Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Pena National Palace

Discover Pena National Palace in Sintra, Portugal: This unreal Portuguese palace looks as though it's made from a pile of different castles.

Quinta da Regaleira

Discover Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra, Portugal: This eccentrically decorated palace is replete with grottoes, fountains, tunnels, and caves.

Henninger Turm

Discover Henninger Turm in Frankfurt, Germany: The world's only silo that was topped by two revolving restaurants has unfortunately been demolished.

Zucker-Museum

Discover Zucker-Museum in Berlin, Germany: A sweet museum focused on beets.

touched echo

Discover touched echo in Dresden, Germany: Silent memorial, using bone conduction to take people back to the Dresden Bombing of 1945.

Böhmisches Brauhaus

Discover Böhmisches Brauhaus in Berlin, Germany: The abandoned remains of this Victorian brewery hide crumbling bowling alleys and rusting industrial gear.

Arthouse Tacheles

Discover Arthouse Tacheles in Berlin, Germany: An old department store turned Nazi prison turned artist commune.

Peristal Singum

Discover Peristal Singum in Berlin, Germany: Fall down the rabbit hole into a surreal journey of human consciousness "from ass to soul.".

Ballhaus Riviera

Discover Ballhaus Riviera in Berlin, Germany: The music is over at the Ballhaus Riviera Ballroom, but the ballroom remains in haunting disrepair.

Powerline Eberdingen-Riet

Discover Powerline Eberdingen-Riet in Vaihingen an der Enz, Germany: 20kV overhead line with a garland-like cable.

Pylon 9108

Discover Pylon 9108 in Fulda, Germany: Electricity pylon standing in the middle of a shelter.

Wolmirstedt Converter Hall

Discover Wolmirstedt Converter Hall in Wolmirstedt, Germany: Where the interconnection of German power grids should be.

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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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