Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Hassal Chained Grave

Unexplained chains and four iron stakes adorn this mysterious grave on the Isle of Man.

Barker-Karpis Hideout House

Discover Barker-Karpis Hideout House in Saint Paul, Minnesota: Where the notorious gang lived while on the run from the FBI.

San Romedio Sanctuary

Discover San Romedio Sanctuary in Romeno, Italy: A stunning hermit's shrine on a steep rocky spur in Northern Italy.

Museum of the Gulf Coast

Discover Museum of the Gulf Coast in Port Arthur, Texas: Hidden within a Gulf Coast port city is a wonderfully eclectic museum whose beginnings were housed in a bank window.

The Cassidy Trail

Discover The Cassidy Trail in Panguitch, Utah: Local lore holds that Butch Cassidy took an escape route through Red Canyon's sandstone hoodoos after an attempted murder.

AIDS Interfaith Memorial Chapel

Discover AIDS Interfaith Memorial Chapel in San Francisco, California: The first AIDS memorial chapel in San Francisco and one of only a few in the U.S.

Knife Edge

Discover Knife Edge in Washington, D.C.: Architecture lovers won’t stop touching the National Gallery's 19.5 degree marble prow.

Intermediatheque

Discover Intermediatheque in Tokyo, Japan: An unexpected curiosity cabinet hidden within a department store in the Japan Post tower.

Nina Simone’s Childhood Home

Discover Nina Simone's Childhood Home in Tryon, North Carolina: The wooden house where the jazz great learned to play the piano.

Stockholm’s 360-Degree Library

Discover Stadsbiblioteket (Stockholm Public Library) in Stockholm, Sweden: The library's graceful rotunda is like a bibliophile's temple.

Proleek Dolmen

Discover Proleek Dolmen in Louth, Ireland: A mysterious Neolithic tomb is perched along the edge of a modern golf course.

Casa Terracota

Discover Casa Terracota in Villa de Leyva, Colombia: This whimsical home made entirely from clay is basically a giant piece of pottery.

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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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