Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Budapest Telephone Museum

Discover Budapest Telephone Museum in Budapest, Hungary: Beautiful antiques and obscure engineering artifacts trace the evolution of phones from rare luxuries to ubiquitous.

Sti For Øye

Discover Sti For Øye in Stokke, Norway: Art becomes an enchanting part of the environment at this wooded sculpture park.

‘Child of the Sun’ Campus

Discover 'Child of the Sun' Campus in Lakeland, Florida: A Florida college boasts the world's largest single-site collection of structures designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Madam Lou Bunch Day

Discover Madam Lou Bunch Day in Central City, Colorado: Central City celebrates its most famous madam by racing beds down Main Street.

Wellie Garden of St Monans

Discover Wellie Garden of St Monans in Saint Monans, Scotland: Some cheeky plantings brighten an old slipway on Scotland's Firth of Forth.

Village of Color

Discover Kampung Warna-Warni Jodipan (Village of Color) in Malang, Indonesia: This Indonesian village was revitalized by a vibrant rainbow paint job.

Audubon Mural Project

Discover Audubon Mural Project in New York, New York: Walking around West Harlem reveals a scavenger hunt of beautiful bird murals.

Aspin Hill Pet Cemetery

Discover Aspin Hill Pet Cemetery in Silver Spring, Maryland: Dogs, cats, horses, monkeys, frogs, and fish are laid to rest at the second-oldest pet cemetery in the U.S.

Disappointment Rock

Discover Disappointment Rock in Norseman, Australia: No one seems to know who suffered the disappointment at this particular place.

Dracula’s Castle

It's believed that Vlad the Impaler, the inspiration for Dracula, was briefly imprisoned at this medieval Romanian castle.

A Sweet Labor Of Love

The house's confection-like decorations are the result of one man's painstaking work over decades.

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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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