Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Shelter of Cervantes

Discover Shelter of Cervantes in Alcoi, Spain: This air raid shelter from the Spanish Civil War is now a museum dedicated to the history of the city's bombardment.

Sumpter Valley Gold Dredge

Discover Sumpter Valley Gold Dredge in Sumpter, Oregon: During its heyday, 72 one-ton buckets from this dredge bore into the Powder River excavating vast gold deposits.

Rosomača Canyon

Discover Rosomača Canyon in Slavinja, Serbia: The ridged layers that make up this river canyon represent Earth's geological history.

United Shoe Machinery Corporation Building

Discover United Shoe Machinery Corporation Building in Boston, Massachusetts: What may be Boston's finest Art Deco building, located in the city's Financial District.

Inverkiething Mercat Cross

Discover Inverkiething Mercat Cross in Edinburgh, Scotland: Aside from denoting a public square or market, this medieval structure was also a sign of a town's prosperity.

Castle of Agia Mavra

Discover Castle of Agia Mavra (Santa Maura) in Greece: A seaside castle complex that stood through centuries of conquests.

Ouzoud Falls

Discover Ouzoud Falls in Ouzoud, Morocco: One of the tallest waterfalls in Africa is also home to a population of monkeys who enjoy the waters and the occasional guest.

Hotel New York

Discover Hotel New York in Rotterdam, Netherlands: This hotel was once home to a steamliner company and became the final rest stop for Europeans heading to the New World.

Naters Beinhaus

Discover Naters Beinhaus in Naters, Switzerland: This ossuary is more than five centuries old and is heralded as one of the finest in Switzerland.

El Bunker de JP

Discover El Bunker de JP in Puerto Escondido, Mexico: In this beloved beach town, a secret seafood haven lies tucked behind a car wash.

The Flying Donkey

Discover The Flying Donkey in Rome, Italy: Rome's first modern graffito is all that is left of a peaceful protest from the 1970s.

Fuller Lodge Art Center

Discover Fuller Lodge Art Center in Los Alamos, New Mexico: Once a dining hall for boarding school students, this lodge was a popular haunt for nuclear physicists working on the Manhattan Project.

Glass Bottle Houses

Discover Glass Bottle Houses in Treherne, Manitoba: This small enclave plays host to a house, church, and wishing well all composed entirely of recycled glass bottles.

Ruddy’s General Store Museum

Discover Ruddy's General Store Museum in Palm Springs, California: This general store offers visitors a glimpse back into the 1930s.

Palace Atetelco

Discover Palace Atetelco in San Juan Teotihuacan de Arista, Mexico: This pre-Hispanic apartment complex also includes ancestral paintings that point to its military past.

Mary Willis Library

Discover Mary Willis Library in Washington, Georgia: The first free library in Georgia features an original Tiffany stained glass window of Mary Willis.

Old Spanish Sugar Mill

Discover Old Spanish Sugar Mill in De Leon Springs, Florida: Flip your own pancakes in this old sugar mill within a Florida state park.

Alliierten Museum

Discover Alliierten Museum in Berlin, Germany: This museum is home to a sugar sculpture of the Berlin Airlift Memorial.

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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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