Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Waddamana Power Station

Discover Waddamana Power Station in Waddamana, Australia: The decommissioned station is now a museum packed with antiquated hydroelectricity artifacts.

Los Cancajos Salt Factory

Discover Los Cancajos Salt Factory in La Palma, Spain: These old towers extract salt from the sea.

Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant

Discover Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant in Shoreham, New York: The first commercial nuclear power plant constructed on Long Island.

Charles Moulin’s Hut

Discover Charles Moulin's Hut in Province of Isernia, Italy: The hermit's humble home is hidden near the forested peak of Monte Marrone.

Notre-Dame-de-Lorette

Discover Notre-Dame-de-Lorette in Paris, France: Claude Monet was baptized in this lavishly ornate Paris church.

Robot Building

Discover Robot Building in Bangkok, Thailand: The bank's whimsical shape was inspired by a child’s toy.

Conanicut Island Lighthouse

Discover Conanicut Island Lighthouse in Jamestown, Rhode Island: This storybook New England home is actually a decommissioned lighthouse.

National Museum of the U.S. Air Force

Discover National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Riverside, Ohio: Inside houses a vast collection of military aircraft and missiles spanning the ages.

Tennessee Williams Museum

Discover Tennessee Williams Museum in Key West, Florida: This small Key West museum is packed with dozens of artifacts that illustrate the life of the iconic playwright.

Black Rock Stakes Sculpture

Discover Black Rock Stakes Sculpture in Port Hedland, Australia: This sculpture honors the legacy of Australia's now-defunct, Black Rock Stakes wheelbarrow race.

Creek Square

Discover Creek Square in Boston, Massachusetts: This historic patch of real estate offers a glimpse of colonial Boston.

Galerie Zeinart

Discover Galerie Zeinart in Nouakchott, Mauritania: The quaint gallery displays works by artists from all across Mauritania.

Cape Horn Monument

Discover Cape Horn Monument in Cabo de Hornos, Chile: This sculpture pays homage to sailors that perished attempting to round Cape Horn.

Crosby Blitz Beach

Discover Crosby Blitz Beach in Waterloo, England: Much of what constituted mid-century Liverpool now litters a beach outside of town.

The Black Hole of Calcutta

Discover The Black Hole of Calcutta in Kolkata, India: The site of an atrocity that would be used to justify Britain’s conquest of India.

Brooklyn Ruins

Discover Brooklyn Ruins in Fayetteville, West Virginia: The remains of one of the last mining camps developed on the New River.

Chef Vola’s

Discover Chef Vola's in Atlantic City, New Jersey: If it feels like a speakeasy, that’s because it probably was one.

Mitla Cafe

Discover Mitla Cafe in San Bernardino, California: The Route 66 institution that inspired Taco Bell also served as an important headquarters for Mexican-American social movements.

Menu

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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