures in a wide range of artistic forms, focusing on the freedom, joy and…

It’s Volcano Week 4 here at GSS. Volcanoes, about a week. You know the drill! Newberry Volcano is an immense shield volcano located in central Oregon. In addition to a main volcanic caldera, the system is composed of many domes,…

We've looked at many of the world's largest things in the past, so for something different, let's look at the longest. Karl-Marx-Hof in Vienna is the world's longest residential building, stretching more than a kilometre through the 19th district better…

The world of gargantuan statuary has changed considerably since we published the original Very Large Buddhas post just over 3 years ago. The title of world's largest statue is now held by the Spring Temple Buddha in Henan, China. The…

For our first post about Finland, we visit the capital Helsinki where we find Temppeliaukio - a circular dome-roofed rock church carved into a large granite outcropping. Rather more modern than the Ethiopian Rock Churches which I wrote about recently,…