Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Asbestos Mine

Discover Asbestos Mine in Val-des-Sources, Québec: Little remains of the once flourishing Asbestos' asbestos mine.

Porky The Litter Eater

Discover Porky The Litter Eater in Bethesda, Maryland: This propitious plastic porcine has been petitioning park visitors to pick up after themselves for more than 50 years.

Mountfitchet Castle

Discover Mountfitchet Castle in Stansted, England: This reconstructed Norman castle is the world's most accurate, from location to livestock.

Boca

Discover Boca in Truckee, California: This settlement on the original Transcontinental Railroad began by harvesting timber, but transitioned to a forgotten 19th-century industry: harvesting ice.

The Güell Pavillions Dragon Gate

Discover The Güell Pavillions Dragon Gate in Barcelona, Spain: This stunning iron gate designed by Modernist architect Antoni Gaudí is filled with mythic symbolism.

Smith’s Bridge

Discover Smith's Bridge in Wilmington, Delaware: The longest covered bridge in Delaware.

Sierra Buttes Lookout

Discover Sierra Buttes Lookout in Sierra City, California: A fire lookout atop a glacial pinnacle is reached by climbing three vertiginous flights of stairs.

Mabu Mabu Big Esso

Discover Mabu Mabu Big Esso in Melbourne, Australia: Featuring Torres Strait Islander cuisine and Australia's first indigenous bar.

White River Falls

Discover White River Falls in Maupin, Oregon: An out-of-the-way state park in Oregon that features both a picturesque waterfall and the ruins of a hydropower plant.

‘Tick Tock’

Discover 'Tick Tock' in Kirriemuir, Scotland: A re-purposed wooden sculpture, depicting one of Scotland's most beloved writer's amphibious creations.

1722 Waggonway Project

Discover 1722 Waggonway Project in Cockenzie, Scotland: A small museum dedicated to the ongoing archaeological works around what is likely Scotland's oldest railway.

Rubik R-26 Góbé

Discover Rubik R-26 Góbé in Budapest, Hungary: A giant glider—designed by the father of the Rubik's Cube's designer—now soars within a shopping mall.

Statue of Lenin

Discover Statue of Lenin in Hanoi, Vietnam: A gift from the Soviet Union in the 1980s, this is the only statue of the Soviet dictator in Southeast Asia.

Playa de Arena Blanca

Discover Playa de Arena Blanca in Luba, Equatorial Guinea: During the dry season, this white-sand beach hosts thousands of breeding butterflies.

Winterville Mounds

Discover Winterville Mounds in Greenville, Mississippi: One of the best-preserved Native American mounds remaining in the southern United States.

‘Towser’

Discover 'Towser' in Crieff, Scotland: A sculpture commemorating the "world's best mouser" in what is likely Scotland's longest-running distillery.

‘Jonas’

Discover 'Jonas' in Ghent, Belgium: An unsettling sculpture of a boy hanging out in a street in Ghent has been baffling visitors for years.

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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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