Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Château de Montségur

Discover Château de Montségur in Montségur, France: This French castle is said to have once held the Holy Grail but is now a gorgeous mountaintop ruin.

Musée Marmottan Monet

Discover Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris, France: Former hunting lodge of a duke who was an avid collector of impressionist works.

Plan de Phazy

Discover Plan de Phazy in Risoul, France: Since ancient times these picturesque springs have been providing bathers with healing waters.

La Piscine

Discover La Piscine in Roubaix, France: Museum in a swimming pool where the water still flows.

Argonaute Submarine

Discover Argonaute Submarine in Paris, France: The Argonaute submarine was the French navy's pride and joy in the 1950's.

Musée Fragonard

Discover Musée Fragonard in Maisons-Alfort, France: The only remaining collection of flayed figures made by French "madman" Honoré Fragonard.

Mechanical Dragon Clock

Discover Mechanical Dragon Clock in Blois, France: A beautiful and classically designed villa, with an hourly infestation of monsters.

Pont de la Concorde

Discover Pont de la Concorde in Paris, France: This bridge was constructed from the rubble of the infamous Bastille.

The One-Two-Two

Discover The One-Two-Two in Paris, France: This innocuous-seeming building is actually the remnant of a major wartime brothel.

La Maison Picassiette

Discover La Maison Picassiette in Chartres, France: A mosaic-tiled house built by graveyard sweeper Raymond Isidore.

Chateau de Vaux-le-Vicomte

Discover Chateau de Vaux-le-Vicomte in Maincy, France: This stunning French estate was so lavish that it landed its original owner in jail for the rest of his life.

Grave of Vincent and Theo van Gogh

Discover Grave of Vincent and Theo van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise, France: The artist and his brother are buried in a landscape straight out of a van Gogh painting.

Pont du Gard

Discover Pont du Gard in Vers-Pont-du-Gard, France: This ancient Roman bridge and aqueduct still stands as a wonder of classical construction.

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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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