![Metropolitan Waterworks Museum, Boston, Massachusetts, USA [Image by Paul Geffen/Flickr]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2019/5/3/660x290/b_502x220x82/metropolitan-waterworks-museum-boston-massachusetts-usa-image-by-paul-geffenflickr_2258425.jpg "Metropolitan Waterworks Museum, Boston, Massachusetts, USA [Image by Paul Geffen/Flickr]")
Steampunk is an art form, technological or architectural style that derives mostly from science fiction and fantasy. Its creators envision an alternative industrial future world, which somehow diverged from our normal past during the Victorian era. This was when steam-powered technology was on the up-and-up and was the way to go.
Steampunk technology became part of this retro future, where steam, gears and cogs power the machines and air travel is best done in good, old-fashioned Zeppelin airships. There are many examples of this fascinating art style in the world.
Below are some of the best examples you can see while traveling on vacation. More images of all these attractions are included in the video accompanying this article
Steampunk HQ - 1 Itchen Street, Oamaru, New Zealand
Steampunk HQ is one of the best places to experience the retro world of steampunk technology. Oamaru is a small coastal town in New Zealand which came into its own economically in the 1800s. Now the town’s Victorian and neoclassical architecture is a perfect canvas for a wonderful steampunk playground. Part of this is Steampunk HQ, which is set in a grain elevator, was built in 1883.
Giant Ghibli Clock - Nittele Tower, 1 Chome-6-1, Higashishinbashi, Tokyo, Japan
The Giant Ghibli Clock is the work of Hayao Miyazaki, the director and founder of Studio Ghibli, producers of the 2004 anime classic film “Howl’s Moving Castle.” The clock weighs a massive 20 tons, is 60 feet in width and is three stories high. It was crafted from copper and steel and has various mechanical vignettes which come to life at certain times of the day, including a boiling teapot, blacksmiths and two bell-headed piston-crankers, among other things. Oh, and it also tells the time!
Steampunk Tree House - 6 Village Center Blvd, Milton, Delaware, USA
The Steampunk Tree House started as an art project for Burning Man, then headed to Coachella and eventually ended up in its permanent home outside a Delaware brewery. It was created by Sean Orlando and the Five Ton Crane Collective in 2007 and comes with a 40 foot tree constructed of welded girders and metal plates. At the top is a small room decorated with clockwork components and windows activated by a contracting iris mechanism. It now decorates the Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Delaware.
Cross Club - Plynarni 1096/23, Prague, Czech Republic
This is a perfect example of steampunk, spread over three floors and used to display art and for electronic concerts, where DJs first played dubstep and were focused on breakbeat. Nowadays their musical repertoire includes reggae, punk, rockabilly and ska. The club is also used for family entertainment and education during the day, including puppet shows. Meanwhile, the decor is full of twisting gears and metallic wonders, resembling a futuristic club from one of the well known sci-fi films.
Metropolitan Waterworks Museum - 2450 Beacon Street, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
The Metropolitan Waterworks are located at the Chestnut Hill Reservoir in Boston. Unlike other examples above, this was the real deal. The waterworks were built in 1887 to supply water to the city until the Quabbin Reservoir became the main water source in the 1970s. The site was fallen into ruins until Friends of the Waterworks advocated for the preservation of the building and its equipment in 1991. In 2005, legislation was passed to redevelop the site as a museum.
