Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Longview Cemetery

Discover Longview Cemetery in Austin, Texas: A tiny graveyard with a mysterious past.

Cold Hollow Sculpture Park

Discover Cold Hollow Sculpture Park in Enosburg, Vermont: Dozens of playful sculptures blanket these 200 rolling acres of farmland in an ode to art and landscape.

Averara Skeletons

Discover Averara Skeletons in Averara, Italy: Five painted skeletons are hiding behind a church in this tiny village in the Italian Alps.

Hotel Lutetia

Discover Hotel Lutetia in Paris, France: A glamorous hotel that once accommodated French resistance fighters and concentration camp survivors.

Schönhauser Allee Cemetery

Discover Schönhauser Allee Cemetery in Berlin, Germany: Inside this Jewish cemetery is a memorial to soldiers who deserted the German army and were executed.

Angels Rest

Discover Angels Rest in Kanab, Utah: Not your typical pet cemetery.

Pompeii Thermopolium

Discover Pompeii Thermopolium in Pompeii, Italy: Before it was buried by volcanic ash, this fast-food restaurant fed the hungry hordes of ancient Rome.

Beechworth Asylum

Discover Beechworth Asylum in Beechworth, Australia: This former psychiatric hospital was once one of the largest in Australia.

Saw Mill River Daylighting

Discover Saw Mill River Daylighting in Yonkers, New York: A waterway covered over after the Industrial Revolution has been unearthed and cleaned up, for the enjoyment of fish and humans alike.

Don Knotts Statue

Discover Don Knotts Statue in Morgantown, West Virginia: The actor best known for slapstick comedy is memorialized in his home town.

Travilah Oak Tree

Discover Travilah Oak Tree in Potomac, Maryland: A massive white oak tree provides a beautiful canopy near a suburban shopping center and stood before the signing of the Constitution.

Taughannock Giant

Discover Taughannock Giant in Trumansburg, New York: A reproduction of a giant humanoid "fossil," a hoax buried locally for construction crews to find and gain national attention.

Ned Kelly Animatronic Museum

Discover Ned Kelly Animatronic Museum in Glenrowan, Australia: A totally unique, animatronic depiction of the Australian gunslinger's last stand.

Isla de San Simón

Discover Isla de San Simón in Pontevedra, Spain: This small, lush island has a long and bloody history.

Hanging Rock Raptor Observatory

Discover Hanging Rock Raptor Observatory in Union, West Virginia: This former fire tower is now a rustic observatory that offers amazing views of eagles, hawks, and the Appalachian Mountains.

Trap History Museum

Discover Trap History Museum in Galloway, Ohio: If you want to build a better mousetrap, first consult this small museum's massive collection of trapping tools.

Chanticleer Garden

Discover Chanticleer Garden in Wayne, Pennsylvania: A beloved horticultural oasis on the grounds of a wealthy family's former estate.

ASM International Materials Park

Discover ASM International Materials Park in Novelty, Ohio: Known as "The Dome" this is the world's largest open air geodesic dome.

Gran Stupa Bön Para la Paz Mundial

Discover Gran Stupa Bön Para la Paz Mundial in Valle de Bravo, Mexico: One of the oldest and largest Buddhist structures in the Americas, located in a peaceful forest outside Mexico City.

Menu

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