Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Albina Soul Walk

Discover Albina Soul Walk in Portland, Oregon: A mile-long audio-guided walking tour preserves an iconic era of Portland soul music.

Native American Art Center

Discover Native American Art Center in Portland, Oregon: One of the most comprehensive collections of historic Native American culture in the country reframes artifacts as artwork.

Replica of the Matthew

Discover Replica of the Matthew in Bristol, England: An authentic, seaworthy replica of the ship that sailed to Newfoundland in 1497.

Portland Mercado

Discover Portland Mercado in Portland, Oregon: This indoor-outdoor Portland market is an ode to the lesser-known corners of Latin America’s varied foodscape.

‘De Pungelaer’

Discover 'De Pungelaer' in Baarle-Hertog, Belgium: A tribute to smugglers and the Butter Wars.

Vallombrosa Abbey

Discover Vallombrosa Abbey in Vallombrosa, Italy: A 14th-century abbey founded by a forest-loving order of monks now sits in the center of a pristine nature preserve.

Phantom Canyon Road

Discover Phantom Canyon Road in Penrose, Colorado: The narrow mountain road that carves a path between Florence and Victor is tied to ghost towns and ghost stories.

Alabam Statue – Hoover Dam Hero

Discover Alabam Statue – Hoover Dam Hero in Boulder City, Nevada: An ode to one of the dirtiest jobs during the construction of the Boulder Dam.

Xanthi Clock Tower

Discover Xanthi Clock Tower in Xanthi, Greece: This tower is all that remains of the mosque that once stood in the center of the city, before it was destroyed by fire in 1941.

Tabor Opera House

Discover Tabor Opera House in Leadville, Colorado: In the 1950s, two women saved this grand theater in the Colorado mountains from demolition.

Kalamaja Cemetery Park

Discover Kalamaja Cemetery Park in Tallinn, Estonia: This 16th-century cemetery became a recreational park during the Soviet occupation—today it's a little bit of both.

Il Giardino di Babuk

Discover Il Giardino di Babuk in Naples, Italy: A surreal botanical garden with an even more surreal tour guide.

Torre Insignia Carillon

Discover Torre Insignia Carillon in Mexico City, Mexico: The world's tallest carillon is located at the top of this skyscraper in Mexico City.

Grote Kerk Cannonballs

Discover Grote Kerk Cannonballs in Naarden, Netherlands: The Siege of Naarden ended in 1814, but the cannonballs embedded in the town church remain.

B.B. King’s Tour Bus

Discover B.B. King’s Tour Bus in Indianola, Mississippi: A 1980s tour bus that traveled millions of miles to facilitate a superlatively rigorous performing career.

Teddy’s Juke Joint

Discover Teddy’s Juke Joint in Zachary, Louisiana: One of the last remaining venues on the Old Chitlin’ Circuit is a kaleidoscopic music hall at the end of a dirt road.

Muddy Waters’ Cabin

Discover Muddy Waters’ Cabin in Clarksdale, Mississippi: The centerpiece of the Delta Blues Museum is a wooden sharecropper’s cabin that once housed a titan of blues music.

Menu

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

PP ToS