Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Tweeddale Court

Discover Tweeddale Court in Edinburgh, Scotland: This 16th-century close preserves an unusual piece of Edinburgh's transportation history.

The Mount

Discover The Mount in London, England: The remains of a historic football stadium that once housed 50,000 spectators.

London’s Rose-Ringed Parakeets

Discover London's Rose-Ringed Parakeets in London, England: Legend says these colorful, invasive residents are the descendants of birds released by Jimi Hendrix.

The Dixie Sternwheeler

Discover The Dixie Sternwheeler in North Webster, Indiana: Indiana's oldest sternwheel paddleboat has been plying the placid waters of Webster Lake for 90 years.

Murals of Bonampak

Discover Murals of Bonampak in Bonampak, Mexico: Three small rooms in the jungle house the most elaborate and intact murals of the Mayan world.

SpaceX Space Cheese

Discover SpaceX Space Cheese in Hawthorne, California: The first privately-owned space capsule to orbit and land carried a secret payload: a wheel of Le Brouère.

Penong Windmill Museum

Discover Penong Windmill Museum in Penong, Australia: A tiny town's spinning, whirling propeller collection holds Australia's largest windmill.

Hore Abbey

Discover Hore Abbey in Cashel, Ireland: The ruins of a medieval monastery named after a type of tree.

Ota Tofu

Discover Ota Tofu in Portland, Oregon: The oldest tofu shop in the United States is a firm favorite with locals.

Moot Hall

Discover Moot Hall in Wirksworth, England: This unique medieval court deals solely with the lead mining laws in two small areas of Derbyshire.

Matlock Bath

Discover Matlock Bath in Matlock Bath, England: A seaside town with no sea in sight.

The Scotsman Steps

Discover The Scotsman Steps in Edinburgh, Scotland: The colorful stairs are made with marble from the world's major quarries.

Goliath Transmitter

Discover Goliath Transmitter in Druzhnyy, Russia: The Russians still use the transmitter Nazis built during World War II to communicate with submarines.

Central Electric Ruins

Discover Central Electric Ruins in Ronda, Spain: The hidden ruins of an old hydroelectric plant reclaimed by nature.

Gary Gygax Memorial

Discover Gary Gygax Memorial in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: Legend says Dungeons and Dragons players can get their dice blessed at the creator of the game's memorial.

Church of St. Cajetan

Discover Church of St. Cajetan in Velha Goa, India: The last remaining colonial-era Italian church in Old Goa.

Blair Street Underground Vaults

Discover Blair Street Underground Vaults in Edinburgh, Scotland: A labyrinthine network of chambers with a storied past hides below Edinburgh's South Bridge.

Street of the Little Motels

Discover Street of the Little Motels in Page, Arizona: These mid-century motels once housed the workers who built the Glen Canyon Dam.

Cyprus Buffer Zone

Discover Cyprus Buffer Zone in Nicosia, Cyprus: This no man's land slicing through the island is strewn with abandoned relics of another time.

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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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