Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Gare Du Montzen

Discover Gare Du Montzen in Plombières, Belgium: Abandoned since 1998, this train station has become an oasis for urban explorers.

Caverns Grotto

Discover Caverns Grotto in Peach Springs, Arizona: In a 345-million-year-old cave that's 200 feet underground, dinner awaits.

Bundaberg Botanic Gardens

Discover Bundaberg Botanic Gardens in Bundaberg North, Australia: Peanut butter trees and miracle berries are just the beginning.

The Armstrong Nugget

Discover The Armstrong Nugget in Baker City, Oregon: This 80.33 troy ounces of solid gold is believed to be the largest nugget from Oregon still in its original form.

Honke Owariya

Discover Honke Owariya in Kyoto, Japan: One of Kyoto's oldest food establishments has supplied soba noodles to temple priests and the Imperial Palace.

Emperador Caltzontzin Theater

Discover Emperador Caltzontzin Theater in Pátzcuaro, Mexico: This modern theatre is housed inside a convent constructed more than 300 years ago.

Servian Wall at McDonald’s

Discover Servian Wall at McDonald's in Rome, Italy: Inside this Mcdonald's you can dine on your Big Mac and fries next to a 2,500-year-old Roman wall.

Something Wild

Discover Something Wild in Adelaide, Australia: This store offers tastes of Aboriginal Australia, with some contemporary and global twists.

William Burke Museum

Discover William Burke Museum in Edinburgh, Scotland: Possibly the world's smallest museum is home to one exhibit that sheds light on the capital city's dark criminal history.

Vía Verde Vertical Gardens

Discover Vía Verde Vertical Gardens in Mexico City, Mexico: The extremely grey columns of one of Mexico City's most iconic beltways are slowly gaining a bit of color.

Column of the Goths

Discover Column of the Goths in Istanbul, Turkey: This column celebrates Rome's victory over the Goths, and may be the oldest Roman monument in Istanbul.

Café on the Green

Discover Café on the Green in Durham, England: Take afternoon tea in a 17th-century almshouse.

‘Autoeater’

Discover 'Autoeater' in Atlanta, Georgia: In Midtown Atlanta, tons of marble appears to be devouring a Fiat Panda at this unique art installation.

Old Harkilees

Discover Old Harkilees in Essex, England: This wooden effigy believed to be King Charles I hung for centuries outside an inn and was mistaken for a deity.

Melegatti Bakery Pandoro Sculptures

Discover Melegatti Bakery Pandoro Sculptures in Verona, Italy: Atop the former site of a historic bakery sit two stone tributes to Verona's contribution to traditional Italian baking.

Whitney Plantation

Discover Whitney Plantation in Edgard, Louisiana: The first plantation museum in the United States to focus on the lives of enslaved people.

Charity Island Lighthouse

Discover Charity Island Lighthouse in Au Gres, Michigan: The very isolated Charity Island Lighthouse has been watching over Saginaw Bay since 1857.

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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

PP ToS