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Far beyond the Florida mainland, surrounded by the brilliant blue waters of the Gulf, stands one of the strangest monuments to American military ambition. Fort Jefferson occupies much of Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas, a remote cluster of islands roughly 70 miles west of Key West. From the air, its massive brick walls form an enormous…
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On August 11, 1934, a boat approached a rocky island in the cold waters of San Francisco Bay carrying a very unusual group of passengers. They were federal prisoners, transferred under heavy security to a new institution designed for men considered especially difficult, dangerous, or troublesome. By the end of that day, Alcatraz had begun…
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High above the old town of Braunfels in the German state of Hesse rises a castle whose story seems, at first, to belong entirely to Europe. Braunfels Castle has stood here in one form or another for more than seven centuries. Counts and princes ruled from its walls, armies fought for possession of it, generations rebuilt and…
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Few castles in the world are as instantly recognizable as Neuschwanstein. Rising dramatically above the Bavarian Alps, with white towers and soaring turrets seemingly pulled from a medieval legend, it was created by King Ludwig II of Bavaria as an escape into a romantic world of knights, kings, and German mythology. But in the final weeks…
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For centuries, the waters of the Danube concealed one of the Roman Empire’s greatest engineering achievements. This week, however, exceptional drought and unusually low water levels briefly revealed parts of Constantine’s Bridge, offering archaeologists a rare opportunity to study a monument that normally lies hidden beneath the river. On August 4, archaeologists from the Regional Historical Museum in…
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At first glance, Schloss Drachenburg looks like a castle that has stood above the Rhine Valley since the Middle Ages. Its soaring towers, Gothic spires, battlements, and breathtaking hilltop setting make it seem like the home of medieval kings and knights. Yet appearances can be deceiving. This spectacular landmark is not a medieval fortress at all. It…