Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery

Discover Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery in Lititz, Pennsylvania: Don't get it twisted: This is the oldest pretzel bakery in the United States.

Stobs Camp

Built as a training camp, this site in Scotland became a detainment center for prisoners of war and German civilians during World War I.

Stadsbank van Lening (City Bank of Lending)

Discover Stadsbank van Lening (City Bank of Lending) in Amsterdam, Netherlands: The facade of this bank has changed little over the centuries, including its unique welcome sign.

Hotel Casa Grande Wall

Discover Hotel Casa Grande Wall in Taxco, Mexico: A wall of this old hotel was decorated with drawings made of pebbles during its construction.

The Wood Cake House

Discover The Wood Cake House in Toronto, Ontario: This knick-knack-covered house (complete with a matching van) is a charming oddity in the middle of a modest downtown neighborhood.

Crab Museum

Discover Crab Museum in Margate, England: Europe's "only museum dedicated to the decapod" is full of quirky and absurdist displays, including one featuring the "famous" Giant Crab of Margate.

Great Plains Dinosaur Museum

Discover Great Plains Dinosaur Museum in Malta, Montana: This small museum is home to some of the oldest and best-preserved dinosaur specimens found in Montana.

Bare Dark Sky Observatory

Discover Bare Dark Sky Observatory in Burnsville, North Carolina: A mountaintop space observatory that is certified dark.

Ein Keshatot (Spring of the Arches)

Discover Ein Keshatot (Spring of the Arches) in Golan: This sixth-century synagogue was first reconstructed digitally, then in real life.

Apollo Pavilion

Discover Apollo Pavilion in Peterlee, England: A Brutalist monument in the middle of a housing estate by artist Victor Pasmore.

Riverside Plant Hotel

Discover Riverside Plant Hotel in Savannah, Georgia: A once-groundbreaking power plant turned into a hotel and mini-museum of archeological and geological wonders.

Miniature Park Boheminium

Discover Miniature Park Boheminium in Mariánské Lázně, Czechia: Stroll past dozens of intricately-detailed scale replicas of buildings from all over Czechia.

Dale’s Wheels Through Time

Discover Dale’s Wheels Through Time in Maggie Valley, North Carolina: A museum celebrating rare American motorcycles where everything runs—and none of it quietly.

Roman Columns of Brindisi

Discover Roman Columns of Brindisi in Brindisi, Italy: It's believed that these columns marked the end of the Via Appia.

Carroll Creek Covered Bridge

Discover Carroll Creek Covered Bridge in Frederick, Maryland: This hidden treasure provides a charming access point along the south side of Baker Park.

Skite Sainte Foy

Discover Skite Sainte Foy in Saint-Julien-des-Points, France: Cloistered comestibles are served with style at this French Orthodox monastery.

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