So Today I Learned That France Built a Replica of Paris in WWI

In Paris, every first Wednesday of the month at noon, without fail you can hear the eerie wail of an air raid siren from wherever you are in the city. They’ve been going since pre-World War II and have these monthly tests to make sure everything is in working order– or to serve as a…

A French Youtuber went to Visit China’s Fake Paris for Himself

It’s been over a decade since we first blogged (yes, back when we called it blogging) about the European clone towns of China, including the city on the outskirts of Shanghai built around a fake Eiffel Tower with a replica Champs Elysées and rows of Haussmann-inspired Parisian townhouses. The gated community of Tianducheng, built in…

Meet Lilli, the High-end German Call Girl Who Became Barbie

So it turns out Barbie’s original design was based on a German adult gag-gift escort doll named Lilli. That’s right, she wasn’t a dentist or a surgeon, an Olympian gymnast, a pet stylist or an ambassador for world peace. And she certainly wasn’t a toy for little girls… Lilli on display at the Barbie Museum in Prague Unbeknownst…

Made in China: European Clone Towns

Taking counterfeiting to a whole new level… Paris in China In the outskirts of Shanghai stands a fake Eiffel Tower overlooking a replica of the Champ de Mars and rows of Parisian townhouses. This is not Disneyland in China, this is the gated community of Tianducheng, built in 2007 by real estate develepors Zhejiang Guangsha…

Oh, just an Utterly Insane Ghost City of Fake French Chateaux

This is not Photoshop. I repeat, this is not Photohop. Ever heard of “duplitecture”? It’s the term that’s been coined to describe replica architecture which has been popping up all over China since the 1990s (and let’s not forget Las Vegas either), where iconic landmarks and entire towns are constructed using lower-quality building materials to clone centuries…

Human Doll Cloning Is So Hot right Now in Japan

Here is a 3D printed doll, cloned from a real human’s head, that you can never unsee. She has a few friends that may or may not haunt you in your dreams later on… The cloning service is popular among some Japanese women looking to preserve that special moment in life such as their wedding day,…

Made in America: A Bavarian Clone Town

Leavenworth was once on the verge of becoming a ghost town until it became an American “little Bavaria”. Before economic ruin took hold of it in the early twentieth century, the town was an important logging hub in Washington and served as headquarters to the Great North Railroad. Despite its rich history of pioneer settlers…

Postcard from the Eiffel Tower, Paris (Russia)

The first thing I learned today, is that there’s a small village in Russia called Paris. With a current population of around 1700 people, the rural village was intentionally named after the French capital in the early 19th century when its founders returned from a victorious campaign against Napoleonic France. The second thing I learned is…

Cloned by Disney: 10 Replica Buildings

When I first stumbled across this picture, I assumed it was some clever photoshopping of a fairytale castle brought to life. But this is not a Disney set, this is the Neuschwanstein castle, a 19th-century Romanesque Revival palace in Bavaria, Germany– the original Disney castle. Indeed, Neuschwanstein looks so much like a fairytale castle that Walt Disney himself was…