Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Monson Steps

Discover Monson Steps in St. Augustine, Florida: The site of Martin Luther King Jr.'s arrest as he attempted to have lunch.

Old Mosque

Discover Old Mosque in Chinguetti, Mauritania: An architectural relic that survived the hands of time.

Shepherdstown Public Library

Discover Shepherdstown Public Library in Shepherdstown, West Virginia: The "All-Seeing Eye of God" symbol on this library is a clue to one of the many former lives of this building.

‘Inscription of the Island’

Discover 'Inscription of the Island' in Singapore: An artist crafted this lonely left hand as an imagined relic from Singapore's history.

Point Breeze Estate

Discover Point Breeze Estate in Bordentown, New Jersey: A New Jersey state park that was once Napoleon's brother's sprawling estate.

Tynwald Hill

Discover Tynwald Hill in St. John's, Isle of Man: Believed to be the former location of one of the earliest Viking assemblies in Europe.

Cemetery Island

Discover Cemetery Island in Townville, South Carolina: A 1960s damming project turned one family’s hilltop cemetery into an island.

Boothe Memorial Park

Discover Boothe Memorial Park in Stratford, Connecticut: This eclectic homestead is home to a miniature windmill and Connecticut's last tollbooth.

Alter Flugplatz Frankfurt am Main

Discover Alter Flugplatz Frankfurt am Main in Frankfurt, Germany: Revitalization efforts converted a former U.S. military heliport into a sprawling urban park.

Laurel Hill Tunnel Racecar Testing

Discover Laurel Hill Tunnel Racecar Testing in Stahlstown, Pennsylvania: A piece of crumbling highway infrastructure was repurposed as a high-tech facility for testing racecars.

Guignard Brick Works

Discover Guignard Brick Works in Cayce, South Carolina: A handful of beehive kilns are all that’s left of a historic brick-making empire.

Les Rochers du Carnaval

Discover Les Rochers du Carnaval in Uchon, France: Erosion left these fascinating granite formations strewn across fields and mountains in Burgundy.

Neseblod Records

Discover Neseblod Records in Oslo, Norway: This record shop and unofficial black metal museum is an ode to Oslo's heaviest musical export.

Easey’s

Discover Easey's in Collingwood, Australia: A train car sitting on a rooftop makes an unlikely and picturesque setting for dinner.

Nanzoin Temple

Discover Nanzoin Temple in Sasaguri, Japan: A serene mountaintop temple complex featuring one big, bronze Buddha.

Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame

Discover Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in Natchitoches, Louisiana: A remarkably futuristic building sits in the oldest town in Louisiana.

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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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