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The human impulse for interaction by way of signals and gestures is a basic one; some scientists even believe that visual languages predate spoken ones. But if the simplicity of gesturing enables us to connect with a toddler, then it may be another basic impulse — creating art — that explains how we progressed from pointing and smiling to the wondrous intricacies of sign language. Read on to learn more about the evolution of this highly stylized and expressive form of communication, and how it continues to make its presence felt in the world today.

There Are More Than 300 Different Sign Languages Across the World

As distinct languages with their own grammatical rules and evolving lexicon, sign languages exist mostly independently of the spoken dialects in the same territories. In other words, American Sign Language (ASL) is considered its own language independent of American English, and people who use ASL, British Sign Language (BSL), and Australia’s Auslan sign language are often unable to understand each other the way the speaking residents of their countries can. Altogether, there are more than 300 sign languages used by approximately 72 million deaf or hard of hearing people around the world. There’s also International Sign, which is used to bridge communication gaps at global events such as the World Congress of the World Federation of the Deaf and the Deaflympics, but it lacks the complexities of a true language.

Medieval European Monks Developed Their Own Sign Languages

Beginning around the eighth century CE, European monastic orders developed their own sign languages to help abide by the Benedictine rule of maintaining silence away from prayer exercises. St. Bede was the first to develop manual signs to represent the alphabet, while Anglo-Saxon monks circa 11th-century England had a list of 127 signals referring to regularly used items such as books, food, clothing, and tools. Following centuries of effective monastic communication, Spanish Benedictine monk Pedro Ponce de León is credited with creating the first school for the deaf, in the 16th century.

American Sign Language Emerged in the Early 19th Century

After taking an interest in the well-being of a young, deaf neighbor in Connecticut, seminary graduate Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet traveled to Europe in 1815 to learn more about educational methodology for this overlooked section of the population. He spent about four months studying French Sign Language (FSL) at the Parisian school for the deaf, after which he convinced one of its teachers, Lauren Clerc, to return with him to Connecticut. Together, they opened the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb in Hartford in 1817, and FSL merged with the signs its students brought to the classroom to become the basis of American Sign Language.

Speech Supporters Attempted to Stamp Out ASL

By the late 19th century, a philosophical divide regarding the means for properly educating deaf students had emerged. “Oralists,” led by inventor and elocutionist Alexander Graham Bell, championed the teaching of speech and lip-reading exercises, and sought to do away with the “manualists” who advocated for signing. By the early 20th century, the oralists had largely succeeded in the United States; most non-hearing teachers were fired, and students who were caught signing on school grounds could face punishment. Regardless, ASL maintained its relevance within the Deaf community, and eventually returned to classrooms following a more thorough reexamination of its benefits in the 1960s.

Body Language Plays a Key Role in ASL

ASL students will of course attempt to memorize the manual alphabet and as many of the approximately 10,000 signs as possible, but there’s far more to mastering the language than replicating gestures. Some signs can be either a verb or a noun, depending on the size of the gesture and whether or not it’s repeated. Additionally, the speed and direction of the delivery can alter the meaning of a sentence. And when it comes to expressing emotion, the eyes, mouth, and body movements go a long way toward making sure the point is received.

Chimpanzees and Gorillas Have Learned to Communicate With Sign Language

Around the time that ASL was again being recognized by educators in the 1960s, researchers realized they could use sign language to communicate with certain primates. The first was Washoe, an African-born chimpanzee who learned approximately 250 signs and even taught many of them to an adopted son. She was followed by Koko, a western lowland gorilla who learned more than 1,000 signs and allegedly responded to a sizable number of spoken English words as well. However, the question of just how much these animals “understood” ASL is a source of debate, with critics contending that Koko learned to use certain signs simply because she was rewarded for doing so — and while she mastered the use of individual signs, she was not actually fluent in the language.

American Businesses Must Provide an ASL Interpreter if Requested

Deaf and hard of hearing individuals gained an extra measure of consumer protection with the passage of the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act, which mandates the provision of “auxiliary aids and services” by government operations and businesses. This means that anyone in need of an ASL interpreter at a doctor’s office, restaurant, retail store, theater, hotel, museum, or library is legally entitled to one, at no personal cost, if effective communication for the service cannot otherwise be maintained. The law also specifies that a friend or family member is generally not considered an appropriate interpreter, unless an emergency requires it or the person using ASL requests it (and their friend or family member agrees).

ASL Performers Can Be the Star of the Show

As exemplified by Justina Miles’ performance during pregame and halftime festivities of the 2023 Super Bowl, ASL interpreters have made a splash at high-profile concerts and sporting events in recent years. These star-making turns are orchestrated by experienced performers like Amber Galloway-Gallego, who runs her own agency dedicated to these interpreters. With the focus always on the hard of hearing fans who rely on the service, Galloway-Gallego tries to select the most appropriate signer for a show — i.e., a fan of the artist’s music — and encourages the interpreter to remain true to the lyrics, no matter how explicit. Performers can take up to two weeks to prepare for a concert, the effort often yielding some impressive results.

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The holiday season is just around the corner, and with it a minefield of social situations. Some people thrive off this festive energy, but for others it can be a little much. How do you make sure everybody feels included and avoid gifting faux pas? Whether you’re made of merriment or a bit of a grinch, keeping these etiquette tips in mind can make the holidays a little easier on everyone.

Invite Holiday Guests Early

The holidays, in general, aren’t a great time for impromptu gatherings — so if you’re planning on hosting a celebration, make sure to get your invitations out early. It’s a busy time for most people, and they’ll want to plan accordingly. For small gatherings, as little as two weeks might be OK, but for larger gatherings, the Emily Post Institute recommends inviting guests up to eight weeks in advance.

Don’t Assume What Holidays Others Celebrate

In the United States, 85% of people celebrate Christmas — and that includes plenty of secular and otherwise non-Christian celebrations — so it can be easy to get caught up in that aspect of the winter holiday season. But 15% is a significant portion of the population, and assuming someone celebrates the same holiday can be a faux pas at best. Relatedly…

Other December Holidays Aren’t Christmas Substitutes

December is full of spiritual observances, including Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and the winter solstice. If you celebrate Christmas — the most visible and normalized of the bunch in America — it can be easy to lump all these holidays together, but doing so can be insensitive. If you’re invited to a holiday celebration you’re not as familiar with, ask your host about what’s appropriate, although some things are common sense, like not bringing red-and-green-wrapped gifts or non-kosher food to a Hanukkah celebration.

If You Send a Newsletter, Don’t Brag

Some people send annual newsletters about their families along with holiday cards, and while the jury is still out on whether the practice is outdated or not, if you do send them, it’s best to be modest. Absolutely include accomplishments you’re proud of, but don’t cross the line into bragging.

Another tip for holiday newsletters: Only send them to people you think will be interested instead of including them with every card on your list.

Regift With Caution

Nobody wants a gift to gather dust on a shelf, and turning around and giving it to somebody who will appreciate it — often called regifting — is a great way to reduce waste and free up valuable shelf space. The trick is to pass it along carefully to avoid hurt feelings for both the original gifter and the new recipient. Make sure it still looks new and that it’s not personalized. You should also avoid regifting it to someone in the same social circle as the person who originally gave it to you.

Gift Wrapping Is Almost Universal — With a Few Finer Points

Cultures all over the world practice gift wrapping, but there are some finer points of etiquette that aren’t the norm in the United States. Purple can be viewed as unlucky in Italy, for example. In some East Asian cultures, blue, white, and black wrapping can remind people of funerals; red is a good bet instead. If you’re giving a gift in a culture you’re unfamiliar with, you might want to let a pro wrap it if budget allows.

In Some Cultures, Gift Refusal Is Customary

In China, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, it’s considered polite to refuse a gift at first, so if a recipient rejects a gift, you should insist a little bit. That goes both ways — if someone in one of these countries offers you a gift, offer a soft refusal before accepting.

At the Office, Exchange Privately or Bring Enough To Share

We’re closer to some of our co-workers than others, so it makes sense you’d want to share a gift with your work friends. Just make sure you exchange your gifts privately away from co-workers you’re not bringing gifts for, ideally doing so outside the work environment altogether. Alternatively, you could bring something for the whole office, like some fresh-baked cookies, specialty candy, or fun pens.

Cards After January 1 Are Fine

Holiday cards are largely associated with Christmas, so it might seem like a faux pas to send one that arrives after December 25 — but even the etiquette experts at the Emily Post Institute note that cards can be sent a couple of weeks into the new year. If you’re trying to sever the card-sending tradition from religious observances, that may even be a preferable option for you!

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Feeling the heat? Head to the pool for a dip, a splash, or to swim some laps. Or just immerse yourself in these incredible facts about swimming pools. They might not cool you down, but they will give you something to ponder as you bask in all that beauty and chlorine.

Heated Swimming Pools Are Old — Really Old

Think warm swimming pools are a modern invention? Think again: Gaius Maecenas beat modern pool-makers to it by about two millennia. The wealthy ancient Roman diplomat and patron of the arts championed luxurious baths heated underneath the floors all the way back in the first century BCE, leading to a boom in warm public baths that, as one historian writes, were “hugely prodigal of fuel and finance.” They became a must-have feature in luxurious Roman villas, then a common feature in public baths around the reign of Augustus (31 BCE to 14 CE).

U.S. Pools Were Originally Designed to Keep the Masses Clean

Boston’s Cabot Street Bath was the nation’s first indoor municipal pool. Founded in 1868, the pool was on the bleeding edge of what would become a boom in baths designed to help the working classes clean up. The short-lived facility (it was open for only eight years) was soon followed by municipal baths and pools all over the nation, especially in cities with growing immigrant populations whose tenement apartments didn’t contain adequate bathing facilities.

In New York, starting in 1870, river water filled floating, pool-like public baths that, according to one onlooker, were as filthy as “floating sewers.” Eventually, by about the mid-20th century, the city’s river baths morphed into the indoor pools we know today — though the city does still have some seasonal outdoor pools.

Arizona Is Pool Heaven

With its dry, hot weather and its low building costs, Arizona is America’s swimming pool hot spot. One recent survey found that a full 32.7% of homes in Phoenix have in-ground pools, beating out Miami and even Las Vegas for the most pools per capita.

But there’s a dark horse on the list of cities with the highest residential pool ownership: Buffalo, New York, where 8.3% of residences have pools. Portland, Oregon, came in last in the survey, ranking even lower than cold cities like Milwaukee and Chicago.

You Can Thank Rowers for the Modern Swimsuit

Speaking of Portland, the city was home to the company that popularized today’s modern swimsuit: Jantzen, formerly known as the Portland Knitting Company. In 1913, a rower approached the company in search of something he could comfortably wear on his bottom half while rowing.

Soon, the company had popularized swimming trunks, and went on to popularize modern, slim-silhouette suits for women, too. The company became so big that it had its own Oregon amusement park designed to encourage swimming. The Jantzen Beach Amusement Park along the Columbia River opened in 1928 and was popular until it closed in 1970.

This Pool Gave New Meaning to “Religious About Swimming”

In 1931, Joseph Stalin’s Communist government blew up Moscow’s landmark Christ the Savior Cathedral in order to build what eventually became the mother of all Soviet public works projects: the Palace of Soviets, intended to be a combination conference hall/administrative building. But the project never came to fruition, so the Soviets designed and built a massive pool on the site instead.

For years, it was the largest in the USSR. The Moskva pool, as it was known, was the size of two soccer fields and hosted thousands of Muscovites in search of a swim. Alas, it didn’t survive the USSR: It was drained after the collapse of the Soviet Union and is now the site of a rebuilt cathedral.

Swimming Pools Were the Original Skate Parks

In the late 1970s, drought hit Southern California — and prompted many to drain their pools. Their loss was skateboarding’s gain: As a result, skating kicked and pushed its way into the mainstream as kids with boards flew around the interiors of all those emptied pools (legally or not), an activity known as bowl skating or pool skating. Major skateboarding stars like Tony Hawk got their start pool skating. Modern skate parks still contain concrete pool-like structures designed for vert skateboarding, which involves skating up an incline.

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Each November, millions of people around the world grow out their facial hair for Movember, an annual celebration that started in Melbourne, Australia, in 2003. The mustache serves as a symbol of a movement to raise awareness and money for health issues such as prostate and testicular cancer, but Movember isn’t the first time mustaches have played an outsized role in culture. From their time as a fashion-forward Victorian status symbol to an expression of freedom in 20th-century France, these six fascinating facts about mustaches might have you seeing “face lace” in a whole new light.

The World’s Longest Mustache Is Over 14 Feet Long

If every person were like Ram Singh Chauhan, most razor companies would go out of business. Since March 2010, Chauhan has proudly held the Guinness World Record for the longest mustache. He has been growing his since 1970, when he was just a 12-year-old boy, and recent measurements from Chauhan’s personal Instagram account put the mustache’s ever-increasing length at 19.3 feet. This isn’t to say that Chauhan’s mustache is unkempt — on the contrary, Chahuan spends up to two and a half hours each day meticulously grooming his facial hair and massaging it with herbal oils. He only trims around the lip area and washes the mustache once every two weeks. While his whiskers initially caused strife between him and his wife, Asha, she now shares Chauhan’s sense of pride and considers the hairy accessory part of the family.

Some Indian Police Officers Are Paid Bonuses for Growing Mustaches

In India, mustaches are considered symbols of masculine pride and respect — so much so that police departments in parts of the country (from the large central state of Madhya Pradesh to Uttar Pradesh in the north) pay out bonuses to officers who grow out their upper lip hair. Indian police chiefs believe that mustachioed constables are treated with more respect, hence the unusual bonuses. The tradition of sporting robust mustaches faded somewhat among Indian men after the 1990s, but the Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary found their incentive program so successful that they hiked their mustache bonus by 400% in 2019. While it remains up to each individual officer whether they grow a mustache or not, officers who do so will earn a few hundred extra rupees in their pockets each month.

French Waiters Once Went on Strike for the Right to Grow Mustaches

While growing a mustache may be incentivized by Indian police departments, facial hair was strictly regulated in France around the turn of the 20th century. With French elites attempting to co-opt the mustache as a class symbol, waiters, domestic workers, and even priests were forbidden from growing one. Tensions came to a head in April 1907, when a group of French waiters participated in a strike to demand benefits such as better pay and more freedom to grow facial hair. The waiters were among several groups fed up with forced shaving, and their decision to strike left high-end Parisian restaurants losing roughly 25,000 francs per day in revenue. A bill was introduced to outlaw mustache bans across France, and even though it ultimately failed, many waiters at individual restaurants across the country successfully earned the right to wear mustaches. Unfortunately, such a win came at the expense of meaningful financial gains like pay raises, so it mainly proved to be a symbolic victory for workers’ rights.

Mustachioed Victorian Men Used Special Utensils for Tea and Soup

Growing a mustache or beard was a fashionable choice during the Victorian era in Great Britain, but it didn’t come without challenges — especially when it came to consuming hot liquids. Men with facial hair often found their mustache wax melting straight off their upper lip and into their drinks. Luckily, an intrepid inventor named Harvey Adams came up with a solution in the 1860s: the “mustache cup.” The cup featured a built-in ledge for men to rest their mustaches against for protection, as well as a hole for liquid to travel through. These adult sippy cups were popular not only in the U.K. but also throughout the U.S., where they were sold at stores like Sears and Marshall Field’s.

The Victorian era also saw a few other mustache-based inventions for the kitchen: In 1868, New York engineer Solon Farrer came up with a mustache spoon, which inventor Ellen B. A. Mitcheson tweaked and submitted for patent in 1873. Her idea involved adding a piece of metal to a traditional spoon to keep the mustache from coming into direct contact while slurping down soup, allowing hot liquids to travel through while maintaining perfectly waxed whiskers.

Copies of the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” Included Cardboard Mustaches

The Beatles famously ditched their mop-top haircuts and clean-shaven faces in favor of a new, mustachioed look in advance of their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The decision actually had a practical purpose: Paul McCartney suffered a moped accident in 1965, which split his upper lip. As with any fashion choice the Beatles made, fans wanted to replicate their look, so the band included cardboard cutout mustaches that could clip onto the nose with the release of the chart-topping album. The set of accessories also included cardboard badges and military stripes to dress like Sgt. Pepper.

Salvador Dali’s Mustache Is Reportedly Still Intact

Though surrealist artist Salvador Dalí passed away in 1989 at the age of 84, his most striking physical feature is reportedly still intact: his mustache. According to Narcís Bardalet, the embalmer who tended to Dalí’s body after his death and participated in his 2017 exhumation to collect DNA for a paternity claim, Dalí’s mustache still perfectly sits “[like clock hands at] 10 past 10, just as he liked it.” While still alive, Dalí was known to be proud of his distinctive facial hair; he once claimed that he and French novelist Marcel Proust used the “same kind of pomade” for their mustaches. Dalí’s mustache was even the subject of a book, 1954’s Dali’s Mustache: A Photographic Interview, which the artist co-authored with photographer Philippe Halmsan. The book features their interview alongside 28 images of the artist’s unique and seemingly immortal facial hair.

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Halloween has grown from its ancient, supernatural roots into a fun-filled night of candy, costumes, and (mostly) wholesome thrills. In America, it’s a $12 billion industry, with the average person spending more than $100 on candy, costumes, and decor — but it’s celebrated differently all over the world.

How did late October get its creepy reputation? What root vegetables were jack-o’-lanterns originally carved from? How much do we really spend every year dressing our pets like hot dogs? These eight facts about Halloween are sure to be a real treat.

Halloween Has Roots in an Ancient Celtic Festival

The earliest precursor to Halloween is a Celtic festival called Samhain, which was celebrated midway between the fall equinox and winter solstice, and marked the day when the barrier between the real and supernatural worlds was thought to be thinnest. This connection with the otherworld meant that both the dead and dangerous spirits could cross over, or so it was believed, and so Celts wore costumes to blend in and evade harm.

Some 60% of Parents Admit To Stealing Halloween Candy From Their Kids

According to a survey from the National Confectioners Association, 60% of parents admit to pilfering from their kids’ trick-or-treating haul. Of those parents, 37% sneak the goodies after their kids have gone to bed, 32% snack while they’re in school, and 31% don’t bother with stealth at all and just take the candy right in front of their trick-or-treaters.

Americans Spend More Than $500 Million on Pet Costumes Every Year

According to the National Retail Federation’s annual Halloween spending study, Americans have spent at least $500 million on pet costumes every year since 2018. In fact, when Halloween costume spending dipped for humans during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, pet spending held steady. Pumpkin and hot dog costumes are especially popular.

It’s Technically Illegal To Dress Up as a Nun in Alabama

Nun costumes — sexy or not — are widely available at costume and Halloween stores. But in the state of Alabama, they’re technically illegal, unless you’re an actual nun. There’s been a law on the books since 1965 that prohibits impersonating, including wearing the “garb” of, any member of the clergy, so the same thing goes for priests and rabbis. Whether the law is actually enforced is another matter.

The First Jack-o’-Lanterns Were Made From Turnips

The jack-o’-lantern originated in 17th-century Ireland, based on a piece of folklore about a man named Stingy Jack who tried to trick the devil and ended up being caught between heaven and hell forever, with only an ember in a lantern to light his way as he roamed. Jack’s lantern was said to have been carved from a turnip, and so were the lanterns people made in Ireland and Scotland that were meant to frighten him (and other evil spirits) away on the long nights. Celtic Halloween traditions eventually traveled to North America, where pumpkins — native to the area — became the norm.

The Term “Trick or Treat” Comes From Canada

Today, trick-or-treating is an integral part of U.S. Halloween, but the earliest known use of the term comes from Canada, specifically the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta. Some early versions of the term appeared in local newspapers in 1923 and 1924 (“treat or trick,” “‘treats’ not ‘tricks,’”) with the full phrase showing up in 1927. The term then traveled to the United States, showing up in Michigan in 1928. It first appeared as a verb — “trick-or-treating” — in the 1940s.

An Early Form of Trick-or-Treating Was Called “Guising”

It took a while for the term “trick-or-treating” to reach the American mainstream, but when Celtic people brought their traditions to America, they brought “guising” with them, too. In 18th- and 19th-century Ireland and Scotland, children would dress up in costumes and perform wholesome tricks — like singing songs or telling jokes — in exchange for treats.

Beverly Hills Banned Kids From Having Silly String on Halloween

The ritzy Los Angeles suburb of Beverly Hills is trying to cut down on Halloween pranks with a new 24-hour ban — starting at 6 a.m. on October 31 — on anybody under 21 carrying shaving cream, hair removal gel, or silly string. The first offense gets a warning, but repeated violators could be charged with a misdemeanor. Law-abiding mischief-makers, take note.

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Every bookworm has their favorite cozy corner of the library for curling up and reading, but sometimes, the entire library is a retreat. A hidden library can be a relaxing escape from the pressures of everyday life, or a place that only expert navigators can find. Some libraries weren’t intended to be found at all — but for others, you just need to know where to look. From underground art projects to sealed-off treasures, these hidden reading spaces will make you go shhhhh.

Marie Antoinette’s Library, Versailles

The Palace of Versailles, once the home of French monarchs Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette (among others), has many lavish spaces full of large-scale paintings, ostentatious decor, and gilded finishes. It’s also home to multiple libraries, some more obvious than others. Marie Antoinette had one built just for her, but it wasn’t in her grand, ceremonial apartment — it was in the small back rooms reserved for her and her ladies-in-waiting.

Despite a reputation for frivolity, Marie Antoinette was a prolific collector of books, including several volumes that her own husband had banned. Her collection exceeded 10,000 books, and was so large that, despite having another library in her second residence, the Petit Trianon, she eventually had to expand this library into an adjoining room just a couple of years after the original library was finished.

Vatican Apostolic Archives

Nothing screams “secret library” like an underground vault called “the Bunker” — although, since vetted researchers have been able to access it since 1881, it’s not that secret. The Catholic Church’s archives in Vatican City contain 1,200 years of documents, including correspondence on Henry VIII’s request to divorce Catherine Aragon in the 1530s and records of Galileo’s 1633 trial for heresy. The archives also contain primary source material for events all over the world, including letters from both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis imploring the pope to take a side in the American Civil War. The 2009 film Angels & Demons (the sequel to The Da Vinci Code) added some extra mystique to the archives, thanks to a scene featuring two characters trapped inside the bunker.

The library’s official Latin name, Archivium Secretum, is frequently translated to “secret archives,” although the Vatican maintains that Secretum was intended to mean something more like “private.” In 2019, Pope Francis renamed the library the Vatican Apostolic Archives to make it seem less shadowy.

La Librarie, Catacombs, Paris

The Paris Catacombs date back to the late 18th century, when surface cemeteries in Paris grew so overcrowded, they started impacting water quality. A thousand years’ worth of remains were transferred to an underground quarry, then arranged into galleries by quarry workers. This macabre labyrinth now contains around 186 miles of tunnels, and although only a tiny fraction are open to the public, Parisians frequently slip down into the depths for some urban exploration and, occasionally, to create some art projects.

You’ve probably seen one of those Little Free Libraries — usually a small cabinet of some sort where neighbors can take books to read and leave books they’re ready to part with. Well, one corner of the Paris Catacombs is a far less accessible version of that. La Librairie is a small room, labeled with a helpful sign, where explorers take and leave books. Unfortunately, the dank environment underground isn’t the best for archival purposes, so the books can get a little moldy.

Metropolitan Ervin Szabó Library, Budapest

This one is a library hidden inside another library. When you first walk into the Ervin Szabó Library in Budapest, Hungary, it looks like a somewhat normal library, painted in beige with newer desks and bookshelves. But if you make your way through the stacks, you’ll suddenly find yourself in a palace — literally. When it was built in the 1880s, the building was Wenckheim Palace, home to Count Frigyes and Countess Krisztina Wenckheim. It became city property in 1926, and a city library in 1931, but it took damage in both World Wars and, later, during Soviet retaliation against protesters. It was restored most recently in 1998, but by then the library’s collection had outgrown it, so the city built another, far less luxurious library around it.

Located on the fourth floor, the count’s former smoking room, the Grand Ballroom, and the Silver Salon serve as work and reading rooms, created in an opulent neo-Baroque style, complete with ornately carved ceilings, massive chandeliers, gold finishes, and winding spiral staircases.

Syria’s Secret Library

Darayya, a town 5 miles outside Damascus, was known for opposing the government of Bashar al-Assad, and was under constant bombardment from 2012 to 2016, when the town was evacuated and decimated. In 2013, when the town’s population had already fallen from 80,000 to just 8,000, a group of around 40 young volunteers started salvaging books from the rubble. They opened an underground library in the basement of a house that had otherwise been destroyed.

Aboveground, the town’s residents faced food, power, and water shortages. But in the library, people could check out books, find space to read, or even participate in a book club. Volunteers taught classes on English, math, and history. They had to advertise by word of mouth alone; they couldn’t risk the Syrian army learning of the library and making it a target. Unfortunately, after the town was evacuated, the library was torn apart.

Dunhuang Library Cave

The Mogao Grottoes, located in the city of Dunhuang in northwest China, are a collection of nearly 500 cliffside caves, each excavated by hand and decorated in stunning Buddhist art — including more than 2,000 painted sculptures and nearly 500,000 square feet of murals. One cave even holds a 1,300-year-old statue of Buddha that’s more than 100 feet tall. Created between the fourth and 14th centuries, these caves were once along a busy Silk Road hub, and represent hundreds of years of cultural exchange.

By 1900, the caves had fallen into disrepair, and a Tibetan monk appointed himself their caretaker. One day, he knocked down a wall and made a startling discovery: a cavern packed with documents, some stacked nearly 10 feet high.

This cave library had been sealed off for around a millennium, and contained both documents of everyday life on the Silk Road and rare religious texts. European academics and explorers picked apart much of the library over the next decade, and by the time the Chinese government stepped in, only around a fifth of the collection was left. Yet in the 21st century, there’s been more of an effort to reconcile the massive collection; through the International Dunhuang Project, archivists all over the world are digitizing the documents and putting them into a centralized database.