Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang – Plain of Jars

The Plain of Jars, located on a plateau in central Laos, gets its name from more than 2,100 tubular-shaped megalithic stone jars used for funerary practices in the Iron Age. This serial site of 15 components contains large carved stone jars, stone discs, secondary burials, tombstones, quarries and funerary objects dating from 500 BCE to 500 CE. The jars and associated elements are the most prominent evidence of the Iron Age civilization that made and used them until it disappeared, around 500 CE.

 Lao People's Democratic Republic

N19 25 51.8 E103 9 8

Date of Inscription: 2019

Criteria: (iii)

Property : 174.56 ha

Buffer zone: 1,012.94 ha

Ref: 1587

Source: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1587

Bagan

Lying on a bend of the Ayeyarwady River in the central plain of Myanmar, Bagan is a sacred landscape, featuring an exceptional range of Buddhist art and architecture. The site’s eight components include numerous temples, stupas, monasteries and places of pilgrimage, as well as archaeological remains, frescoes and sculptures. The property bears spectacular testimony to the peak of Bagan civilization (11th–13th centuries CE), when the site was the capital of a regional empire. This ensemble of monumental architecture reflects the strength of religious devotion of an early Buddhist empire.

 Myanmar

N21 8 56 E94 53 4

Date of Inscription: 2019

Criteria: (iii)(iv)(vi)

Property : 5,005.49 ha

Buffer zone: 18,146.83 ha

Ref: 1588

Source: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1588

Namhansanseong

Namhansanseong was designed as an emergency capital for the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), in a mountainous site 25 km south-east of Seoul. Built and defended by Buddhist monk-soldiers, it could accommodate 4,000 people and fulfilled important administrative and military functions. Its earliest remains date from the 7th century, but it was rebuilt several times, notably in the early 17th century in anticipation of an attack from the Sino-Manchu Qing dynasty. The city embodies a synthesis of the defensive military engineering concepts of the period, based on Chinese and Japanese influences, and changes in the art of fortification following the introduction from the West of weapons using gunpowder. A city that has always been inhabited, and which was the provincial capital over a long period, it contains evidence of a variety of military, civil and religious buildings and has become a symbol of Korean sovereignty.

 Republic of Korea

N37 28 44 E127 10 52

Date of Inscription: 2014

Criteria: (ii)(iv)

Property : 409.06 ha

Buffer zone: 853.71 ha

Ref: 1439

Source: https://whc.unesco.org

Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area

There are around 48 Buddhist monuments in the Horyu-ji area, in Nara Prefecture. Several date from the late 7th or early 8th century, making them some of the oldest surviving wooden buildings in the world. These masterpieces of wooden architecture are important not only for the history of art, since they illustrate the adaptation of Chinese Buddhist architecture and layout to Japanese culture, but also for the history of religion, since their construction coincided with the introduction of Buddhism to Japan from China by way of the Korean peninsula.

 Japan

Nara Prefecture

N34 37 0 E135 43 60

Date of Inscription: 1993

Criteria: (i)(ii)(iv)(vi)

Property : 15.03 ha

Buffer zone: 571 ha

Ref: 660

Source: https://whc.unesco.org

Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara

Nara was the capital of Japan from 710 to 784. During this period the framework of national government was consolidated and Nara enjoyed great prosperity, emerging as the fountainhead of Japanese culture. The city's historic monuments – Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines and the excavated remains of the great Imperial Palace – provide a vivid picture of life in the Japanese capital in the 8th century, a period of profound political and cultural change.

 Japan

Nara Prefecture

N34 40 32 E135 50 22

Date of Inscription: 1998

Criteria: (ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)

Property : 617 ha

Buffer zone: 1,962.5 ha

Ref: 870

Source: https://whc.unesco.org

Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: the Mannerist Architectural and Park Landscape Complex and Pilgrimage Park

Kalwaria Zebrzydowska is a breathtaking cultural landscape of great spiritual significance. Its natural setting – in which a series of symbolic places of worship relating to the Passion of Jesus Christ and the life of the Virgin Mary was laid out at the beginning of the 17th century – has remained virtually unchanged. It is still today a place of pilgrimage.

 Poland

Lesser Poland (Malopolska).Voivodship (formerly Bielsko-Biala)

N49 52 0 E19 40 0

Date of Inscription: 1999

Criteria: (ii)(iv)

Property : 380 ha

Buffer zone: 2,600 ha

Ref: 905

Source: https://whc.unesco.org

Hubei Shennongjia

Located in Hubei Province, in central-eastern China, the site consists of two components: Shennongding/Badong to the west and Laojunshan to the east. It protects the largest primary forests remaining in Central China and provides habitat for many rare animal species, such as the Chinese Giant Salamander, the Golden or Sichuan Snub-nosed Monkey, the Clouded Leopard, Common Leopard and the Asian Black Bear. Hubei Shennongjia is one of three centres of biodiversity in China. The site features prominently in the history of botanical research and was the object of international plant collecting expeditions in the 19th and 20th centuries. 

 China

N31 28 11 E110 14 38

Date of Inscription: 2016

Criteria: (ix)(x)

Property : 73,318 ha

Buffer zone: 41,536 ha

Ref: 1509

Source: http://whc.unesco.org