Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Britannia Mine Museum

Discover Britannia Mine Museum in Britannia Beach, British Columbia: From mining complex to industrial exhibition, this museum once played a major part in the X-Files.

Pingualuit Crater Lake

Discover Pingualuit Crater Lake in Rivière-Koksoak, Québec: A lake in the middle of the tundra of Quebec is said to be the purest freshwater lake on Earth.

Columbia Icefield

Discover Columbia Icefield in Alberta: A surviving remnant of the thick ice mass that once mantled most of Western Canada's mountains.

Gopher Hole Museum

Discover Gopher Hole Museum in Torrington, Alberta: Museum of stuffed gophers set up in various scenes.

Grande Hermine

Discover Grande Hermine in Lincoln, Ontario: The third version of this tall sailing ship sits, rusted and burnt, in Lake Ontario.

Friendship 500

Discover Friendship 500 in Maple Ridge, British Columbia: A floating McDonald's built for Expo '86 is now a derelict relic on Burrard Inlet.

Red Sands of Prince Edward Island

Discover Red Sands of Prince Edward Island in Lower Darnley, Prince Edward Island: Rusty red sands line the shores of this Canadian Province.

Fan Tan Alley

Discover Fan Tan Alley in Victoria, British Columbia: The narrowest street in Canada was once a spot for dastardly doings, now a historic piece of Chinatown.

McNab’s Island

Discover McNab's Island in Halifax, Nova Scotia: This Canadian island is a veritable garden of decay with countless abandoned structures dotting the landscape.

Val-Jalbert Ghost Town

Discover Val-Jalbert Ghost Town in Métabetchouan-Lac-à-la-Croix, Québec: An abandoned town centered around a paper mill powered by a large waterfall.

Chinese Railroad Workers Memorial

Discover Chinese Railroad Workers Memorial in Toronto, Ontario: A monument to the 17,000 Chinese who worked and died to build Canada's Pacific Railway.

Mount Thor

Discover Mount Thor in Nunavut: Earth's greatest purely vertical drop at 4,101 feet.

Ottawa Jail Hostel

Discover Ottawa Jail Hostel in Ottawa, Ontario: This inexpensive lodging house was once a prison notorious for its inhumane practices.

Niagara Tesla Monument

Discover Niagara Tesla Monument in Niagara Falls, Ontario: Niagara Falls holds a special place in Nikola Tesla's history, so they put a statue on it.

Old Québec Funicular

Discover Old Québec Funicular in Québec City, Québec: This steep cable railway has been hoisting passengers in the heart of Québec City for over a century.

Hopewell Rocks

Discover Hopewell Rocks in Hopewell Cape, New Brunswick: Iconic rock formations that allow for exploration during high or low tide.

Oratoire St. Joseph

Discover Oratoire St. Joseph in Montreal, Québec: City law dictates that this mountaintop cathedral containing the heart of a saint is to remain the tallest building in town.

Banff Merman

Discover Banff Merman in Banff, Alberta: A mysterious taxidermy man-beast of the seven seas.

R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant

Discover R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant in Toronto, Ontario: This "Palace of Purification" has made many film appearances as a dark and sinister headquarters.

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