Archives: Atlas Obscuras

The Telescope Used to Discover Pluto

Discover Pluto Discovery Telescope in Flagstaff, Arizona: A planet-hunting astrograph built in the 1920s to seek out the so-called "Planet X" beyond Uranus.

Painted Rock

Discover Painted Rock in Santa Margarita, California: The oldest pictographs on this decorated rock formation in California's Carrizo Plain date back as many as 4,000 years.

The White Cliffs of Conoy

Discover The White Cliffs of Conoy in Marietta, Pennsylvania: An industrial waste tourist attraction.

Castle Cornet

Discover Castle Cornet in Saint Peter Port, Guernsey: Castle Cornet is a large island castle in Guernsey which is 800 years old.

The First Telephone in Las Vegas

Discover The First Telephone in Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada: The so-called "Father of Las Vegas" had the city's first telephone installed in his office in 1907.

Alien Research Center

Discover Alien Research Center in Hiko, Nevada: The self-proclaimed gateway to the Extraterrestrial Highway.

Sal del Rey

Discover Sal del Rey in Edinburg, Texas: This lake sits on an estimated 4 million tons of salt.

Elbehochwasser 2002 Memorial

Discover Elbehochwasser 2002 Memorial in Dresden, Germany: A monument dedicated to a 2002 flood that hit Dresden.

Luther Burbank Experimental Farm

Discover Luther Burbank Experimental Farm in Sebastopol, California: Home to an apple tree that can produce 25 different varieties of fruit.

Tanamá River

Discover Tanamá River in Utuado, Puerto Rico: Drift through underground caves on a tube.

Criollito

Discover Criollito in Tlacolula de Matamoros, Mexico: This Oaxacan restaurant serves native corn and Indigenous recipes.

The Auditor Statues

Discover The Auditor Statues in Butte, Montana: Multiple monuments to a grizzled old mutt that survived the landscape of Butte's treacherous Berkeley Pit.

Taksim Mosque

Discover Taksim Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey: One of the newest mosques in a city filled with thousands.

Chicoma Mountain

Discover Chicoma Mountain in Hernandez, New Mexico: The highest peak in the Jemez Mountains and the traditional center of the Pueblo world.

Tooth Stone

Discover Tooth Stone in Port Charlotte, Scotland: It's said taking a hammer and nail to this stone relieves a toothache.

McConkie Ranch Petroglyphs

Discover McConkie Ranch Petroglyphs in Vernal, Utah: A unique collection of drawings that represent Fremont Native American culture.

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i
To represent a masterpiece of human creative genius. 261 ii
To exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design. 480 iii
To bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared. 514 iv
To be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history. 642 ix
To be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals. 137 v
To be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change. 172 vi
To be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria). 256 vii
To contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance. 151 viii
To be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features. 98 x
To contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation. 168

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