Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Gruta Do Lago Azul: The Blue Lake Grotto

Discover Gruta Do Lago Azul: The Blue Lake Grotto in Bonito, Brazil: Part of one of the largest flooded cavities on the planet, and littered with prehistoric animal bones.

Largo do Boticário

Discover Largo do Boticário in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Crumbling remnant of Rio's colonial past tucked behind Corcovado mountain in the neighborhood of Cosme Velho.

The Royal Portuguese Cabinet of Reading

Discover The Royal Portuguese Cabinet of Reading in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: This stunning Brazilian library contains the largest collection of Portuguese texts outside of Portugal itself.

Banganga Tank

Discover Banganga Tank in Mumbai, India: Tucked in Mumbai’s wealthiest neighborhood is one of the city’s oldest and most sacred sites: a temple complex believed to house the waters of the Ganges.

Neuropathology Brain Museum

Discover Neuropathology Brain Museum in Bengaluru, India: India’s only Brain Museum displays over 200 fascinating ways that your brain might kill you.

Cemetery Beach

Discover Cemetery Beach in Tingloy, Philippines: Nearly 100 concrete graves lie hidden just beyond the pristine waters along the coast.

Victoria Police Museum

Discover Victoria Police Museum in Melbourne, Australia: Unusual finds in this shrine to local law enforcement include a 19th-century vampire-slaying kit.

Gadsby’s Tavern

Discover Gadsby's Tavern in Alexandria, Virginia: This colonial tavern played host to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and other famous early Americans.

Supersense

Discover Supersense in Vienna, Austria: A neo-Gothic mansion now houses a wunderkammer of analog tech that hits on all the senses.

Fire Services Museum of Victoria

Discover Fire Services Museum of Victoria in East Melbourne, Australia: A firefighting museum housed in a historic station whose Lookout Tower watches over Melbourne.

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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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