Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Ruby Falls

Discover Ruby Falls in Chattanooga, Tennessee: The mysterious wonder of an underground waterfall is illuminated by multicolored lights.

Downton Abbey With A Delhi Twist

Discover Sezincote Estate in Gloucestershire, England: A majestic mansion designed in Mughalai style, complete with a turquoise onion dome.

Hoober Stand Folly

Discover Hoober Stand in Wentworth, England: This folly built to commemorate an aristocratic victory over Catholic rebellion plays tricks on the eye.

Ægir Brewery

Discover Ægir Brewery in Flåm, Norway: A Viking-style brewpub named for a Norse sea giant, in the heart of fjord country.

Atomic Liquors

Discover Atomic Liquors in Las Vegas, Nevada: Back in 1952, you could get a mushroom cloud chaser with your atomic cocktail.

Painted Village of Čičmany

Discover Painted Village of Čičmany in Čičmany, Slovakia: A perfectly preserved hill village where the buildings are painted like white lace.

Ireland Park

Discover Ireland Park in Toronto, Ontario: A memorial to the tens of thousands of Irish who fled to North America during the Great Famine.

Huta Etelka

Discover Huta Etelka in Nižná Slaná, Slovakia: An abandoned 19th-century iron factory perched along the outskirts of an idyllic village.

National Bonsai Museum

Discover National Bonsai Museum in Washington, D.C.: One of the dwarven trees dates back to 1625 and survived the Hiroshima bombing.

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.

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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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