Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Calakmul

Discover Calakmul in Mexico: A hidden treasure of an abandoned city lies deep in the jungles of Campeche, Mexico.

A River… Underwater

Discover Cenote Angelita in Chumkopó, Mexico: A flooded Mexican cave that hides a river beneath the water.

Cenote Zací

Discover Cenote Zací in Valladolid, Mexico: If you can look past the nearby sewer pipes, this urban sinkhole grotto is a mini-paradise.

Guachimontones

Discover Guachimontones in Teuchitlán, Mexico: The jewel of western Mexico's archaeological legacy is this tiered circular pyramid now covered in grass.

Los Prismas Basálticos Waterfalls

Discover Los Prismas Basálticos Waterfalls in Huasca de Ocampo, Mexico: Two waterfalls flow down the cliff faces decorated with rare natural basalt columns.

Chicxulub Crater

Buried beneath thousands of feet of limestone in the Yucatán Peninsula are the remains of an impact so great that it wiped out the dinosaurs—and more than half of the species on Earth at the time. The Chicxulub Crater, named after the village that li…

Sótano de las Golondrinas

Discover Sótano de las Golondrinas (Cave of Swallows) in Huehuetlán, Mexico: The largest cave shaft in the world is home to thousands of birds and popular with BASE jumpers.

The Arch of Cabo San Lucas

Discover The Arch of Cabo San Lucas in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico: A graceful natural rock formation stands astride the point where the Gulf of California meets the Pacific Ocean.

Museo de las Momias de Guanajuato

Discover Museo de las Momias de Guanajuato in Guanajuato, Mexico: Mexico's astounding mummy museum with "the world's smallest mummy.".

Hierve El Agua

Discover Hierve El Agua in San Pablo Villa de Mitla, Mexico: This beautifully deceptive waterfall is something far different from what it appears to be.

Museo del Objeto del Objeto

Discover Museo del Objeto del Objeto in Mexico City, Mexico: At a museum of everyday objects, it is the act of collecting that is really on display.

National Museum of Death

Discover National Museum of Death in Aguascalientes, Mexico: A uniquely robust and historic look at Mexico's omnipresent dance with Death.

Palenque

Discover Palenque in Palenque, Mexico: An elaborate Mayan city shrouded in alien conspiracy revealed the tomb of Pacal the Great.

Museo de la Medicina Mexicana

Discover Museo de la Medicina Mexicana in Mexico City, Mexico: A scientific repository of goiters, boils and other ailments throughout Mexican history.

Nautilus House

Discover Nautilus House in Naucalpan, Mexico: This fantastical house shaped like a seashell brings aquatic design to architecture.

Museo Casa de León Trotsky

Discover Museo Casa de León Trotsky in Mexico City, Mexico: A museum in the former home of Marxist revolutionary Leon Trotsky.

Museo Subacuático de Arte

Discover Museo Subacuático de Arte in Cancún, Mexico: Underwater art project will double as a massive artificial coral reef to help regenerate the damaged ecosystem.

Pet Cemetery Cenote

Discover Pet Cemetery Cenote in Tulum, Mexico: An ancient system of freshwater caves filled with animal bones, including that of species long-extinct.

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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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