Opus

Encyclopædia of the sublime

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Well of Saint Patrick

The bold scheme of St. Patrick Well consists of a circular shaft 200 feet deep and 45 feet wide lighted by 72-arched windows cut into the Pozzo di San Patrizio. Two spiral staircases descend from opposing doors of the shaft to access and transport water. Both stairs wind around each other, never meeting and resembling the structure of a DNA helix with 248 steps for each one. St. Patrick Well's ingenious design permitted mule-drawn carts carrying water bags to descend on one side of the double helix and ascend on the other end without ever colliding.

Katamari Damacy

Katamari Damacy is a video game whose plot concerns a diminutive prince on a mission to rebuild the stars, constellations, and Moon, which were inadvertently destroyed by his father, the King of All Cosmos. This is achieved by rolling a magical, highly adhesive ball called a katamari around various locations, collecting increasingly larger objects, ranging from thumbtacks to human beings to mountains, until the ball has grown large enough to become a star. Critics have hailed it as a cult classic and one of the greatest video games of all time, praising its gameplay, replay value, humor, originality, and shibuya-kei soundtrack.

Vicuna

The Altiplano is a cold, harsh habitat, ranging from about 12,000-18,000 feet above sea level in the Andes Mountains of South America. At this elevation, there are no trees to block strong winds, and very little rain, though nightly fog and dew provide water. The land is covered with low, tough shrubs and hardy grasses, neither of which provides places to hide. This inhospitable area is home to a species of animal with the finest fiber in the world: the vicuna. During the height of the Incan empire, the animals were plentiful and numbered approximately 2 million. Their fleece was so valuable vicuna fabric currently sells for $1,800 to $3,000 per yard) that only royalty could wear garments made from it.