Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Kirchheim Natter Pads

Discover Kirchheim Natter Pads in Stuttgart, Germany: The remains of three Luftwaffe launch pads designed for manned anti-aircraft missiles.

Roggenburg Leiberfest

Discover Roggenburg Leiberfest in Roggenburg, Germany: Bring out your dead (saints that have been festooned and bejeweled, so that we can parade them around the town)!

Oberweissbacher Bergbahn

Discover Oberweissbacher Bergbahn in Lichtenhain/Bergbahn, Germany: Oberweissbacher Bergbahn – a broad-gauged cable car capable transfering railcars.

German Epilepsy Museum

Discover German Epilepsy Museum in Kehl, Germany: First museum dedicated to the research and history of Epilepsy.

Schwerin Lenin

Discover Schwerin Lenin in Schwerin, Germany: Germany's last remaining Lenin statue has become a lightning rod of debate about the country's divided past.

Dürkheim Giant Wine Barrel

Discover Dürkheim Giant Wine Barrel in Bad Dürkheim, Germany: World's largest barrel containing an inn.

The Vogeltor of Augsburg, Germany

Discover The Vogeltor in Augsburg, Germany: According to legend a man pooped out the window of this tower to prove that it was straight.

The Dance Linden

Discover The Dance Linden in Kasendorf, Germany: For centuries, Germans have been dancing in trees.

Monte Kaolino

Discover Monte Kaolino in Hirschau, Germany: A man-made slag heap that you can "ski" down, and is home to the world sandboarding championships.

The Vogeltor of Augsburg, Germany

Discover The Vogeltor in Augsburg, Germany: According to legend a man pooped out the window of this tower to prove that it was straight.

Leibniz’s Stepped Reckoner

Discover Leibniz's Stepped Reckoner in Hanover, Germany: An extraordinary mechanical calculator designed by the mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Leibniz.

The Steeple in the Edersee

Discover The Steeple in the Edersee in Waldeck, Germany: A century-long search for a church that was never there.

The Steeple in the Edersee

Discover The Steeple in the Edersee in Waldeck, Germany: A century-long search for a church that was never there.

Brennender Berg

Discover Brennender Berg in Sulzbach, Germany: Germany has its very own Centralia, whose spark remains attributed to "spontaneous combustion.".

Atomkeller Museum

Discover Atomkeller Museum in Haigerloch, Germany: The atomic museum in the basement of this German castle displays long strands of replica uranium cubes.

Leper’s Chapel and Ossuary

Discover Leper's Chapel and Ossuary in Landsberg am Lech, Germany: A graveyard and memorial chapel for victims of leprosy.

Augsburger Puppenkiste

Discover Augsburger Puppenkiste in Augsburg, Germany: This famed marionette theater and museum is bursting with imaginative string puppets.

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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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