Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Rimwood Chapel

Discover Rimwood Chapel in Hersey, Michigan: The smallest useable chapel in Michigan is five-by-eight feet and has seating for three.

Hapeville Worry Rock

Discover Hapeville Worry Rock in Hapeville, Georgia: This hidden stone has absorbed decades of human anxiety.

National Museum of Interventions

Discover National Museum of Interventions in Mexico City, Mexico: A bullet-scarred monastery chronicles Mexico's turbulent history of foreign invasions.

Shipley Glen Tramway

Discover Shipley Glen Tramway in Baildon, England: This quaint funicular has been ferrying people up and down an English valley since the Victorian era.

Frank Bruce Sculpture Trail

Discover Frank Bruce Sculpture Trail in Feshiebridge, Scotland: These skilfully executed, poignant works of art dot a verdant Scottish dell.

Tegel Creek Water Buffaloes

Discover Tegel Creek Water Buffaloes in Berlin, Germany: The non-native bovine herd was brought in to help conserve these Berlin wetlands.

Albemarle-Kenmore Terraces

Discover Albemarle-Kenmore Terraces in Brooklyn, New York: These century-old townhouses contain some of the first car garages built in the United States.

Valencian Paper Museum

Discover Valencian Paper Museum in Banyeres de Mariola, Spain: A lovely look back at the manufacture and use of paper in all its forms.

Glengarry Viewpoint

Discover Glengarry Viewpoint in Invergarry, Scotland: From here, the loch appears to take the shape of mainland Scotland.

Crescent City Cat Club

Discover Crescent City Cat Club in New Orleans, Louisiana: A calm and comfortable place to hang out with cats and kittens up for adoption.

Thomas Merton’s Hermitage

Discover Thomas Merton's Hermitage in New Haven, Kentucky: The Trappist monk, prophet-poet, and rebel never really got to live out the eremitic life he was seeking.

The Darwin D. Martin House

Discover The Darwin D. Martin House in Buffalo, New York: One of Frank Lloyd Wright's greatest—and favorite—architectural masterpieces was almost lost.

Monument to Fallen Partisans

Discover Monument to Fallen Partisans in Bologna, Italy: A striking memorial recalls thousands of Bolognese men and women killed fighting fascists in World War II.

Old Payá Toy Factory

Discover Old Payá Toy Factory in Ibi, Spain: Ibi's pioneering toy factory now houses two small but mighty museums.

Vallejo Vinyl & Pinball

Discover Vallejo Vinyl & Pinball in Vallejo, California: Come for the records, stay for the retro pinball machines.

Bennett Place

Discover Bennett Place in Durham, North Carolina: The scene of the largest surrender of Confederate troops at the end of the American Civil War.

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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

PP ToS