Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Recsk National Memorial Park

Discover Recsk National Memorial Park in Recsk, Hungary: For decades, Hungary's Communist Party insisted this gulag had never existed.

Lucky Rabbit

Discover Lucky Rabbit in Hattiesburg, Mississippi: A parade of interactive nostalgia nestled within a giant brick building in downtown Hattiesburg.

Manila Clock Tower

Discover Manila Clock Tower in Manila, Philippines: This iconic clock tower is the largest in the Philippines.

Ruta de la Amistad (Friendship Route)

Discover Ruta de la Amistad (Friendship Route) in Mexico City, Mexico: A series of modernist, abstract sculptures form a route created as part of the 1968 Olympics' Cultural Olympiad.

We Bite Rare & Unusual Plants

Discover We Bite Rare & Unusual Plants in New Orleans, Louisiana: This New Orleans boutique and nursery specializes in rare flora, with a focus on carnivorous plants.

Melbourne Rectangular Stadium

Discover Melbourne Rectangular Stadium in Melbourne, Australia: Equipped with thousands of LED lights, this geodesic dome-shaped stadium is an engineering delight.

Washington Canoe Club

Discover Washington Canoe Club in Washington, D.C.: This historic boathouse was constructed using salvaged lumber from burned barns.

The Family Vault of the Dukes of Courland

Discover The Family Vault of the Dukes of Courland in Jelgava, Latvia: The Jelgava Palace holds one of the few burial places of governor’s dynasties that is open to the public.

Leonora Carrington Museum

Discover Leonora Carrington Museum in Xilitla, Mexico: This dreamlike museum is filled with the works of an influential surrealist artist whose name you may have never heard.

Capitoline Wolf Statue

Discover Capitoline Wolf Statue in Tønsberg, Norway: A statue that would be at home in Rome can instead be found in the heart of Norway's oldest city.

Lane Motor Museum

This Nashville museum located inside a former bread factory highlights the weird, the wonderful, and the woebegone in automotive history.

Australian Nurses Memorial

Discover Australian Nurses Memorial in Melbourne, Australia: A poignant memorial to remember the Australian nurses who lost their lives during the Second World War.

Dyffryn Ardudwy Burial Chambers

Discover Dyffryn Ardudwy Burial Chambers in Penrhyndeudraeth, Wales: Neolithic burial chambers hidden beside a village school.

Mayburgh Henge

Discover Mayburgh Henge in Eamont Bridge, England: An impressive Neolithic henge with banks nearly 10 feet high.

Christchurch Greyfriars Church Garden

Discover Christchurch Greyfriars Church Garden in London, England: The ruins of a church destroyed by both the Great Fire of London and the Blitz, now turned into a peaceful garden.

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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

PP ToS