Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Frietmuseum

Bruges is the home to the world's only museum dedicated to fries.

Tarim Mummies

Discover Tarim Mummies in Wulumuqi Shi, China: These excavated burials from the Tarim Basin are wrapped in mystery.

Hampstead Pergola

Discover Hampstead Pergola in London, England: This secluded walkway overlooks a magnificently wild London green space.

The Temple and Cemetery of Confucius

Discover The Temple and Cemetery of Confucius in Jining, China: The family compound and final resting place for the philosopher, Confucius, and over 100,000 of his descendants.

Columbus Park of Roses

Discover Columbus Park of Roses in Columbus, Ohio: An unassuming 13-acre park is home to over 12,000 roses.

Chicago Mosaic School

Discover Chicago Mosaic School in Chicago, Illinois: Assemble a masterpiece at the first and only North American school exclusively dedicated to mosaic art.

Glowworm Tunnel

Discover Glowworm Tunnel in Helensburgh, Australia: An abandoned railroad tunnel is now filled with bioluminescent bugs.

Van der Wall Telescope

Discover Van der Wall Telescope in Leiden, Netherlands: Once the world's biggest telescope, it was later used as a coat hanger by a famous Dutch astronomer.

Taukkyan War Cemetery

Discover Taukkyan War Cemetery in Yangon, Myanmar (Burma): Myanmar's beautiful cemetery for Allied soldiers who perished during World War II.

Monumento Mãe Preta

Discover Monumento Mãe Preta in São Paulo, Brazil: This somber statue remembers the enslaved women who were forced to nurse their owners' babies.

The Wreck of the Meisho Maru No. 38

Discover Wreck of the Meisho Maru No. 38 in Suiderstrand, South Africa: All that remains of a Japanese fishing vessel that ran aground in 1982.

Calle 25 de Enero

Discover Calle 25 de Enero in Ponce, Puerto Rico: These red and black houses were awarded to the firefighters who saved their city from an enormous blaze.

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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