Archives: Atlas Obscuras

The Winking Man

Discover The Winking Man in Leek, England: A face-like natural rock formation so well known, a pub was named in its honor.

Valga/Valka Border

Discover Valga/Valka Border in Valga, Estonia: For the last century, this international border within a small town has appeared and disappeared various times.

Tartu Student Lock-Up

Discover Tartu Student Lock-Up in Tartu, Estonia: Troublesome students were detained in this tiny graffiti-covered university jail.

Aguascalientes Government Palace Murals

Discover Aguascalientes Government Palace Murals in Aguascalientes, Mexico: The artwork detailing the city's history features a few controversial characters.

Soulé Steam Feed Works

Discover Soulé Steam Feed Works in Meridian, Mississippi: The last intact steam engine factory in the United States.

The Blue Horizon

Discover The Blue Horizon in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: A legendary boxing venue and ring featured in Rocky V.

Mattolaituri

Discover Mattolaituri in Helsinki, Finland: This restaurant combines two Finnish traditions in one place: warm-weather relaxation and outdoor carpet-cleaning.

Jauniela (New Street)

Discover Jauniela (New Street) in Riga, Latvia: This charming Latvian lane doubled as Baker Street on the Soviet Union’s version of Sherlock Holmes.

Daizenji ‘Grape Temple’

Discover Daizenji 'Grape Temple' in Koshu, Japan: A monk-run winery inside a Buddhist temple celebrates Japan's crown grape varietal.

Clay Tunnel in Dalat

Discover Clay Tunnel in Dalat in Thành phố Đà Lạt, Vietnam: A sculpture park that takes the use of clay to a whole new level.

Glasgow City Chambers’ Staircase

Discover Glasgow City Chambers' Staircase in Glasgow, Scotland: The ornate structure is part of a building boasting more marble than the Vatican.

Peoria Holocaust Memorial

Discover Peoria Holocaust Memorial in Peoria, Illinois: A collection of 11 million buttons illustrates the human toll of the Holocaust.

Firefighters Museum of Alcoy

Discover Firefighters Museum of Alcoy in Alcoi, Spain: The first firefighters museum in southern Spain is ironically located in an old textile mill that burned down in 1985.

Turk’s Head Building

Discover Turk's Head Building in Providence, Rhode Island: The stone sculpture of an Ottoman soldier is an homage to a lost Providence landmark.

Kyiv Institute of Information

Discover Kyiv Institute of Information in Kyiv, Ukraine: This exquisite, alienesque piece of Soviet architecture is being threatened by modern shopping malls.

Dragon Park

Discover Dragon Park in Nashville, Tennessee: This popular park is home to a sea serpent sculpture that now overshadows the twisted history of its creation.

1930 Folk Street

Discover 1930 Folk Street in Shanghai, China: This tunnel looks like a sliver of Shanghai that's stuck in the past.

Museo Casa de Carranza

Discover Museo Casa de Carranza in Mexico City, Mexico: The former Mexican president kept the bullets that killed his predecessor on display in his home, now a museum.

‘Kay’s Fudge’ Gravestone

Discover 'Kay's Fudge' Gravestone in Logan, Utah: Kay Andrews's recipe was so good, her family immortalized it in stone.

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

PP ToS