Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Museo Nacional de Cartografía

Discover Museo Nacional de Cartografía in Mexico City, Mexico: This museum dedicated to cartography is housed in a former 17th-century convent.

Bow & Arrow Brewing Co.

Discover Bow & Arrow Brewing Co. in Albuquerque, New Mexico: Owned by Native American women, this brewery is a celebration of indigenous culture in the American Southwest.

Null Island

Discover Null Island in : A busy island at the center of the world that doesn’t actually exist.

Toys of Eros

Discover Toys of Eros in Provincetown, Massachusetts: This stimulating sex toy museum is sure to arouse the interest of its visitors.

Fortaleza de Juromenha

Discover Fortaleza de Juromenha in Almoinhos, Portugal: This abandoned fortress still stands guard over the Guadiana River despite a history of warfare.

Forgotten World Highway

Discover Forgotten World Highway in Whangamōmona, New Zealand: This remote highway took over 50 years to build.

Posada el Castillo

Discover Posada el Castillo in Xilitla, Mexico: The former home of surrealist Edward James, who gave Xilitla its main attraction.

Harewood Lodge

Discover Harewood Lodge in Washington, D.C.: One of the first Second Empire-style buildings constructed in North America.

The Spite Wall

Discover The Spite Wall in Westminster, Massachusetts: One man built this massive wall to keep his neighbor from complaining about working on Sundays.

Grave of Billy the Kid

Discover Grave of Billy the Kid in Fort Sumner, New Mexico: The final resting place of the most famous outlaw in the Old West.

The Cayetano Juárez Adobe

Discover The Cayetano Juárez Adobe in Napa, California: Napa's oldest building is now a Mexican restaurant.

Joshua Ward House

Discover Joshua Ward House in Salem, Massachusetts: This home is steeped in history from, George Washington to George Corwin, High Sheriff during the Salem Witch Trials.

Baelo Claudia

Discover Baelo Claudia in Cádiz, Spain: The ruins of a 2,000-year-old Roman fishing village perched on one of the best beaches in Spain.

Navajo Bridge

Discover Navajo Bridge in Marble Canyon, Arizona: When it was built in 1929, this historic bridge was the only place to cross the Colorado River for 600 miles.

The Drunk Clock of Petrovaradin Fortress

Discover Pijani Sat (Drunk Clock) in Petrovaradin, Serbia: Backwards hour and minute hands and a timing mechanism that fluctuates with the temperature led to this clock tower's local nickname.

Harmonie German Club

Discover Harmonie German Club in Narrabundah, Australia: The largest piece of the Berlin Wall in the Southern Hemisphere sits outside this German social club in a Canberra suburb.

Formakin House

Discover Formakin House in Renfrewshire, Scotland: Stone monkeys adorn the buildings of this former estate.

The Grave of Oderus Urungus

Discover The Grave of Oderus Urungus in Richmond, Virginia: Memorial stone for GWAR vocalist, depicted in his iconic costume.

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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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