Principality of Sealand, United Kingdom

The Principality of Sealand is an unrecognised entity, located on HM Fort Roughs, a former Second World War Maunsell Sea Fort in the North Sea 13 kilometres off the coast of Suffolk, England, United Kingdom.

 

Since 1967 the facility has been occupied by family and associates of Paddy Roy Bates, who claim that it is an independent sovereign state. Bates seized it from a group of pirate radio broadcasters in 1967 with the intention of setting up his own station at the site. He established Sealand as a nation in 1975 with the writing of a constitution and establishment of other national symbols. Bates moved to mainland Essex when he became elderly, naming his son Michael regent. Bates died in 2012 at the age of 91.

While Sealand has been described as the world's smallest nation, or a micronation, Sealand is not currently officially recognised by any established sovereign state. Although Sealand's government claims it has been de facto recognised by the United Kingdom (after an English court ruled it did not have jurisdiction over Sealand as territorial water limitations were defined at the time) and Germany, neither action constitutes de jure recognition.

In 1943, during the Second World War, HM Fort Roughs was constructed by the United Kingdom as one of the Maunsell Forts, primarily for defense against German mine-laying aircraft that might be targeting the estuaries that were part of vital shipping lanes; it comprised a floating pontoon base with a superstructure of two hollow towers joined by a deck upon which other structures could be added. The fort was towed to a position above the Rough Sands sandbar, where its base was deliberately flooded to allow it to sink to its final resting place on the sandbar. The location chosen was approximately 7 nautical miles from the coast of Suffolk, outside the then three-mile territorial water claim of the United Kingdom and therefore in international waters. The facility (called Roughs Tower or HM Fort Roughs) was occupied by 150–300 Royal Navy personnel throughout World War II; not until well after the war, in 1956, were the last full-time personnel taken off HM Fort Roughs.

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Christ of the Abyss, Italy

Christ of the Abyss is a submerged bronze statue of Jesus, of which the original is located in the Mediterranean Sea off San Fruttuoso between Camogli and Portofino on the Italian Riviera. It was placed in the water on 22 August 1954 at approximately 17 metres depth, and stands c. 2.5 metres tall. Various other casts of the statue are located in other places worldwide, both underwater and in churches and museums.

[caption id="attachment_552" align="aligncenter" width="594"] Christ of the Abyss[/caption]

The sculpture was created by Guido Galletti after an idea of Italian diver Duilio Marcante. The statue was placed near the spot where Dario Gonzatti, the first Italian to use SCUBA gear, died in 1947. It depicts Christ offering a blessing of peace, with his head and hands raised skyward.Due to increasing amounts of corrosion and the growth of crustaceans, the statue was removed from the water and restored in 2003. A hand that had been detached by an anchor was also replaced. The statue was returned to the water with a new base on 17 July 2004.

A second bronze sculpture cast from the same mould exists off the coast of St. George's, Grenada. This was a gift of the navy of Genoa for assistance in rescuing the crew of Italian vessel Bianca C destroyed by fire in the port of St. George's. The sculpture was placed under water on October 22, 1961. A third bronze from the original mould was presented to the Underwater Society of America in New York in 1962. On August 25, 1965 it was placed approximately in 25 feet of water off the coast of Key Largo, Florida. It is located around Dry Rocks, around six miles east of Key Largo in the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. While the statue weighs around 260 kg, the concrete base to which it is attached weighs about 9 tons. The original clay statue minus the hands was located in a foundry in 1993. This is now on display with replacement hands at the National Museum of Underwater Activities in Ravenna, Italy.

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Lake Hillier, Australia

Lake Hillier, is a lake on Middle Island, the largest of the islands and islets that make up the Recherche Archipelago, Western Australia. The most notable feature of this lake is its pink colour. It is such a significant distinguishing feature of the archipelago that air passengers often take note of it. The colour is permanent, and does not alter when the water is taken in a container. The length of the lake is about six hundred meters (3/8 mile). The lake is surrounded by a rim of sand and a dense woodland of paperbark and eucalyptus trees with a narrow strip of sand dunes covered by vegetation separating it to the north from the Southern Ocean.

[caption id="attachment_546" align="aligncenter" width="594"] Lake Hillier, Australia[/caption]

The island and lake are thought to have been first charted by the Flinders expedition in 1802. Captain Flinders is said to have observed the pink lake after ascending the island's peak. John Thistle, the ship's master, collected some of the lake's water, which he found to be saturated with salt. Although the source of the pink colour has not been definitively proven in the case of Lake Hillier, the pink colour of other salt lakes (e.g., Pink Lake) in the region arises from a dye created by the organisms Dunaliella salina and Halobacteria. Another hypothesis is that the pink colour is due to red halophilic bacteria in the salt crusts.

Despite the unusual hue, the lake exhibits no known adverse effects upon humans. From above the lake appears a solid bubble gum pink, but from the shoreline it looks more like a clear pink hue is in the water. The shoreline is also covered in salt crust deposits.

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Tequendama Falls Museum, Colombia

The Tequendama Falls Museum of Biodiversity and Culture is an upcoming museum in San Antonio del Tequendama, Colombia. The museum overlooks Tequendama Falls on the Bogotá River. Before renovation, the building was an abandoned hotel, known as the Tequendama Falls Hotel (Hotel Salto del Tequendama) and was rumored to be haunted.

[caption id="attachment_541" align="aligncenter" width="594"] Tequendama Falls Museum[/caption]

In 1923, the building was constructed as a mansion by the architect Carlos Arturo Tapias, as a symbol of the joy and elegance of the elite citizens of the 20s. "The Mansion of Tequendama Falls", as the house was called, was built during the presidency of Pedro Nel Ospina (1922-1926). Its exterior features French architecture. The Tequendama Falls Hotel was reached by train from Bogota.

[caption id="attachment_542" align="aligncenter" width="594"] Tequendama Falls Hotel[/caption]

For a year starting in July 1950, the building was reconstructed into an eighteen story hotel. Gabriel Largacha was the designer and Domenico Parma was the constructor. The hotel was then abandoned in the 90s for more than two decades due to river contamination. The Institute of Natural Sciences of the National University of Colombia and the Ecological Farm Foundation of Porvenir are jointly in charge of the renovations to convert the hotel into a museum. The museum plans to include exhibitions on subterranean ecosystems.

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Nara Dreamland, Japan

Nara Dreamland was a theme park near Nara, Japan which was built in 1961 and inspired by Disneyland in California. On August 31, 2006, Nara Dreamland closed permanently.

The entrance to the park was designed to look almost identical to Disneyland, including the Train depot, a Main Street, U.S.A. and the familiar Sleeping Beauty Castle at the hub. It also had a Matterhorn-type mountain (with a Matterhorn Bobsleds-type ride, called Bobsleigh), and the skyway running through it, as well as an Autopia-type ride and a monorail. The park also had its own mascots, Ran-chan and Dori-chan, two kids dressed as bearskinned guards.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amCZA877cnY?rel=0]

The park contained several rides prior to closing, including: aska, a wooden roller coaster based on The Cyclone at Coney Island, screw Coaster, an Arrow Dynamics designed double corkscrew steel roller coaster, Bobsleigh, a steel roller coaster modeled after the Matterhorn Bobsleds, fantasy Coaster, Kid's Coaster, Figure-8 monorail.

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