Archives: Atlas Obscuras

St Hilary’s Chapel

Discover St Hilary's Chapel in Denbigh, Wales: This tower is all that remains of a once-famed chapel.

Henry Wilson Shoe Shop

Discover Henry Wilson Shoe Shop in Natick, Massachusetts: A small, red building located along a state highway where the 18th Vice President made shoes in his youth.

Smokey Joe’s

Discover Smokey Joe's in Munich, Germany: This airport currywurst stand is made out of retro airplane parts.

Bennett Spring Natural Tunnel

Discover Bennett Spring Natural Tunnel in Lebanon, Missouri: Away from the crowds of fishing enthusiasts, take a hike deep into the woods and journey into an eerie darkness.

Twin Poplars

Discover Twin Poplars in Lenoir, North Carolina: This site in Caldwell County is the location where the Cherokee and Catawba are said to have entered a peace treaty.

Museo del Alfeñique

Discover Museo del Alfeñique in Toluca, Mexico: This museum tells the history of Day of the Dead sugar sculptures.

Cabo Prior Battery

Discover Cabo Prior Battery in Ferrol, Spain: Crumbling World War II-era gun emplacements still stand near lighthouses on the Spanish coast.

Jen Library Bee

Discover Jen Library Bee in Savannah, Georgia: You’ve heard of bookworms, but this small sculpture at a university library may be the world’s first bookbee.

Garden Island Ship’s Graveyard

Discover Garden Island Ship's Graveyard in Garden Island, Australia: The sullen remains of vessels abandoned in the Port Adelaide River.

Petrified Wood Gas Station

Discover Petrified Wood Gas Station in Decatur, Texas: In 1935, the owner decided to cover the exterior of this Texaco station with petrified wood.

Church of San Bernardino

Discover Church of San Bernardino in Lallio, Italy: The walls of this tiny Italian church are entirely covered with frescoes.

Aluminum Airplane

Discover Aluminum Airplane in Oviedo, Florida: This aluminum airplane pays homage to the Flying Tigers of World War II.

Watecha Bowl

Discover Watecha Bowl in Sioux Falls, South Dakota: Chef Lawrence West serves up Indian tacos, wojapi, and other Lakota dishes at the brick-and-mortar incarnation of his popular food truck.

The Abandoned Bus of Scarista Beach

Discover The Scarista Bus in Outer Hebrides, Scotland: A mysterious, weather-beaten bus lies on the coast of Harris, enticing the curious to investigate.

Giant’s Cottage

Discover Giant's Cottage in East Meon, England: The front of this 17th-century cottage also contains a large, stone face.

Lucy Maud Montgomery Park

Discover Lucy Maud Montgomery Park in Toronto, Ontario: Named after one of Canada's greatest writers who lived out her days in this quaint neighborhood.

Johnny Mercer’s Childhood Home

Discover Johnny Mercer’s Childhood Home in Savannah, Georgia: The humble beginnings of one of America’s greatest songsmiths.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church

Discover St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Tombstone, Arizona: The first Protestant church in Arizona and only Gothic Revival style adobe church in the world.

Munich’s Michael Jackson Memorial

Discover Michael Jackson Denkmal (Michael Jackson Memorial) in Munich, Germany: An unofficial monument to the late King of Pop sits at the base of a Renaissance composer's statue.

Z-Hiag Former Chemical Plant

Discover Z-Hiag Former Chemical Plant in Altenmünster, Germany: Hidden in the forest are the remains of a former World War II chemical plant.

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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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