Archives: Atlas Obscuras

The Blue Lake

Discover The Blue Lake in Gwynedd, Wales: A hidden tunnel leads to an abandoned slate quarry that's now a secret swimming spot guarded by cliffs.

Dick Whittington’s Cat

Discover Dick Whittington’s Cat in London, England: A monument to the thrice mayor of London who according to lore made his fortune by selling his rat-chasing cat.

Sabir’s Chaikhana

Discover Sabir’s Chaikhana in Tbilisi, Georgia: The last standing example of an ancient district's teatime tradition.

The Smoking Fence

Discover The Smoking Fence in West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue students would lean over this iron fence to skirt campus rules against smoking and courting.

Lookout

Discover Lookout in Workington, England: This unique sculptural clock transforms into a periscope every hour.

Shipwrecked Doritos

Discover Shipwrecked Doritos in Hatteras, North Carolina: The time thousands of bags of chips washed ashore in the Outer Banks is memorialized in a local museum.

Captain Cook’s Cottage

Discover Captain Cook's Cottage in East Melbourne, Australia: The 18th-century home was disassembled into 253 cases and brought all the way from the other side of the world.

Grey Owl’s Cabin

Discover Grey Owl's Cabin in Waskesiu Lake, Saskatchewan: Where the English trapper who faked a First Nations identity bunked with beavers.

The COPE Museum of Laos

Discover COPE Visitor Centre in Vientiane, Laos: In the world's most bombed country relative to its size, this incredible organization helps pick up the pieces.

Russian Ambassador’s Residence

Discover Russian Ambassador's Residence in Washington, D.C.: Was there a small "backpack nuke" hidden in the attic? JFK apparently thought so.

Fluorescent Rocks of Sterling Hill Mine

Discover Fluorescent Rocks of Sterling Hill Mine in Ogdensburg, New Jersey: Hundreds of glow-in-the-dark objects light up a museum in a historic zinc mine.

Burke Museum Ichthyology Collection

Discover Burke Museum Ichthyology Collection in Seattle, Washington: This remarkable collection devoted to the study of fish includes 1 million preserved specimens from all around the world.

Tarkiln Bayou Preserve State Park

Discover Tarkiln Bayou Preserve State Park in Pensacola, Florida: One of the best places in Florida to spot rare, carnivorous pitcher plants.

Stone Garden

Discover Stone Garden in Sirjan, Iran: Hundreds of stones dangle from barren trees in the middle of the desert.

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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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