Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Church of the Woods

Discover Church of the Woods in Canterbury, New Hampshire: Nature and religion are reunited at this unconventional church in the forest.

Old Trail Museum

Discover Old Trail Museum in Choteau, Montana: Touch an actual dinosaur bone at this eclectic trove of Rocky Mountain treasures.

Union Station Lamp Post Clock

Discover Union Station Lamp Post Clock in Kansas City, Missouri: This recently restored timepiece has stood all around Kansas City.

Spongeorama Sponge Factory

Discover Spongeorama Sponge Factory in Tarpon Springs, Florida: This small museum gives visitors a chance to soak up the history of the "sponge capital of the world.".

Martini-Drinking Pink Elephant

Discover Martini-Drinking Pink Elephant in Fortville, Indiana: The bespectacled, cocktail-sipping pachyderm is a strange but fitting liquor store mascot.

World Records of Casey, Illinois

Discover World Records of Casey, Illinois in Casey, Illinois: The world's largest collection of the world's largest objects is in one small Illinois town.

Moravian Pottery & Tile Works Museum

Discover Moravian Pottery & Tile Works Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania: A pride of the state, this working museum crafts pottery mosaics in the style of Pennsylvania's earliest European settlers.

Whispering Arch at Union Station

Discover Whispering Arch at Union Station in St. Louis, Missouri: Speak to a companion on the other side of the room loud and clear through this architectural anomaly.

Curbside Museum

Discover Curbside Museum in Canmore, Alberta: A small and quirky museum hidden inside a fence.

Kande Vihara

Discover Kande Vihara in Beruwala, Sri Lanka: This amazing mountain temple is topped by one of the tallest sitting Buddha statues in the world.

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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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