Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Hollywood’s Firefighting Museum

Discover Los Angeles Fire Department Museum in Los Angeles, California: Formerly Fire Station No. 27, the museum is a hidden gem in the heart of Hollywood.

Cave of Dogs

Discover Cave of Dogs in Naples, Italy: Suffocating dogs was a common spectacle in the fumes of this noxious cave.

The Hemlock Stone

Discover The Hemlock Stone in Stapleford, England: Left by the Devil, an ancient quarry or just plain old erosion, this enigmatic rock pillar rises 28 feet from the hillside.

Pecan Pie Vending Machine

Discover Pecan Pie Vending Machine in Cedar Creek, Texas: A 24-hour vending machine restocked daily with homemade full-sized pecan pies.

The Guano Mummy

Discover Momia de Guano in Guano, Ecuador: A mummified Spanish monk found in the walls of an Ecuadorian church, alongside a mummified mouse.

Monet’s Pond

Discover Monet's Pond in Seki-shi, Japan: This pond is so stunning it looks like you've stepped into one of Monet's masterpieces.

Exotic Feline Rescue Center

Discover Exotic Feline Rescue Center in Center Point, Indiana: Lions and tigers and leopards, servals, pumas, bobcats, lynxes, and ocelots… oh my!

Half Tower

Discover Half Tower in Lübeck, Germany: A tilted half-timbered house from 1672 is built into a salvaged segment of a medieval wall.

Kentucky’s Glittering Mineral Museum

Discover Ben E. Clement Mineral Museum in Marion, Kentucky: Thousands of unique minerals, including some of the most impressive fluorite crystals in the world.

Volvo Museum

Discover Volvo Museum in Gothenburg, Sweden: The place to be if you love vintage Swedish cars.

Radimlja Necropolis

Discover Radimlja Necropolis in Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, Bosnia and Herzegovina: A field filled with carved medieval tombstones called stećak.

The National Gallery’s Art Materials Collection

Discover The National Gallery's Art Materials Collection in Washington, D.C.: The institution is sitting on a goldmine of 21,000 paints, varnishes, pigments, and primers preserved for posterity.

Palace of the Golden Orbs

Discover Palace of the Golden Orbs in Houston, Texas: An unrealized Taoist palace left abandoned in a Houston suburb.

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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