Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Ninja Restaurant in Tokyo

Discover Ninja Akasaka in Tokyo, Japan: A restaurant modeled after feudal Japan, where the waitstaff are trained as ninjas.

Auckland Castle Deer House

Discover Auckland Castle Deer House in Bishop Auckland, England: This Georgian Gothic building was created to shelter and feed deer.

Hamilton Ghost Town

Discover Hamilton Ghost Town in White Pine County, Nevada: A Nevada mining boomtown that ran out of silver and luck.

Basilica of San Vitale

Discover Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy: This 6th-century church has the largest and best-preserved collection of Byzantine mosaics outside Constantinople.

The Strange Hut in Soho Square

Discover The Soho Square Hut in London, England: The Tudor-style cottage in the middle of the square is not quite what it seems.

Educación

Discover Educación in San Antonio, Texas: A colorful public mural in San Antonio's West Side encourages students to stay in school.

Cranmer Park Sundial

Discover Cranmer Park Sundial in Denver, Colorado: This Chinese-style quartz sundial was saved in its final hour.

Leslieville’s Crazy Doll House

Discover Leslieville's Crazy Doll House in Toronto, Ontario: This Toronto garden collects stares and tchotchkes in equal measure.

Pentagon Cable Crossing Sign

Discover Pentagon Cable Crossing Sign in Arlington, Virginia: Please don’t anchor your boat onto the Department of Defense’s underwater data cables.

Bowling Ball Yard Art

Discover Bowling Ball Yard Art in Nowata, Oklahoma: To honor his gardening wife, this yard artist turns bowling balls into playful, colorful sculptures.

Wax Museum of Andreas Syggros

Discover Wax Museum of Andreas Syggros in Athens, Greece: A grotesque collection of wax limbs depicting the symptoms of venereal disease.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s Grave

Discover J.R.R. Tolkien's Grave in Oxford, England: The names Lúthien and Beren can be found inscribed on the shared grave of the famous writer and his beloved wife and muse.

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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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