Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Kennel Road

Discover Kennel Road in Ararat, Australia: Plastic pups and their colorful homes greet travelers on this otherwise ordinary Australian street.

Ruins at Westerplatte

Discover Ruins at Westerplatte in Gdańsk, Poland: The site of the first battle of World War II.

The Golden Church

The stunning interior of this Porto gem is covered in ornate gold details.

National Ice Core Lab

Discover National Ice Core Lab in Denver, Colorado: Where scientists keep miles of very valuable ice from Antarctica and Greenland from melting.

McKinley Presidential Library & Museum

Discover McKinley Presidential Library & Museum in Canton, Ohio: Mausoleums, astronomy, and animatronic dinosaurs at this memorial to an assassinated American president.

Lithia Water Fountain

Discover Lithia Water Fountain in Ashland, Oregon: A public fountain that spouts "health water" from a nearby spring.

Museum of Business History and Technology

Discover Museum of Business History and Technology in Wilmington, Delaware: Hundreds of antiquated typewriters and office machinery show the technological evolution of business.

Ancient Burying Ground

Discover Ancient Burying Ground in Hartford, Connecticut: The oldest place in Hartford is a cemetery with thousands of bodies stacked beneath the grass.

Reanimation Library

Discover Reanimation Library in Brooklyn, New York: Obscure and obsolete publications are given new life as works of art.

Argentina’s Eiffel Wheel

Discover Rueda Eiffel in Córdoba, Argentina: An intriguing antique iron Ferris wheel that most locals are sure was designed by Gustave Eiffel.

CairnGorm Mountain Railway

Discover CairnGorm Mountain Railway in Highland, Scotland: Scotland's only funicular railway is also the United Kingdom's highest.

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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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