Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Seattle’s Spite House

Discover Montlake Spite House in Seattle, Washington: This tiny home built on revenge appears to be scarcely wider than a Volkswagen.

Oreshek Fortress

Discover Oreshek Fortress in Shlisselburg, Russia: An abandoned 14th-century castle and prison complex on a small island in the Neva River.

Old St. Hilary’s Chapel

Discover Old St. Hilary's Chapel in Belvedere Tiburon, California: One of the last remaining Carpenter Gothic churches is situated on a wildflower conservatory overlooking the bay.

The KGB’s Secret Poison Factory

Discover The Kamera (The Chamber) in Leninskiy rayon, Russia: The laboratory where the Soviet secret police invented exotic poisons used to kill dissidents in hideous and (mostly) untraceable ways.

Lawnswood Cemetery

Discover Lawnswood Cemetery in Leeds, England: This Victorian graveyard in Leeds is a macabre collection of beautiful tombs and memorials.

Oberhafen-Kantine

Discover Oberhafen-Kantine in Hamburg, Germany: This dockworkers' lunch joint has been left leaning by a century of storm floods.

The Moulton Crow Fair

Discover Moulton Crow Fair in Moulton, England: Every July, men dressed as giant crows dance around a scarecrow who comes to life.

NASA Goddard Rocket Garden

Discover NASA Goddard Rocket Garden in Lanham, Maryland: A lawn full of retired spacecraft on display at one of NASA's first research labs.

Factory Butte

Discover Factory Butte in Torrey, Utah: A striking, menacing sandstone peak towering above a landscape that's equal parts Mordor and the Moon.

Chiesa di San Filippo Apostolo

Discover Chiesa di San Filippo Apostolo in Syracuse, Italy: Built on a medieval synagogue, this church has a burial crypt, tunnel system, and Jewish ritual bath hiding deep underneath.

Cheylesmore Manor Gatehouse

Discover Cheylesmore Manor Gatehouse in Coventry, England: All that remains of the medieval palace of the famous "Black Prince.".

Succulent Collection of Zürich

Discover Sukkulenten-Sammlung Zürich in Zurich, Switzerland: See the rare bloom of the "Queen of the Night" cactus at one of the world's largest succulent collections.

Lyceum Hall

Discover Lyceum Hall in Salem, Massachusetts: The lecture hall where Alexander Graham Bell first demonstrated the long-distance phone call.

Cardiff Tower

Discover Cardiff Tower in Los Angeles, California: This "synagogue" is not what it seems to be.

Dale Dyke Dam Marker and Memorials

Discover Dale Dyke Dam Marker and Memorials in South Yorkshire, England: The collapse of the brand-new dam caused one of the worst floods in British history.

Mice Manor

Discover Mice Manor in Beverly, Massachusetts: A dollhouse full of taxidermy rodents, each one handcrafted and given a sordid past.

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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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