Archives: Atlas Obscuras

Church of the Holy Parking Structure

Discover Church of the Holy Parking Structure in Cleveland, Ohio: On the upper deck of this church-owned parking garage stand eight pillars topped with different Catholic saints.

Table 31 at Tam O’Shanter

Discover Table 31 at Tam O’Shanter in Los Angeles, California: Sit at the "Disney table,” where Walt and his team of "imagineers" once dined on the regular.

Sapphire City House

Discover Sapphire City House in Somerville, Massachusetts: A home decorated by its owner with eye-catching and captivating assemblages of found objects.

Eiffel Tower Park

Discover Eiffel Tower Park in Paris, Tennessee: A 70-foot replica of the famed Eiffel Tower.

Talking Trash Cans of Malmö

Discover Talking Trash Cans of Malmö in Malmö, Sweden: These waste baskets play a few risque messages to discourage littering.

Virginia City Flume

Discover Virginia City Flume in Carson City, Nevada: Ruins of the original wooden flume that carried water to Virginia City are still visible high on the Virginia Range.

Vacation City

Discover Perlora Ciudad de Vacaciones (Vacation City) in Perlora Ciudad de Vacaciones, Spain: The closed and crumbling Francoist luxury resort for workers is still full of life—for now.

Caffé REL

Discover Caffé REL in Franklin, North Carolina: Step past the gas pumps and into a fine French bistro.

The Telescope Used to Discover Pluto

Discover Pluto Discovery Telescope in Flagstaff, Arizona: A planet-hunting astrograph built in the 1920s to seek out the so-called "Planet X" beyond Uranus.

Painted Rock

Discover Painted Rock in Santa Margarita, California: The oldest pictographs on this decorated rock formation in California's Carrizo Plain date back as many as 4,000 years.

The White Cliffs of Conoy

Discover The White Cliffs of Conoy in Marietta, Pennsylvania: An industrial waste tourist attraction.

Castle Cornet

Discover Castle Cornet in Saint Peter Port, Guernsey: Castle Cornet is a large island castle in Guernsey which is 800 years old.

The First Telephone in Las Vegas

Discover The First Telephone in Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada: The so-called "Father of Las Vegas" had the city's first telephone installed in his office in 1907.

Alien Research Center

Discover Alien Research Center in Hiko, Nevada: The self-proclaimed gateway to the Extraterrestrial Highway.

Sal del Rey

Discover Sal del Rey in Edinburg, Texas: This lake sits on an estimated 4 million tons of salt.

Elbehochwasser 2002 Memorial

Discover Elbehochwasser 2002 Memorial in Dresden, Germany: A monument dedicated to a 2002 flood that hit Dresden.

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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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