Year: 2015

Birthplace of the Stockholm Syndrome

Discover Birthplace of the Stockholm Syndrome in Stockholm, Sweden: Now a hotel, this former bank was the site of a robbery that spawned a psychological phenomenon.

Sweden Solar System

Discover Sweden Solar System in Stockholm, Sweden: The world's largest model of our planetary system.

Ades Synagogue

Discover Ades Synagogue in Jerusalem, Israel: This "Jewish Sistine Chapel" was designed to reinvigorate Judaism's artistic legacy but was almost lost to misguided restoration.

The Mifletzet

Discover The Mifletzet in Jerusalem, Israel: This nightmarish children's plaything was left grotesque to help kids conquer their fear.

Dead Sea Sinkholes

Discover Dead Sea Sinkholes in Ein Gedi, Israel: As the Dead Sea continues to deplete, massive sinkholes open along its banks.

Zedekiah’s Cave

Discover Zedekiah's Cave in East Jerusalem, Israel: An ancient quarry rediscovered by a dog and claimed by biblical kings, a German cult, and the Freemasons.

Beit Guvrin Caves

Discover Beit Guvrin Caves in Ashkelon, Israel: These numerous Israeli caves were dug out over hundreds years for reasons ranging from hideouts to burial sites.

The Abandoned Village of Leri Cavour

Discover The Abandoned Village of Leri Cavour in Italy: A formerly opulent Italian village is now a crumbling ghost town that no one really knows what to do with.

Pietro Micca Museum

Discover Pietro Micca Museum in Turin, Italy: This Torino museum honors a soldier who kept the city safe using barrels of exploding gunpowder, losing his life in the process.

House of the Shells

Discover House of the Shells in Rimini, Italy: One Italian taxi driver covered his entire house in small seashells creating a weird bit of architecture that is preserved to this day.

Sojo Art and Nature Park

Discover Sojo Art and Nature Park in Lusiana, Italy: Artist Diego Morlin's war between the natural and human worlds is a wanderer's delight.

Vincent City

Discover Vincent City in Lecce, Italy: An eccentric artist's abode in this small Italian town has been transformed into a surreal temple of mosaic madness.

Abbey of San Galgano

Discover Abbey of San Galgano in Chiusdino, Italy: These gutted monastery ruins still stand proudly in the middle of the Italian countryside.

Rome’s Gladiator School

Discover Rome's Gladiator School in Rome, Italy: This historic recreationist school churns out warriors that may very well have had a fighting chance in Rome's pits of the day.

The Bull of Santa Maria del Fiore

Discover The Bull of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Italy: This strange bovine gargoyle is said to have been put in as a passive aggressive form of revenge.

Consonno

Discover Consonno in Consonno, Italy: This half-finished "city of toys" was almost Italy's own Las Vegas.

Bosco Verticale

Discover Bosco Verticale in Milan, Italy: Two very green residential towers cleaning the air in one of Europe's most polluted cities.

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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

PP ToS