Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Marine Park Salt Marsh

Discover Marine Park Salt Marsh in Brooklyn, New York: This preserved wilderness hides the remains of a colonial grain mill used to feed George Washington's troops.

Weißensee Cemetery

Discover Weißensee Cemetery in Berlin, Germany: This sprawling Jewish cemetery is one of the largest in Europe.

Iceberg Alley

Discover Iceberg Alley in Newfoundland and Labrador: Hundreds of enormous icebergs drift through this waterway every year.

Tehran Aerospace Exhibition Center

Discover Tehran Aerospace Exhibition Center in Tehran, Iran: A graveyard of old and rare planes that once were the glory of Persian aviation.

Curiosities Garden

Discover Curiosities Garden in Lyon, France: This hidden garden boasts amazing views of Lyon.

Wise Homestead Museum

Discover Wise Homestead Museum in Erie, Colorado: This restored farmhouse is a time capsule of a 19th-century Colorado homestead.

Mark Bischof’s Studio

Discover Mark Bischof's Studio in Amsterdam, Netherlands: This subterranean studio is filled with fascinating kinetic art.

Old Reno Arch

Discover Old Reno Arch in Reno, Nevada: The arch that celebrated the completion of the Lincoln and Victory highways.

Cremation Ghats of Varanasi

Discover Cremation Ghats of Varanasi in Varanasi, India: Many Hindus make the long pilgrimage to this holy city to have their remains burned on the banks of the Ganges River.

Port of Saint-Goustan

Discover Port of Saint-Goustan in Auray, France: A quaint medieval harbour where Benjamin Franklin landed in 1776.

St Giles’ Cathedral Thistle Chapel

Discover St Giles' Cathedral Thistle Chapel in Edinburgh, Scotland: The 20th-century chapel’s intricate woodwork includes amazing details, most notably angels playing bagpipes.

Carpio Sanguinette Park

Discover Carpio Sanguinette Park in Denver, Colorado: An innovative local park built from an abandoned sewage treatment plant.

Grime’s Graves

Discover Grime's Graves in Lynford, England: A strange and ancient landscape hides the dark, cavernous remains of a 5,000-year-old flint mine.

Congo Nile Trail

Discover Congo Nile Trail in Gisenyi, Rwanda: A hiking/biking/exploring trail that winds across over 140 miles of Rwandan shoreline.

Convent of the Holy Spirit Crypts

Discover Convent of the Holy Spirit Crypts in Madrid, Spain: Remains of the lost church hide beneath this Spanish Parliament building.

Matsuka Seimen Noodle Factory

Discover Matsuka Seimen Noodle Factory in Kurashiki, Japan: Fans line up at the crack of dawn for a slurpy bowl of deliciousness at this noodle counter inside a factory.

Museum of Tobacco

Discover Museum of Tobacco in Prilep, North Macedonia: Thousands of objects tell the story of a city famous for its tobacco.

Parque el Capricho Bunker

Discover Parque el Capricho Bunker in Madrid, Spain: A subterranean relic of the Spanish Civil War hides below this picturesque park.

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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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