Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Senate Corncob Capitals

Discover Senate Corncob Capitals in Washington, D.C.: Corn-inthian columns with a uniquely American take on neoclassical architecture.

CCC & POW Camp

Discover CCC & POW Camp in Salina, Utah: Where a guard killed nine German prisoners during one of the worst 20th-century POW camp massacres in U.S. history.

Hackpen White Horse

Discover Hackpen White Horse in Wiltshire, England: England's only square-dimension hill horse was built to celebrate Queen Victoria's coronation.

Route 66 Sidewalk Highway

Discover Route 66 Sidewalk Highway in Miami, Oklahoma: When you can afford only half a road, you build only half a road.

Sar Yazd Castle

Discover Sar Yazd Castle in Saryazd, Iran: This ancient fortress in Iran was once the oldest and largest treasury in the world.

Braswell Mountain Rail Tunnel

Discover Braswell Mountain Rail Tunnel in Rockmart, Georgia: An abandoned railroad tunnel forgotten by time awaits inquisitive hikers.

Bock Casemates

Discover Bock Casemates in Luxembourg, Luxembourg: An expansive complex of subterranean tunnels is all that remains of one of Europe's most formidable medieval fortresses.

Auto & Technik Museum Sinsheim

Discover Auto & Technik Museum Sinsheim in Sinsheim, Germany: It has an American Dream Car exhibit, Europe's largest Formula One collection, and many, many mannequins.

Key West Cemetery

Discover Key West Cemetery in Key West, Florida: The island residents are known for taking their quirky sense of humor with them to the grave.

The Zone of Death

Discover Yellowstone's Zone of Death in Island Park, Idaho: A legal loophole makes it possible to get away with murder within this 50-square-mile section of Yellowstone.

Leiðarendi Lava Tube

Discover Leiðarendi Lava Tube in Iceland: A winding, blood-red tunnel of hardened lava navigable by foot.

The Micro Wonder Museum

Discover Micro Wonder Museum in Budapest, Hungary: A collection of intricate sculptures so small they have to be seen through a microscope.

Greenbelt Historic District

Discover Greenbelt Historic District in Greenbelt, Maryland: A relic of FDR's brief foray into utopian urban planning.

The Confederate South Lives On in Brazil

Discover Confederate Colony in Brazil in Santa Bárbara D'Oeste, Brazil: The Confederacy is still celebrated by descendants of the thousands of Southerners that fled to São Paulo after the Civil War.

The Côn Đảo Prison in Vietnam

Discover Côn Đảo Prison in Côn Đảo, Vietnam: The wartime prison now features haunting sculpted reenactments of the atrocities that took place there.

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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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