Year: 2016

Louis XIV’s Globes

Discover Louis XIV's Globes in Paris, France: Two awe-inspiring globes from the reign of the Sun King hang from the ceiling of France's national library.

Earth Eagle Brewings

Discover Earth Eagle Brewings in Portsmouth, New Hampshire: One of the few brewers in the U.S. experimenting with hop-free beers.

Budapest Castle Hill Funicular

Discover Budapest Castle Hill Funicular in Budapest, Hungary: Built in 1870 at the bridge that connected Buda and Pest, this spectacular incline railway was almost lost forever during World War II.

Coffin It Up

Discover Coffin It Up in Pahrump, Nevada: Bringing back the art of handmade custom coffins.

Pirou-Plage Ghost Village

Discover Pirou-Plage Ghost Village in Pirou, France: An abandoned beach resort in Normandy reclaimed by artists.

Upside-Down Fig Tree

Discover Upside-Down Fig Tree in Bacoli, Italy: A tree that defies gravity grows in an ancient ruin.

Grace Hopper’s Bug

Discover Grace Hopper's Bug in Washington, D.C.: A computer bug so primitive it was an actual insect.

Zweetkamertje (Sweat Room)

Discover Zweetkamertje (Sweat Room) in Leiden, Netherlands: Graffiti covers the walls of a room where university students through the centuries have waited nervously to defend their theses.

Torre Sant’Andrea

Discover Torre Sant'Andrea in Melendugno, Italy: Dramatic sea stacks adorn the coast of this small village on the Adriatic coast.

Riggs Bank

Discover Riggs Bank in Washington, D.C.: The bank that helped fund the Mexican-American War and the purchase of Alaska met its downfall after helping Augusto Pinochet launder money.

Western Folklife Center

Discover Western Folklife Center in Elko, Nevada: This arts and culture cultural center explores the diverse cultural heritage of the American West.

Tapton House

Discover Tapton House in Chesterfield, England: The former home of a railway legend and the site of a gigantic labyrinth.

Permafrost Tunnel

Discover Permafrost Tunnel in Fairbanks, Alaska: This frozen tunnel in central Alaska is both an engineering feat and a valuable climate classroom.

North Carolina’s 12th Congressional District

Discover North Carolina's 12th Congressional District in Mooresville, North Carolina: Formerly the most gerrymandered district in the U.S., it twisted and turned along racial borders.

Moonbeam UFO Monument

Discover Moonbeam UFO Monument in Moonbeam, Ontario: A flying saucer has landed for good in the middle of a tiny Canadian town.

Ruins at Westerplatte

Discover Ruins at Westerplatte in Gdańsk, Poland: The site of the first battle of World War II.

National Ice Core Lab

Discover National Ice Core Lab in Denver, Colorado: Where scientists keep miles of very valuable ice from Antarctica and Greenland from melting.

McKinley Presidential Library & Museum

Discover McKinley Presidential Library & Museum in Canton, Ohio: Mausoleums, astronomy, and animatronic dinosaurs at this memorial to an assassinated American president.

Lithia Water Fountain

Discover Lithia Water Fountain in Ashland, Oregon: A public fountain that spouts "health water" from a nearby spring.

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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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