Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Terra Mineralia

Discover Terra Mineralia in Freiberg, Germany: A Saxony castle houses one of the largest and most outstanding mineral collections in the world.

Aladdin Coal Tipple

Discover Aladdin Coal Tipple in Aladdin, Wyoming: The crumbling structure is a rare surviving relic of the area's bygone mining industry.

Labrang Meditation Huts

Discover Labrang Meditation Huts in Gannan Zangzuzizhizhou, China: These picturesque structures speckle the hill above the monastery.

Aviation Warehouse

Discover Aviation Warehouse in El Mirage, California: Where decommissioned airplanes and helicopters go to become part of Hollywood.

Central Market of Valencia

Discover Central Market of Valencia in Valencia, Spain: This amazing example of Valencian Art Nouveau looks more like a cathedral than a public market.

Devil’s Slide Trestles

Discover Devil's Slide Trestles in Winter Park, Colorado: These decaying bridges 1,000 feet high are a reminder of the skill it took to cross the Colorado Rockies by rail.

Bufador de Peñiscola

Discover Bufador de Peñiscola in Peñíscola, Spain: The blowhole bursts spectacularly right next to the buildings in a medieval seaside town.

Church of St. Elizabeth

Discover Church of St. Elizabeth in Bratislava, Slovakia: Also known as the Blue Church, the building was consecrated to the daughter of Andrew II.

Castillo de San Marcos

Discover Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, Florida: The walls of America's oldest masonry fort famously "swallowed" cannonballs.

Mountwood Park

Discover Mountwood Park in Waverly, West Virginia: Once home to a booming 19th-century oil town, the park now houses a World War II submarine memorial complete with a torpedo.

Medieval Choir Windows

Discover Medieval Choir Windows in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany: This unique medieval artwork featuring the story of the Antichrist remained lost for decades.

Roman Cisterns of Fermo

Discover Roman Cisterns of Fermo in Fermo, Italy: A 2,000-year-old engineering wonder hides beneath an Italian town.

Grasberg Mine

Discover Grasberg Mine in Tembagapura, Indonesia: This mile-wide crater high in the mountains of Indonesia is the largest gold mine in the world.

‘Halloween’ House

Discover 'Halloween' House in South Pasadena, California: The famous blue house from the classic horror film "Halloween" is now a local landmark.

Bessie Sheppard Stone

Discover Bessie Sheppard Stone in Nottingham, England: This lonely memorial marks the supposedly haunted site of a brutal 19th-century murder.

Moogseum

Discover Moogseum in Asheville, North Carolina: A museum dedicated to the legacy of Bob Moog and his pioneering synthesizers.

Altun-Ha

Discover Altun-Ha in Rock Stone Pond, Belize: An important Mayan religious and trading center dating back to 200 BC.

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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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