Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Kenneth Dike Library

Discover Kenneth Dike Library in Ibadan, Nigeria: Not only does this library house unique Arabic manuscripts, but it was also designed to keep the building cool during warm days.

French Shore Interpretation Centre

Discover French Shore Interpretation Centre in Conche, Newfoundland and Labrador: A small museum in Newfoundland is home to a 227-foot tapestry that preserves the remote region's colorful history.

Turning Point Suffragist Memorial

Discover Turning Point Suffragist Memorial in Lorton, Virginia: The first national memorial to honor all women suffragists stands on land where suffragists were once imprisoned.

Museum of London Docklands

Discover Museum of London Docklands in London, England: A museum that chronicles the interesting and often dark history of the London docklands, once one of the major trading ports of the world.

The Trophy Room Project

Discover The Trophy Room Project in Cambridge, Massachusetts: An anonymous art project beneath Longfellow Bridge where hundreds of trophies line the steel support beams.

The Fountain of Ideas

Discover The Fountain of Ideas in Yonezawa, Japan: Ward off bad luck and fill your bottle with "the most watery water" at this little roadside shrine in Yonezawa.

Tinguely Fountain

Discover Tinguely Fountain in Basel, Switzerland: This artistic fountain display pays homage to this area's theatrical history.

Safety City

Discover Safety City in Baltimore, Maryland: A miniature city within a city, complete with traffic signs, signals, and streets to teach Baltimore's youth traffic safety laws.

Haul Road (Dalton Highway)

Discover Haul Road (Dalton Highway) in Fairbanks, Alaska: This gravelly, dangerous highway is the only road in the United States that leads to the Arctic Ocean.

Stephen Phillips House

Discover Stephen Phillips House in Salem, Massachusetts: Built in 1821 using rooms from another estate, the Phillips House is the only historic home on scenic Chestnut Street open to the public.

‘Provost of Ceres’

Discover 'Provost of Ceres' in Ceres, Scotland: A well-traveled statuette of a much-beloved village icon.

Shiojiri Garden

Discover Shiojiri Garden in Mishawaka, Indiana: One of the few authentic Japanese gardens in the state of Indiana and perhaps the most peaceful place in the city of Mishawaka.

The Star Pyramid

Discover The Star Pyramid in Stirling, Scotland: This pyramid is dedicated to all those who suffered martyrdom for civil and religious liberty in Scotland.

Warsaw’s Tchorek Plaques

Discover Tchorek Plaques in Warsaw, Poland: These plaques found across Warsaw commemorate the sites where executions or battles took place during the German occupation.

Adnate Collingwood Mural

Discover Adnate Collingwood Mural in Melbourne, Australia: This 20-story artwork on a public housing block is the tallest mural in the Southern Hemisphere and tells the story of a community.

Dering Wood

Discover Dering Wood in Pluckley, England: A woodland close to England's "most haunted village" has been the site of many unexplained events and deaths.

Glaumbær Farm & Museum

Discover Glaumbær Farm & Museum in Glaumbær, Iceland: This former farm In northern Iceland is now a museum, where visitors can tour beautifully-preserved turf houses.

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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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