Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Amiable Child Monument

Discover Amiable Child Monument in New York, New York: One of the only single-person private gravesites in New York City.

Rollins Pass Game Traps

Discover Rollins Pass Game Traps in Winter Park, Colorado: Paleoamericans built these ancient walls high in the Colorado Rockies as part of an extensive hunting system.

Scarecrow Video

Discover Scarecrow Video in Seattle, Washington: Browse through roughly 130,000 titles in the world's largest independent video rental store.

Aalborg Tower

Discover Aalborg Tower in Aalborg, Denmark: This modernist tower was saved by a fraternity with a 500-year-old penchant for shooting at wooden parrots.

Tres Chimbadas Lake

Discover Tres Chimbadas Lake in Tambopata, Peru: This small oxbow lake has rare giant river otters and some Seussian-sounding birds.

Old Kachcheri

Discover Old Kachcheri in Jaffna, Sri Lanka: These abandoned ruins in the middle of Jaffna have withstood centuries of tumultuous power struggles.

Rochester Lilac Festival

Discover Rochester Lilac Festival in Rochester, New York: One of the largest festivals of flowers in North America takes place, appropriately, in the Flower City.

Bartolini Hall of Models

Discover Gipsoteca Bartolini in Florence, Italy: A slightly creepy gallery of plaster cast models in the same museum as Michelangelo's David.

The Vicious Stone

Discover Stray Boulder (Bludný Kámen) in České Budějovice, Czechia: Locals say the stone that marks the spot where the gallows once stood can lead you astray.

Bazaar of Kashan

Discover Bazaar of Kashan in Kashan, Iran: A historic trade hub teeming with gorgeous architecture, colorful goods, and vibrant designs.

Puig Castellar

Discover Puig Castellar in Montcada i Reixac, Spain: Remote ruins of a 2,400-year-old Iberian settlement.

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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

PP ToS