Archives: Atlas Obscuras

The Mother Spring

Discover The Mother Spring in Pagosa Springs, Colorado: No one knows exactly how deep the world’s deepest geothermal hot spring is.

Strichen House

Discover Strichen House in Strichen, Scotland: The ruinous former neo-classical mansion was built for Thomas Fraser of Strichen.

Tyler Rose Garden

Discover Tyler Rose Garden in Tyler, Texas: The largest public collection of roses in the United States.

Memsie Round Cairn

Discover Memsie Round Cairn in Aberdeenshire, Scotland: The sole surviving large cairn in an area that was once littered with burial monuments.

Hans Christian Andersen Statue

Discover Hans Christian Andersen Statue in Bratislava, Slovakia: A sculpture of the beloved author surrounded by characters from his fairy tales.

Parkeisenbahn

Discover Parkeisenbahn in Dresden, Germany: This small train ride offers stellar views of the Grand Garden Palace.

Dampfmaschinenhaus (The Royal Pumphouse)

Discover Dampfmaschinenhaus (The Royal Pumphouse) in Potsdam, Germany: Designed to resemble foreign architecture, this mosque-looking structure was used to pump water to a royal fountain.

Titeuf Statue

Discover Titeuf Statue in Carouge, Switzerland: A statue of the Swiss cartoon character stands outside the school that inspired his creator.

Jahrtausendturm (Millennium Tower)

Discover Jahrtausendturm (Millennium Tower) in Magdeburg, Germany: A six-story, asymmetrical tower filled to the brim with scientific experiments.

El Batey

Discover El Batey in San Juan, Puerto Rico: Everyone from Alan Ginsberg to The Rolling Stones has stopped by this classic dive bar.

Schoner Naci

Discover Schoner Naci in Bratislava, Slovakia:.

San Remo Pelicans

Discover San Remo Pelicans in San Remo, Australia: Locals have a long-running relationship with the big-beaked birds of this Australian fishing town.

Flatwoods Monster Museum

Discover Flatwoods Monster Museum in Sutton, West Virginia: West Virginia is steeped in strange lore, and one of the weirdest is the Flatwoods Monster.

La Pierre Percée

Discover La Pierre Percée in Pierre-Châtel, France: According to a local legend, this peculiar mountaintop rock formation is actually a demon that was turned into stone.

Statue of Imre Nagy

Discover Statue of Imre Nagy in Budapest, Hungary: A much-loved sculpture depicting the hero of a 1956 anti-Soviet uprising.

Gregynog Hall

Discover Gregynog Hall in Tregynon, Wales: A grand mansion in rural mid-Wales gifted to the Welsh people by two sisters.

Valley of 10,000 Smokes

Discover Valley of 10,000 Smokes in King Salmon, Alaska: In 1912, this idyllic Alaskan landscape was blown apart in the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century.

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i
To represent a masterpiece of human creative genius. 260 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. 474 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. 499 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. 633 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. 135 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. 167 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). 252 vii
To contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance. 148 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. 96 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. 166

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