Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Jelgava Palace

Discover Jelgava Palace in Jelgava, Latvia: This ducal residence was once home to a future Russian empress and a French king in exile.

Wooden Quilt Doors

Discover Wooden Quilt Doors in New Orleans, Louisiana: An artist weaves "wooden quilts" with scraps salvaged from his Katrina-damaged home in Tremé.

Snake Rock

Discover Snake Rock in Marlborough, Connecticut: This roadside wonder is as mysterious as it is beloved.

Crooked Slide Park

Discover Crooked Slide Park in Barry's Bay, Ontario: Inside this park, an engineering marvel from the early 20th-century still stands.

Church of Agia Fotini Mantineias

Discover Church of Agia Fotini Mantineias in Tripoli, Greece: This church combines Christian, Byzantine, and ancient Greek architectural elements.

Wreck of the Steamship Helena

Discover Wreck of the Steamship Helena in Bigfork, Montana: A once celebrated industrial wonder now lurks in a quiet corner of Flathead Lake.

Rodalquilar Gold Mine

Discover Rodalquilar Gold Mine in Rodalquilar, Spain: This abandoned gold mine found a second life as a post-apocalyptic film set.

The Trongate Cherub

Discover The Trongate Cherub in Glasgow, Scotland: An angelic, yet demonic-looking figurine presides over one of Glasgow's most ancient streets.

Flateyri Bookstore

Discover Flateyri Bookstore in Flateyri, Iceland: The oldest bookstore in Iceland.

Anclote Key Lighthouse

Discover Anclote Key Lighthouse in Anclote Key, Florida: Though it may look like it’s missing its outer shell, this skeletal cast-iron tower was built to withstand wind and waves.

Orange and Alexandria Railroad Culvert

Discover Orange and Alexandria Railroad Culvert in Springfield, Virginia: This little brick tunnel built by Confederate forces was used to conduct surprise attacks on the railroad.

Farr Cemetery

Discover Farr Cemetery in Pullman, Washington: A graveyard for early settlers, sometimes called Old Pioneer Cemetery, hidden in the woods on a hillside.

Terreti Bazaar

Discover Terreti Bazaar in Kolkata, India: For just a few hours each morning, this market serves specialties from the city's shrinking Chinese-Indian community.

RAF Tempsford Memorial Barn

Discover RAF Tempsford Memorial Barn in Everton, England: Set amid the remains of a secret WWII airfield, this barn was preserved as a memorial to Allied agents who parachuted into Europe.

Alcázar de Segovia

Discover Alcázar de Segovia in Segovia, Spain: This magnificent castle grew from a small Moorish fortress, and reportedly inspired two iconic Disney castles.

Dawson City Museum

Discover Dawson City Museum in Dawson City, Yukon: A lasting testament to the Klondike Gold Rush.

Mount Strachan Crash Site and Memorial

Discover Mount Strachan Crash Site and Memorial in West Vancouver, British Columbia: The scattered debris of a T-33 Canadian naval jet crash from 1963 now stands as a memorial.

Cornelius Low House

Discover Cornelius Low House in Piscataway, New Jersey: One of the last-standing and most prominent structures from a long-lost colonial port community.

The Coronation Stone

Discover The Coronation Stone in London, England: Seven English kings were crowned on this unassuming and largely ignored stone.

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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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