The World Heritage Committee recently held its 33rd session and has inscribed two new natural sites and 11 cultural sites on Unesco’s World Heritage List. Since Unesco also withdrew one site from the List, Dresden Elbe Valley (Germany), the list now numbers a total of 890 properties. During this session Burkina Faso, Cape Verde and Kyrgyzstan had their first World Heritage sites inscribed on Unesco's List of properties recognized as having outstanding universal value.
Germany’s Wadden Sea and Italy’s Dolomite Mountains were added to the list of Outstanding Natural Sites, and 11 places, detailed below, were added to the list of Outstanding Cultural Sites.
Stoclet House (Belgium) - Stoclet House was commissioned by banker and art collector Adolphe Stoclet, and designed by the leading architects of the Vienna Secession movement, Josef Hoffmann. The house and garden were completed in 1911 and marked a turning point in Art Nouveau, foreshadowing Art Deco and the Modern Movement in architecture.
The Ruins of Loropéni (Burkina Faso) - The fort is the best preserved of ten fortresses in the Lobi area and is part of a larger group of 100 stone enclosures that bear testimony to the power of the trans-Saharan gold trade. Situated near the borders of Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo, the ruins have recently been shown to be at least 1,000 years old.
Cidade Velha, Historic Centre of Ribeira Grande (Cape Verde) - The town of Ribeira Grande was the first European colonial outpost in the tropics. Located on the island of Santiago, the town features some of the original street layout and impressive remains, which include two churches, a royal fortress and Pillory Square with its ornate 16th-century marble pillar.
Mount Wutai (China) - With its five flat peaks, Mount Wutai is a sacred Buddhist mountain. The cultural landscape numbers 53 monasteries, and overall, the buildings on the site present a catalogue of the way Buddhist architecture developed and influenced palace building in China over more than one millennium.
Shushtar, Historical Hydraulic System (Iran) - The hydraulic system can be traced back to Darius the Great in the 5th century BC. It involved the creation of two main diversion canals on the river Kârun one of which, Gargar canal, is still in use providing water to the city of Shushtar via a series of tunnels that supply water to mills
Sulamain-Too Sacred Mountain (Kyrgyzstan) - The mountain dominates the Fergana Valley and forms the backdrop to the city of Osh, at the crossroads of important routes on the Central Asian Silk Roads. Its five peaks and slopes contain numerous ancient places of worship and caves with petroglyphs as well as two largely reconstructed 16th-century mosques. The site is believed to represent the most complete example of a sacred mountain anywhere in Central Asia, worshipped over several millennia.
The Sacred City of Caral-Supe (Peru) - This 5,000-year-old archaeological site dates back to the Late Archaic Period of the Central Andes and is the oldest centre of civilization in the Americas. Exceptionally well-preserved, the site is impressive in terms of its design and the complexity of its architecture, which includes six large pyramidal structures.
The Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty (Republic of Korea) - The Tombs are scattered over 18 locations, and were built over five centuries, from 1408 to 1966. The tombs honoured the memory of ancestors, showed respect for their achievements, asserted royal authority and protected ancestral spirits from evil.
The Tower of Hercules (Spain) - The Tower has served as a lighthouse and landmark at the entrance of La Coruña harbour in north-western Spain since the late 1st century A.D. when the Romans built the Farum Brigantium. The Tower is unique as it is the only lighthouse of Greco-Roman antiquity to have retained a measure of structural integrity and functional continuity.
La Chaux-de-Fonds / Le Locle watchmaking town-planning (Switzerland) - These towns owed their existence to this single industry. Their layout reflects the needs of the local watch-making culture that dates to the 17th century and is still alive today. The site presents outstanding examples of mono-industrial manufacturing-towns which are well preserved and still active.
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal (United Kingdom) - Situated in north-eastern Wales, the 18-kilometre long Pontcysyllte Canal is a feat of civil engineering of the Industrial Revolution, completed in the early years of the 19th century. The aqueduct is a pioneering masterpiece of engineering and monumental metal architecture, conceived by the celebrated civil engineer Thomas Telford.
The above information was taken from the official Unesco world heritage website.
For further information on Unesco World Heritage sites, take a look at The World’s Heritage - a unique full-colour guide to every World Heritage site currently on the list.
About Unesco:
Unesco seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. This is embodied in the 1972 Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.
Author: Gareth Brereton
Date: 16 July 2009
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