Archives: Atlas Obscuras

La Piedra del 68 (The Stone of ’68)

Looking somewhat like a meteorite sitting on a pedestal, this stone is a memorial to the 1968 Tlatelolco Massacre. During the 1960s, and in 1968 particularly, massive student protests erupted around the world, from the United States to Czechoslovakia to…

Monumento de La Virgen Santísima de Guadalupe

Monterrey is a Mexican city of grand proportions. Skyscrapers populate the skyline, including the tallest building in Latin America. Beyond the metropolis, the Sierra Madre Mountain range surrounds the city, including the famous El Cerro de la Silla, …

The Tomb at Cuthá Mountain

This area was once inhabited by the chocho-popolcas, and was the central political power in the Tehuacán Valley in pre-Hispanic times. The ancient city is located on top of a mountain, and the tomb itself is located at the highest point. Also, the area…

Ex Cine Garza (Former Garza Cinema)

The Garza (Crane) surname is one of the most representatives of the Northern Mexican city of Monterrey and its metropolitan area, the country’s second most-populated. This can be seen in the municipalities of San Nicolás de los Garza and San Pedro Ga…

La Muelita (The Little Molar)

Dr. Emilio Medellín Cordero might have Mexico City’s most appropriately shaped office. Designed to resemble a tooth, it could only have been built for a dentist, and the blue neon sign hanging above it, makes it clear that yes, here you can find a de…

Plaza Aniceto Ortega del Villar

Discover Plaza Aniceto Ortega del Villar in Pachuca de Soto, Mexico: The heart of Pachuca's small museum district pays tribute to a unique figure of Hidalguense history.

Korea-Mexico Friendship Bell

The bell of King Seongdeok of Silla, also known as Emile Bell (“emile” meaning “mommy” in the Silla language) is one of South Korea’s National Treasures (#29), so it makes sense that reproductions of this important object are often used by the…

Abandoned Salt Mine

Located on an uninhabited desert island in the Gulf of California and only accessible by a two-hour boat ride from Loreto, this is the site of what used to be a massive salt mine and pink salt lake. Along the seashore are the dilapidated remains of a pi…

Nahualac Pond

This shrine was built during prehispanic times as a way to honor the Mesoamerican creation myth, where Cipactli (a crocodile that represents the earth) was floating on water. From his body, all the land and sky were created. A tetzacualco (shrine) sits…

Museo del Ferrocarril Antigua Estación del Golfo

Discover Museo del Ferrocarril Antigua Estación del Golfo in Monterrey, Mexico: A Beaux-Arts architectural surprise and a charming nostalgic tour through northern Mexico’s railway revolution.

Casa Madero

Only vines grown in the toughest soil conditions produce the best grapes; their roots have to fight for every last drop of water year after year. Likewise, the wine estate, now known as Casa Madero, has for over four centuries continually adapted, makin…

Glorieta Plaza de Sevilla (Seville Plaza Roundabout)

This area of the Insurgentes Mixcoac colonia (neighborhood) of Mexico City, could well be called “Little Spain.” Not necessarily because of a large migrant community from the European country, but rather just because of its street names. Málaga, Sa…

Boeing 727 Crash Experiment

At around 10 a.m. on the morning of April 27, 2012, silence in the vast and empty Laguna Salada desert was shattered as a Boeing 727 slammed into the ground. The impact tore the cockpit apart and debris flew across the sandy landscape. Then, just as qui…

República de Guatemala 28

Discover República de Guatemala 28 in Mexico City, Mexico: A trompe l'oeil mural remembers the original colonial building that once stood here.

Fuerte de San Miguel

Much like its sister Fort of San José el Alto, the Fort of San Miguel was built in the 18th century. Both forts served to defend the city and the Bay of Campeche from pirate attacks. As a Colonial stronghold of Spanish authority, the city was often tar…

Parish of Divine Providence

As the Del Valle colonia (neighborhood) in Mexico City expanded in the 1960s, the small Catholic chapel that served this area became too small, so the local residents financed the construction of a larger building. Designed by architects Amaury Pérez d…

Tlachtemalácatl (Mesoamerican Ballgame Stone Ring)

Coyoacán was once a town completely separate from Mexico City. As such, it needed its own central square, what is now the Plaza Hidalgo. When this plaza was being built, a large stone ring with a figure carved on it was unearthed. This was a tlachtemal…

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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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