Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Henry the Lion Monument Buttocks

Discover Henry the Lion Monument in Schwerin, Germany: A city's controversial tribute to its founder depicts townspeople flashing their bare behinds.

Dickens Victorian Village

Discover Dickens Victorian Village in Cambridge, Ohio: Hundreds of 19th-century characters descend upon an Ohio town every autumn.

West Virginia State Farm Museum

Discover West Virginia State Farm Museum in Point Pleasant, West Virginia: The farming museum contains an extensive taxidermy collection, including the world's largest stuffed horse.

Underground Project 131

Discover Underground Project 131 in Xianning Shi, China: This Cold War–era underground city includes offices for Mao Zedong and Lin Biao.

Tapton House

Discover Tapton House in Chesterfield, England: The former home of a railway legend and the site of a gigantic labyrinth.

Lego House

Discover Lego House in Billund, Denmark: An enormous playhouse designed to look like 21 stacked Lego bricks, with another 25 million colorful Legos inside.

Hippo Hardware

Discover Hippo Hardware in Portland, Oregon: No two pieces are exactly the same at Portland's hippo-themed hardware store.

Öndvegissúlur

Discover Öndvegissúlur in Selfoss, Iceland: A replica of the decorated wooden pillars Viking sailors threw overboard when finding new places to establish a settlement.

Fire Hydrant Jack

Discover Fire Hydrant Jack in Shelburne, Vermont: A giant toy jack made of numerous welded-together fire hydrants.

Old Dragon’s Head

Discover Old Dragon's Head in Qinhuangdao Shi, China: Where the Great Wall of China meets the sea.

‘The Hills Have Eyes’ Gas Station

Discover 'The Hills Have Eyes' Gas Station in Province de Ouarzazate, Morocco: An abandoned horror film set sits eerily along a highway through Hollywood's "door to the desert.".

The Lamp Museum in Bruges

Discover Lumina Domestica in Bruges, Belgium: Explore 400,000 years of humans' "battle against darkness" in this offbeat but thorough lamp museum.

McGill Rose Garden

Discover McGill Rose Garden in Charlotte, North Carolina: This scented city oasis was a labor of love.

Joyxee Island

Discover Joyxee Island in Isla Mujeres, Mexico: One man's fulfilled dream of living on an artificial island made of recycled plastic bottles.

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i
To represent a masterpiece of human creative genius. 260 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. 474 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. 499 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. 633 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. 135 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. 167 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). 252 vii
To contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance. 148 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. 96 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. 166

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