Surprisingly enough, the world’s largest organ isn’t located in a cathedral or a church, but in the center of Macy’s Center City Store, in Philadelphia.

The Wanamaker Grand Court Pipe Organ is the largest playable pipe organ in the world. Its console alone weighs 2.5 tons and the entire installation weighs 287 tons. It was bought by John Wanamaker in 1909 and installed in his store, but, unsatisfied with its size, the owner built an organ factory in the store’s attic, in order to enlarge the Grand Court Pipe Organ.

The Wanamaker Pipe Organ was played in 1911 for the first time and has been entertaining Philadelphia shoppers 2 times a day, Monday to Saturday and even more often during winter holidays.

This giant organ has 28, 482 pipes. 6 manual keyboards, 42 foot pedals and is able to deliver incredible sound power. The organist, Peter Richard Conte has 729 color-coded buttons to choose from, just when he wants a different rank of pipes to be played.

Photos by REUTERS/Ray Stubblebine (UNITED STATES SOCIETY BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT)

via Drugoi

I’m sure most people think of container ships as just ships that carry containers and nothing more. Now I don’t know how many of you have actually seen one but these beasts can be quite impressive. And the most impressive is the Emma Maersk, the biggest container transporter in the world.

With a declared capacity of 11,000 TEU, the ‘Emma Maersk‘ is able to handle a significantly greater number of containers than any other ship currently in operation. It has a length of 397 metres, over 31 metres longer than the next longest container ship, the Maersk ‘G’ classes, and a width of 57 metres, 15 metres wider than any other container ship. If the containers on board were lined up end to end, they would stretch approximately 42 miles.

The vessel is longer than the height of some well-known landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower, which measures 320 meters, and the Empire State Building, at 381 meters. It is four times the length of a normal football pitch.

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I have to say that after seeing these pics, I’ve decided I’d love to visit this place as much as I’d love to visit Devil’s Pool, at Victoria Falls, in Zimbabwe. It’s just one of those sights that simply takes your breath away.

This man-made wonder is 1013 meters long covers 80 acres, its deepest end reaches 115ft and it holds 66 million gallons of water. If you want to take a dip in the world’s largest swimming pool you’ll have to travel to San Alfonso del Mar in Algarrobo, Chile, where a computer-controlled suction and filtration system continuously pumps water from the ocean, keeping crystal clear.

Although it wasn’t cheap, costing around $2 billion to build and another $4 million/year for maintenance, the pool seems to be worth it as it has been attracting huge crowds of curious tourists, since it opened in December.

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