Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Texas City Museum

Discover Texas City Museum in Texas City, Texas: This huge repository of local history housed in an old J.C.Penney's is home to the largest model train set in Southeast Texas.

The Venus Project

Discover The Venus Project in Venus, Florida: The futuristic test model of an iconoclastic visionary who wanted to redesign the world.

New England Ski Museum

Discover New England Ski Museum in Franconia, New Hampshire: Packed with gear and memorabilia, this museum chronicles the history of skiing and how its rise shaped New England.

Cedar Hill Cemetery

Discover Cedar Hill Cemetery in Suitland-Silver Hill, Maryland: A historic cemetery filled with quirky faux wood art and unique tombstones.

Parque Santander

Discover Parque Santander in Leticia, Colombia: This small city park is best known for the nightly convergence of thousands of shrieking parakeets.

Berlin Victory Column

Discover Berlin Victory Column in Berlin, Germany: A monument to the three wars that led to German unification towers within a Berlin traffic circle.

Valle Planes of Fame Air Museum

Discover Valle Planes of Fame Air Museum in Valle, Arizona: An incredible airplane graveyard sits outside this small museum dedicated to preserving aviation history.

High Bridge

Discover High Bridge in Lincoln, England: The oldest of the three remaining bridges in England with buildings on top of them.

Stanley Heirs Park

Discover Stanley Heirs Park in Dorothy, West Virginia: This small West Virginia park is a land trust holdout against mountaintop removal mining.

Baths of Moctezuma

Discover Baths of Moctezuma in Mexico City, Mexico: The ruins of the bathhouse used by the ill-fated last Aztec emperor still lie in Chapultepec Park.

Neon Sign Museum

Discover Neon Sign Museum in Edmonton, Alberta: An outdoor installation of 20 vintage signs that once hung in front of businesses throughout town.

Flying Carpet Over Isfahan

Discover Flying Carpet Over Isfahan in New York, New York: A controversial magical figure is hidden within a diorama of the city.

Calouste Gulbenkian Museum

Discover Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, Portugal: One man's remarkable private collection of art from around the world.

Parkhurst Ghost Town

Discover Parkhurst Ghost Town in Whistler, British Columbia: An abandoned logging settlement nestled in the woods near a popular ski town.

The Athenaeum

Discover The Athenaeum in Indianapolis, Indiana: This stately clubhouse has showcased German-American culture for over a century.

Chopin Monument

Discover Chopin Monument in Warsaw, Poland: In the summer, the area around this sculpture transforms into a vibrant concert venue.

‘World’s Smallest Park’

Discover 'World's Smallest Park' in Oakland, California: A gap in the concrete has been transformed into a miniature playground for the mind.

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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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