Archives: Atlas Obscuras

The Outhouse

Discover The Outhouse in Fernandina Beach, Florida: This former bathroom has been transformed into the smallest bar in Florida.

Edgar Degas House

Discover Edgar Degas House in New Orleans, Louisiana: The only home of the famous French impressionist painter open to the public is now a museum and bed and breakfast.

Guardian Telephone Exchange Tunnels

Discover Guardian Telephone Exchange Tunnels in Manchester, England: This nondescript building hides an entrance to an underground nuclear tunnel system.

Puerto Hermina Ruins

Discover Puerto Hermina Ruins in Quebradillas, Puerto Rico: Legend has it this historic port was a popular hideout and smuggling spot for pirates.

Pirunpesä (The Devil’s Nest)

Discover Pirunpesä (The Devil's Nest) in Nokia, Finland: This honeycomb-textured tafone looks like a petrified troll head.

Het Badkonijn

Discover Het Badkonijn in Rotterdam, Netherlands: A giant floating rubber duck-bunny painted with a different design every year.

Glitter Mountain

Discover Glitter Mountain in Littlefield, Arizona: This old selenite mine is dotted with tiny crystals that make it shimmer like it's covered in glitter.

Hailuoto Church

Discover Hailuoto Church in Hailuoto, Finland: This modernist island church incorporates the Finnish nature into its worship practices.

Kalkaska Shoe Tree

Discover Kalkaska Shoe Tree in Kalkaska, Michigan: Michigan’s most famous shoe tree.

Teverga Prehistoric Park

Discover Teverga Prehistoric Park in Asturias, Spain: See replicas of Europe's most famous cave paintings and even some of the animals that feature in the art.

Fragas do Eume

Discover Fragas do Eume in Cabanas, Spain: This enchanting natural park is a magical example of a temperate rainforest in Europe.

The Hat of Lou Bandy

Discover The Hat of Lou Bandy in Rotterdam, Netherlands: From afar it looks like someone's hat blew into the water, but closer inspection reveals a giant floating sculpture.

World Stone Skimming Championship

Discover World Stone Skimming Championship in Easdale Island, Scotland: Every September, international competitors flock to a tiny Scottish island's flooded quarries.

Big Idaho Potato Hotel

Discover Big Idaho Potato Hotel in Boise, Idaho: When in Idaho, sleep in a giant potato.

Coatlicue Statue

Discover Coatlicue Statue in Mexico City, Mexico: Come face to face with the ferocious visage of the serpent-headed mother goddess of the Aztecs.

The Train to Heaven

Discover The Train to Heaven in Wrocław, Poland: A 90-ton, gravity-defiant steam locomotive shoots for the skies in this bizarrely beautiful public artwork.

Bob Hope Grave and Memorial Garden

Discover Bob Hope Grave and Memorial Garden in Los Angeles, California: The final resting place of one of Hollywood’s most prolific and talented actors is on the grounds of a California Mission.

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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