Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Pärnu Seawall

Discover Pärnu Seawall in Pärnu, Estonia: Legend says lovers who hold hands while venturing along this stone jetty and kiss at the end will remain together forever.

Longstone of Minchinhampton

Discover Longstone of Minchinhampton in Gloucestershire, England: Local lore says passing infants through its holes could magically cure them of measles and rickets.

Rudolph Grotto Gardens

Discover Rudolph Grotto Gardens in Rudolph, Wisconsin: Five acres of divinely inspired folk art.

Nevadaville Ghost Town

Discover Nevadaville Ghost Town in Central City, Colorado: This deserted Gold Rush town is home to a Masonic lodge that, strangely enough, still holds meetings.

Ruins of St. Mary’s Priory Cathedral

Discover Ruins of St. Mary's Priory Cathedral in Coventry, England: All that remains of the only English cathedral destroyed in the Protestant Reformation.

Atlantis Books

Discover Atlantis Books in Oía, Greece: A quirky bookstore hidden beneath a sea of whitewashed Greek villas.

Bélmez Faces

Discover Bélmez Faces in Bélmez de la Moraleda, Spain: Mysterious face-like images that appeared within an Andalusian house are surrounded by legends of the paranormal.

Darlingtonia State Natural Site

Discover Darlingtonia State Natural Site in Florence, Oregon: The park preserves a single, rare species of carnivorous plant that spells doom for unsuspecting insects.

Steam Engine 638

Discover Steam Engine 638 in Trinidad, Colorado: This small piece of railroad history sits behind the parking lot of a chain grocery store.

The Ziegfeld Head

Discover The Ziegfeld Head in New York, New York: The front yard of an Upper East Side town house hides the last fragment of one of New York's most famous theatres.

Sandal Castle

Discover Sandal Castle in Wakefield, England: Though much of the castle was robbed of its stones, the underlying earthworks are among the best-preserved in England.

Molly the Mollusk

Discover Molly the Mollusk in Sarasota, Florida: The giant squid's 27-foot-long corpse lies preserved within a Sarasota aquarium.

Octagon Tower

Discover Octagon Tower in Ely, England: A remarkable medieval structure born from a 14th-century disaster.

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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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