Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Iran’s Color-Changing Lake

Lake Urmia in northwest Iran has started turning from green to red more frequently than scientists are comfortable with.

Moira Furnace

Discover Moira Furnace in Moira, England: This early 19th-century blast furnace only survived because it was a financial and technical failure.

Fusterlandia

Discover Fusterlandia in Havana, Cuba: A Cuban artist reclaimed his impoverished neighborhood as a dreamy folk art kingdom.

Tigre Salvaje

Discover Tigre Salvaje in Limones, Panama: A no-frills, DIY nature preserve manned by a U.S. expat who has dedicated his life to turtle conservation.

Portrait of an Unidentified Woman

Discover Portrait of an Unidentified Woman in New York, New York: The mysterious image is believed to show Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon, in a beautiful blue dress.

Birthday Mountain

Citizens of Norway want to gift the peak of Mount Halti to Finland for its 100th birthday.

Jack in the Green

Discover Jack in the Green in Hastings, England: Every May, townspeople welcome summer with a bizarre pagan parade led by a man wrapped in garlands.

Shark Point Reef

Discover Shark Point Reef in Sri Lanka: One of the few places where inexperienced snorkelers can spot a shark.

Beaver Dam

Discover Beaver Dam in Cockeysville, Maryland: A swimming hole in the historic industrial quarry that supplied the marble for the Baltimore Washington Monument.

Internet Archive Headquarters

Discover Internet Archive Headquarters in San Francisco, California: The grand, column-fronted, sculpture-adorned home of the ambitious digital library.

The Ruins of the Hotel Angst

Discover Hotel Angst in Bordighera, Italy: The top of society once luxuriated in this world-class hotel, which continues to impress, even in ruin.

Central Museum of Mongolian Dinosaurs

Discover Central Museum of Mongolian Dinosaurs in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia: An exceptional assortment of fossils recovered from private collections.

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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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