Kakslauttanen Igloo Village

For more photos from the igloos, check out the Kaksauttanen Hotel and Igloo Village Hotel location page.

196 kilometers (120 miles) north of the Arctic Circle near the Urho Kekkonen National Park in Finland lies the Kakslauttanen Hotel and Igloo Village, a complex of 40 log cabins designed to give travelers a more authentic glimpse into the scenery and traditions of the Finnish Lapland. The hotel’s real appeal comes in the winter months, however, when guests can stay in the Igloo Village made up of a combination of traditional ice and snow igloos and Kakslauttanen’s heated, modernized structures. The futuristic igloos feature large glass roofs for optimal viewing of the northern lights.

In addition to the igloos, Kakslauttanen also boasts a snow chapel, husky-led safaris and the opportunity to get up-close and personal with reindeer.

Landmarks Around the World Go Dark for @earthhour

Today, people around the world will celebrate Earth Hour (@earthhourofficial) by turning off their non-essential lights from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. local time. The event was conceived by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in 2007 as a way to raise awareness about climate change.

Iconic buildings and landmarks participate each year, offering a rare unilluminated glimpse at their exteriors. Be sure to browse the location pages below for photos of the Earth Hour events!

• Sydney Opera House, Sydney
• Beijing National Stadium (The Bird’s Nest), Beijing
• Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur
• Table Mountain, Cape Town
• Eiffel Tower, Paris
• Empire State Building, New York City
• Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

A Trip to Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya)

Originally a church, then a mosque and now a museum, the Hagia Sophia is Istanbul’s most famous monument and one of the most important religious structures on the planet.

For a millennium after its construction in the sixth century, the Hagia Sophia was the world’s largest cathedral. Its famed dome rests on an arcade of 40 arched windows and remains one of the largest in the world, standing 55 meters (182 feet) from floor level at its maximum. From Byzantine mosaics to calligraphic roundels and even scaffolding from ongoing restoration, layers of the building’s history can be viewed all at once. To get a first-person look inside the Hagia Sophia, be sure to visit the Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia) location page.

The Netherlands Celebrates the Start of Spring at Keukenhof

Want to see more photographs of spring in bloom? Be sure to visit the Keukenhof location page!

Today marks the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. This date, known as the vernal equinox, also marks the annual opening of Keukenhof, the world’s largest flower garden, in the Netherlands. Though the park is only open for eight weeks every year, it attracts around 800,000 visitors looking to photograph the world famous Holland tulips. Home to seven million tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and other spring bulbs that span over 32 hectares, Keukenhof is the place to see—and photograph—spring in bloom!

Happy 81st Anniversary to the Sydney Harbour Bridge!

For the best views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, check out the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Walsh Bay Promenade, Circular Quay and Blues Point Reserve location pages.

We celebrate the anniversaries of bridges to honor the ways they connect us: they enable our livelihoods as we commute, they help us escape the hustle and bustle when we need to get away and they greet us with open arms when we return home. They become symbols of towns and cities and, by standing for the places we call home, help us to connect with one another as well.

On March 19th, Sydney, Australia, celebrates the 81st anniversary of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The bridge was constructed in 1932 to connect the North Shore to the Sydney central business district. The bridge, affectionately known to locals as “the coathanger” for its distinctive shape, supports a six-lane highway, a railway and paths for both pedestrian and bike traffic—and at 160 feet (48.8 meters) wide, it’s one of the widest long-span bridges in the world. Until 1967, it was also Sydney’s tallest building with a maximum height of 440 feet (134 meters) at the top of the arch. The bridge is also a central part of Sydney’s annual New Year’s Eve celebration as the centerpiece of the firework displays.

Spotlight: Amsterdam

Since launching, we’ve seen Instagram spread from our headquarters in the Bay Area to every corner of the globe. In this series, Spotlight, we’ll highlight top users from countries and cities with thriving Instagram communities.

The Netherlands’s capital city, Amsterdam, is alive with sights and sounds. Hundreds of thousands of bicycles weave across the 1,281 bridges that span the city’s many canals. Amsterdam is lush with parks, classical architecture and plenty of museums that make it one of the most important art sites in Europe.

Want a first-person tour of Amsterdam? We put together a list of some amazing Instagrammers from in and around the city.

• Freek Geurts, the city through the seasons — @regalphis
• S Fennema, atmospheric shots and reflections — @sfennema
• Dirk Bakker, Amsterdam through patterns and lines — @macenzo
• Phil, film-inspired stills of daily life — @p_d_y

To explore the city in depth, you can also browse the location pages for some of Amsterdam’s most popular landmarks:

• De Riekermolen, one of Amsterdam’s most photogenic windmills
• The Rijksmuseum, home of the most important collection of classical Dutch art
• Magere Brug, one of the many beautiful drawbridges spanning the canals
• Amsterdam ArenA, home to Amsterdam’s football team, AFC Ajax

The Albert Einstein Memorial

In honor of theoretical physicist Albert Einstein’s 134th birthday today, we’re exploring the Albert Einstein Memorial located in central Washington, D.C. Known for creating hundreds of bronze sculptures and monuments, Robert Berks based this statue on a bust he sculpted from life at Einstein’s home in 1953. Berks depicted Einstein with papers in his hand and carved three equations into those manuscripts that represent Einstein’s important scientific advances: the theory of general relativity, the photoelectric effect and the equivalence of energy and matter.

To see more Instagrammers interacting with the 4-ton monument of the Nobel Prize-winning genius visit the Albert Einstein Memorial location page on Instagram!

Thousands Gather at the Vatican to Celebrate Selection of Pope Francis

Earlier today in Vatican City, thousands gathered to witness the selection of a new pope. The election came on the first full day of the cardinals’ conclave in the Sistine Chapel, and a week after Pope Benedict XVI’s final general audience. Argentina’s Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the former archbishop of Buenos Aires, addressed the crowd after his selection and will take the name Pope Francis.

Instagrammers were there capturing scenes from the announcement today. To view their photos, visit the Città Del Vaticano, Piazza San Pietro and Vatican City location pages.

Shipwrecked, Two Years after Tōhoku

For more photos of the Kyotokumaru, visit the 第十八共徳丸 location page.

On 11 March 2011, a 9.03 magnitude earthquake focused off the Pacific coast of Tōhoku struck Japan. It was the most powerful known earthquake ever to have hit Japan, and triggered tsunami waves that reached heights of up to 40.5 meters (133 ft) and travelled 10 km (6 mi) inland.

Remnants of Tōhoku’s destruction remain today in northern Japan. In Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture, 17 ships ran aground but just one—a 330-ton, 200-foot-long fishing boat called the No. 18 Kyotokumaru (第十八共徳丸)—still sits where the waves left it over 800 meters (.5 mi) from the city’s harbor. The city of Kesennuma is debating whether to leave the Kyotokumaru as a monument or dismantle it. While some visit the site to pay their respects, others find the ship to be a painful reminder of the disaster.

Sundial Bridge in Redding, California

See more photos of the Sundial Bridge by browsing the Sundial Bridge at Turtle Bay Exploration Park location page.

Late tonight, people around the world will kick off Daylight Saving Time (DST) by advancing their clocks one hour. Evenings will have more daylight and mornings less.

To mark the season, we’re celebrating Redding, California’s iconic Sundial Bridge. Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava designed the bridge in the form of a massive sundial. It spans the Sacramento River, offering a photogenic route for bicycles and pedestrians.

The Sundial Bridge’s mast stands 217 feet (66 meters) tall and points due north at a cantilevered angle. This tall mast serves as the gnomon and casts its shadow upon a large dial to the north of the bridge.