Archives: Atlas Obscuras

La Manzana de las Luces

Discover La Manzana de las Luces in Buenos Aires, Argentina: A gateway to a mysterious network of underground tunnels.

Cementerio de la Recoleta

Discover Cementerio de la Recoleta in Buenos Aires, Argentina: Buenos Aires' city of the dead contains some very famous remains, including Eva Perón.

Xul Solar Museum

Discover Xul Solar Museum in Buenos Aires, Argentina: Xul Solar was an artist of alternate worlds, inventor of languages, and dreamer of utopias.

Iguazu Falls

Discover Iguazu Falls in Foz do Iguaçu, Argentina: A series of waterfalls so massive they straddle the border of Argentina and Brazil.

Perito Moreno Glacier

Discover Perito Moreno Glacier in Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina: This stunning mass of ice spans 121 square miles and is still growing.

El Ateneo Grand Splendid

Discover El Ateneo Grand Splendid in Buenos Aires, Argentina: This historic, palatial theater is now one of the world’s most beautiful bookstores.

Torre Telefonica Chile

Discover Torre Telefonica Chile in Santiago, Chile: It's just another skyscraper, but it's shaped like '90s cell phone.

Cementerio Numero 3 de Playa Ancha

Discover Cementerio Numero 3 de Playa Ancha in Valparaiso, Chile: Hand-made memorials and a wish-granting murderer lie within this seaside pauper's cemetery.

Churches of Chiloé

Discover Churches of Chiloé in Castro, Chile: Spanish religion mixed with local architecture has yielded a network of churches unlike any other.

La Sebastiana

Discover La Sebastiana in Valparaiso, Chile: Pivotal home of Nobel Prize winner Pablo Neruda.

The Dissidents Cemetery

Discover The Dissidents Cemetery in Valparaiso, Chile: This historic Chilean cemetery is the burial place of hundreds of European and American freethinkers and non-Catholics.

La Chascona

Discover La Chascona in Santiago, Chile: Pablo Neruda's custom-built lover's nest was made to remind him of the sea and named after his mistress' hair.

Port Famine

Discover Port Famine in Punta Arenas, Chile: The geographical center of Chile is a port so depressing that it has driven men to suicide.

Dock of Souls

Discover Dock of Souls (Muelle de las Almas) in Chonchi, Chile: A wooden dock art installation on Chiloé Island taps into the island's indigenous mythology.

Shipwreck of the Lord Lonsdale

Discover Shipwreck of the Lord Lonsdale in Punta Arenas, Chile: The rusty hull of this 1899 ship serves as a tribute to explorers of the bottom of the world.

The Nitrate Towns of Chile

Discover The Nitrate Towns of Chile in Tamarugal, Chile: Towns with a resource known as "white gold," valuable enough to fight a war over, now stand ghostly and empty.

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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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