Part of the shells which form the roof of the Sydney Opera House, still under construction after 10 years of work. In April 2003 Jørn Utzon, at the age of 85, was awarded the Pritzker Prize ─architecture’s ‘Nobel’. The citation reads: ‘There is no doubt that Sydney Opera House is his masterpiece. It is one of the great iconic buildings of the twentieth century, an image of great beauty which has become known throughout the world─a symbol for not only a city, but a whole country and continent’....

The story of Japan’s “comfort women” remains one of the most painful and heavily documented examples of wartime exploitation in modern history. Between 1932 and 1945, the Imperial Japanese government created and oversaw a vast system of sexual slavery that stretched across much of Asia and the Pacific. The term “comfort women,” introduced by the Japanese military, was intentionally euphemistic and has long been criticized by scholars for downplaying the magnitude of the crimes committed....

The Dornier Do-X was the largest, heaviest, and most powerful flying boat in the world when it was produced by the Dornier company of Germany in 1929. With a wingspan of 157 feet (48 meters) and length of 130 feet (40 meters), the Do X was powered by 12 engines and carried 169 passengers. First conceived by Claude Dornier in 1924, planning started in late 1925 and after over 240,000 work hours it was completed in June 1929....

During the Great Patriotic War, it was a tragic reality that many Soviet families lost sons, fathers, and brothers on the battlefield. Entire households often found themselves without a single male survivor after the brutal conflict. Amid this harsh reality, the story of Evdokia Danilovna Lysenko and her ten sons remains a striking exception. Hailing from the small Ukrainian village of Brovakhy, these ten brothers were sent to the frontlines during the Second World War....

Sophia Loren giving Jayne Mansfield the side-eye is one of the most famous photos in history. In 1957 one photo came to life that became an international sensation. It might be the most famous case of celebrity shade-throwing ever: Sophia Loren casting a sideways glance at Mansfield’s huge cleavage. It became wildly famous for multiple reasons. As you can see, Loren’s expression in the picture alone says a lot....

Producer Albert S. Ruddy confers with Marlon Brando on set. By almost any account, the Godfather films are monuments on the landscape of American cinema. There are, of course, differences of intention and achievement among the three, but the first one, The Godfather (1972), stands out in popular and critical opinion as one of the enduring works of the American cinema. The standing of The Godfather Part II (1974), nearly comparable to the fist, lies not only in its art, but in its outlook, so rare in American films from the early 1970s, on a flawed American protagonist as an emblem of the American empire....

At Tartu University in Estonia, it was a tradition for students to hold “pledge theatres” in late autumn which consisted of staging plays as rites of initiation for soon-to-be members. The all-male pledges were expected to play both male and female roles and they actually committed themselves to costuming and makeup with a serious degree of attention. The actors visited local photographers in costume, and the images were created as memorabilia and as cartes de visite which could be purchased by students and audiences....

Lumberjacks pose with a Douglas fir tree in Washington. 1899. Before the invention of motorized chainsaws and logging machinery, the hard work of felling trees was done by the lumberjacks using hand tools such as axes and saws. The work was difficult, dangerous, intermittent, low-paying, and involved living in primitive conditions. Lumberjacks worked in lumber camps and often lived a migratory life, following timber harvesting jobs as they opened....

Although the usefulness of asbestos has been known for centuries, it was not until the late 19th century when large deposits of asbestos were discovered in parts of Canada and the northern United States that the emergence of asbestos as a common construction material occurred. The relatively inexpensive production and mass abundance of asbestos-containing materials created a widespread desire to utilize asbestos in building materials. Experimentation with the mineral revealed that asbestos was an excellent fire retardant, an exceptional component of acoustical plaster, and decorative material....

Sella Joch and Langkofl. These amazing postcards depict the Princely County of Tyrol, an mountainous region of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The pictures were created using the Photochrom process, a revolutionary procedure that consists of producing ink-based images through the direct photographic transfer of an original negative onto litho and chromographic printing plates. Hans Jakob Schmid (1856-1924), who worked for the Swiss firm Orell Füssli, invented the technique in the 1880s....

A father comforts his son, David Kirby, on his deathbed in Ohio, 1989. Widely considered the photo that changed the face of AIDS. This picture is widely considered the photo that changed the face of AIDS. It showed AIDS victims as humans and people with families. The biggest opponents of doing anything about AIDS, anything at all, were conservatives trumpeting family values. This picture showed that HIV has everything to do with family values and to have family values you have to value families....

The 1970s were a fascinating era for children’s toys, driven by advancing technology and the influence of popular culture. Electronic toys like Simon, an addictive memory game, and the Atari gaming system brought new, interactive play experiences into homes. Blockbuster films and TV shows also shaped the toy market, inspiring action figures and dolls that let kids recreate their favorite scenes and dream up new adventures. From space-faring heroes to crime-fighting icons, these toys reflected the spirit of the decade....

The story of curling starts in medieval Scotland, where the game was born on frozen lochs using stones and brooms. Over time, rules were formalized, turning a casual activity into a structured sport. In 1838, the Grand Caledonian Curling Club established standardized rules, laying the groundwork for the modern game we know today. The word curling first appears in print in 1620 in Perth, Scotland, in the preface and the verses of a poem by Henry Adamson....

A Roma woman and child in a camp during an investigation by the Racial Hygiene Research Center at the Reich Bureau for Health. 1938. For centuries, Romani tribes had been subject to antiziganist persecution and humiliation in Europe. They were stigmatized as habitual criminals, social misfits, and vagabonds. After Hitler’s rise to power, legislation against the Romani was increasingly based upon a rhetoric of racism. The policy originally based on the premise of “fighting crime” was redirected to “fighting a people”....

Field Marshall Erwin Rommel inspecting the beach defenses in Normandy, 1944 Adolph Hitler put Field Marshall Rommel in charge of the French Atlantic wall and the defense of Europe from an Allies cross-channel invasion in 1944. Rommel arrived, looked over the situation, and immediately ordered a tremendous upgrading of the fortifications on all of the English Channel beaches. As late as it was, Rommel’s program of emplacing beach obstacles between high and low tide so alarmed Allied planners that they changed the timing of the landings from high to low tide, which considerably increased the vulnerability of those making the initial landing — especially on Omaha Beach....

Willie standing by Patton’s belongings, 1945. This picture of Willie, Patton’s dog, was taken a few days after the General’s death as preparations were made to send home his effects. Cartoonist Bill Mauldin describes the moment: “Beside him, lying in a big chair was Willie, the bull terrier. If ever dog was suited to master this one was. Willie had his beloved boss’s expression and lacked only the ribbons and stars....

Men of Leibstandarte ‘Adolf Hitler’ at the Lichterfelde barracks in Berlin, Germany, November 22, 1938. Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler barracks in Berlin, the rifles are Mauser Kar98k. The 1st SS-Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH) was Adolf Hitler’s personal bodyguard. The LSSAH went on to become one of the most elite and hardened units in the German armed forces. The lightning bolts on their collars indicate clearly that they are SS....

French President François Mitterrand and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in 1984 at Douaumont cemetery. The Battle of Verdun is considered by many the most blood-stained battlefield in world history. Never before or since has there been such a lengthy battle, involving so many men, situated on such a tiny piece of land. The battle, which lasted from 21 February 1916 until 19 December 1916 caused over an estimated 800,000 casualties (dead, wounded, and missing)....

Pamela Anderson, a Canadian-American actress, model, and media personality, became an international sensation in the 1990s. She first gained widespread attention when she was selected as Playboy’s Playmate of the Month in February 1990, a title that marked the beginning of her iconic career. Anderson’s striking beauty and unforgettable presence made her a regular feature on Playboy’s covers, eventually earning her the distinction of holding the record for the most covers by any individual in the magazine’s history....

Long before Photoshop and digital touch-ups, the art of seduction was perfected with paint. In the 1940s and 1950s, pin-up girls became cultural icons, their images gracing bomber planes, barracks walls, and magazine pages. They weren’t just pictures; they were carefully crafted fantasies that boosted morale and embodied an idealized version of beauty. At the center of this golden era stood Gil Elvgren, an artist whose playful, exaggerated depictions of women turned everyday scenes into irresistible works of art....