Year: 2009

Les Grottes Pétrifiantes

Discover Les Grottes Pétrifiantes in Savonnières, France: Limestone grottoes turns everyday objects into stone.

The World’s Largest Solar Furance

Discover Odeillo Solar Furnace in Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via, France: 10,000 mirrors concentrate the sun's rays to generate power for the world's largest solar furnrace.

Trench of Bayonets

Discover Trench of Bayonets in Fleury-devant-Douaumont, France: Site of one of World War I's most horrific scenes.

Carrières de Lumières

Discover Carrières de Lumières in Les Baux-de-Provence, France: Walk through living pictures and music in the Cathedral of Images.

Transi de René de Chalon

Discover Transi de René de Chalon in Bar-le-Duc, France: Statue of a decomposing prince that once held his heart in its hand.

Mechanical Dragon Clock

Discover Mechanical Dragon Clock in Blois, France: A beautiful and classically designed villa, with an hourly infestation of monsters.

Douaumont Ossuary

Discover Douaumont Ossuary in Fleury-devant-Douaumont, France: This modern French ossuary contains the jumbled bones of 130,000 WWI soldiers.

Machines of the Isle of Nantes

Discover Machines of the Isle of Nantes in Nantes, France: Massive puppet-automaton machines created by French artist collective Machines de l’Ile.

Traboules Secret Passages

Discover Traboules Secret Passages in Lyon, France: Hundreds of hidden passageways weave through the old quarters of Lyon.

Julien Aurouze and Co.

Discover Julien Aurouze and Co. in Paris, France: A Parisian exterminator's shop whose storefront displays stuffed rats hanging from traps.

Oradour

Discover Oradour in Oradour-sur-Glane, France: This French ghost town from World War II has been left as a memorial to German atrocities during World War II.

Le Palais Idéal

Discover Le Palais Idéal in Hauterives, France: This whimsical castle of grottoes was the labor of love of a French postman, and one of the greatest achievements of outsider architecture.

Catacombes de Paris

Discover Catacombes de Paris in Paris, France: The vast, legendary catacombs hold secrets much stranger than stacked bones.

La Sebastiana

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

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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