Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Il-Maqluba Sinkhole

Discover Il-Maqluba Sinkhole in Qrendi, Malta: This 50-foot-deep sinkhole created in the 14th century is home to rare plants and fungi.

Ivinghoe Beacon

Discover Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire, England: Model aircraft soar over 360-degree views of the countryside at the start of England's oldest road.

Tiny Hidden Houses on Westerstraat

Discover Tiny Hidden Houses on Westerstraat in Amsterdam, Netherlands: Seven mini rowhouses fill the gap between 54 and 70 Westerstraat.

Public Standards of Length

Discover Public Standards of Length in London, England: 19th-century scientists would make the pilgrimage here to verify the precision of their measuring sticks.

Pàlcoda Ghost Town

Discover Pàlcoda Ghost Town in Tramonti di sotto, Italy: This overgrown mountain village has been abandoned for nearly a century.

Museu Afro Brasil

Discover Museu Afro Brasil in São Paulo, Brazil: A labyrinthine museum chronicling the history of African culture in Brazil.

Crawick Multiverse

Discover Crawick Multiverse in Crawick, Scotland: Modern megaliths form this work of cosmic, Celtic landscape art.

Grace Darling Museum

Discover Grace Darling Museum in Bamburgh, England: This museum honors the young maritime hero who became an unexpected Victorian-era celebrity.

Notre Dame des Laves

Discover Notre Dame des Laves in Piton Sainte-Rose, Réunion: At the foot of an active volcano sits a church miraculously spared by its lava.

Sunken Church of San Vittorino

Discover Sunken Church of San Vittorino in Cittaducale, Italy: The marshy karst plain has reclaimed this beautiful 17th-century church.

Aliki Ancient Marble Quarry

Discover Aliki Ancient Marble Quarry in Thasos, Greece: The partially submerged ruins of a white marble quarry used in ancient Greece for over 1,200 years.

Arbour Hill Cemetery

Discover Arbour Hill Cemetery in Arbour Hill, Ireland: The burial place of 14 of the executed leaders of the Easter Rising.

Johanneshov Sconce

Discover Johanneshov Sconce in Stockholm, Sweden: Part of an abandoned 19th-century fortress hides in plain sight inside a modern office building.

Birthplace of the Chinese Communist Party

Discover Site of the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai, China: The powerful party began with a secret meeting in this shikumen in 1921.

Necropolis of Son Real

Discover Necropolis of Son Real in Santa Margalida, Spain: The largest prehistoric cemetery on the Balearic Islands dates back over 2,500 years.

3M Birthplace Museum

Discover 3M Birthplace Museum in Two Harbors, Minnesota: This institution celebrates the happy accidents of uncommon sticktoitiveness.

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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