Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama

Brief Description

Located in a mountainous region that was cut off from the rest of the world for a long period of time, these villages with their Gassho-style houses subsisted on the cultivation of mulberry trees and the rearing of silkworms. The large houses with their steeply pitched thatched roofs are the only examples of their kind in Japan. Despite economic upheavals, the villages of Ogimachi, Ainokura and Suganuma are outstanding examples of a traditional way of life perfectly adapted to the environment and people's social and economic circumstances.

Japan

Gifu and Toyama prefectures

N36 23 60 E136 52 60

Date of Inscription: 1995

Criteria: (iv)(v)

Property : 68 ha

Buffer zone: 58,873 ha

Ref: 734

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Kremlin and Red Square, Moscow

Brief Description

Inextricably linked to all the most important historical and political events in Russia since the 13th century, the Kremlin (built between the 14th and 17th centuries by outstanding Russian and foreign architects) was the residence of the Great Prince and also a religious centre. At the foot of its ramparts, on Red Square, St Basil's Basilica is one of the most beautiful Russian Orthodox monuments.

Russian Federation

City of Moscow

N55 44 44.988 E37 37 46.992

Date of Inscription: 1990

Criteria: (i)(ii)(iv)(vi)

Ref: 545

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Taj Mahal

Brief Description

An immense mausoleum of white marble, built in Agra between 1631 and 1648 by order of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favourite wife, the Taj Mahal is the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage.

India

Uttar Pradesh, Agra District

N27 10 27.012 E78 2 31.992

Date of Inscription: 1983

Criteria: (i)

Ref: 252

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Shirakami-Sanchi

 Brief Description

Situated in the mountains of northern Honshu, this trackless site includes the last virgin remains of the cool-temperate forest of Siebold's beech trees that once covered the hills and mountain slopes of northern Japan. The black bear, the serow and 87 species of birds can be found in this forest.

Japan

Ajigasawa-machi, Nishitsugaru-gun, Aomori Prefecture; Fukaura-machi, Nishitsugaru-gun, Aomori Prefecture; Iwasaki-mura, Nishitsugaru-gun, Aomori Prefecture; Fujisato-machi, Yamamoto-gun, Akita Prefecture

N40 28 12 E140 7 48

Date of Inscription: 1993

Criteria: (ix)

Property : 16,971 ha

Ref: 663

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Essen

Brief Description

The Zollverein industrial complex in Land Nordrhein-Westfalen consists of the complete infrastructure of a historical coal-mining site, with some 20th-century buildings of outstanding architectural merit. It constitutes remarkable material evidence of the evolution and decline of an essential industry over the past 150 years.

Germany

State of North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen)

N51 29 29 E7 2 46

Date of Inscription: 2001

Criteria: (ii)(iii)

Ref: 975

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Bordeaux, Port of the Moon

Brief Description

The Port of the Moon, port city of Bordeaux in south-west France, is inscribed as an inhabited historic city, an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble, created in the age of the Enlightenment, whose values continued up to the first half of the 20th century, with more protected buildings than any other French city except Paris. It is also recognized for its historic role as a place of exchange of cultural values over more than 2,000 years, particularly since the 12th century due to commercial links with Britain and the Low Lands. Urban plans and architectural ensembles of the early 18th century onwards place the city as an outstanding example of innovative classical and neoclassical trends and give it an exceptional urban and architectural unity and coherence. Its urban form represents the success of philosophers who wanted to make towns into melting pots of humanism, universality and culture.

France

Department of Gironde, Region of Aquitaine

N44 50 20 E0 34 20

Date of Inscription: 2007

Criteria: (ii)(iv)

Property : 1,731 ha

Buffer zone: 11,974 ha

Ref: 1256

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley

Brief Description

The Vézère valley contains 147 prehistoric sites dating from the Palaeolithic and 25 decorated caves. It is particularly interesting from an ethnological and anthropological, as well as an aesthetic point of view because of its cave paintings, especially those of the Lascaux Cave, whose discovery in 1940 was of great importance for the history of prehistoric art. The hunting scenes show some 100 animal figures, which are remarkable for their detail, rich colours and lifelike quality.

France

Communes of Les Eyzies de Tayac, Tursac, Montignac-sur-Vézère, Saint-Leon-sur-Vézère, Marquay, Manaurie-Rouffignac and Saint-Cirq-du Bugue, Department of the Dordogne, Region of Aquitaine

N45 3 27 E1 10 12

Date of Inscription: 1979

Criteria: (i)(iii)

Ref: 85

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion

Brief Description

Viticulture was introduced to this fertile region of Aquitaine by the Romans, and intensified in the Middle Ages. The Saint-Emilion area benefited from its location on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela and many churches, monasteries and hospices were built there from the 11th century onwards. It was granted the special status of a 'jurisdiction' during the period of English rule in the 12th century. It is an exceptional landscape devoted entirely to wine-growing, with many fine historic monuments in its towns and villages.

France

Department of the Gironde, Region of Aquitaine

N44 53 41 E0 9 19

Date of Inscription: 1999

Criteria: (iii)(iv)

Property : 7,847 ha

Buffer zone: 5,101 ha

Ref: 932
Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park

Brief Description

This park, formerly called Uluru (Ayers Rock – Mount Olga) National Park, features spectacular geological formations that dominate the vast red sandy plain of central Australia. Uluru, an immense monolith, and Kata Tjuta, the rock domes located west of Uluru, form part of the traditional belief system of one of the oldest human societies in the world. The traditional owners of Uluru-Kata Tjuta are the Anangu Aboriginal people.

Australia

Northern territory

S25 19 60 E131 0 0

Date of Inscription: 1987

Extension: 1994

Criteria: (v)(vi)(vii)(viii)

Property : 132,566 ha

Ref: 447rev

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Hierapolis-Pamukkale

Brief Description

Deriving from springs in a cliff almost 200 m high overlooking the plain, calcite-laden waters have created at Pamukkale (Cotton Palace) an unreal landscape, made up of mineral forests, petrified waterfalls and a series of terraced basins. At the end of the 2nd century B.C. the dynasty of the Attalids, the kings of Pergamon, established the thermal spa of Hierapolis. The ruins of the baths, temples and other Greek monuments can be seen at the site.

Turkey

Denizli Province

N37 55 26.004 E29 7 23.988

Date of Inscription: 1988

Criteria: (iii)(iv)(vii)

Property : 1,077 ha

Ref: 485

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

El Tajin, Pre-Hispanic City

Brief Description

Located in the state of Veracruz, El Tajin was at its height from the early 9th to the early 13th century. It became the most important centre in north-east Mesoamerica after the fall of the Teotihuacan Empire. Its cultural influence extended all along the Gulf and penetrated into the Maya region and the high plateaux of central Mexico. Its architecture, which is unique in Mesoamerica, is characterized by elaborate carved reliefs on the columns and frieze. The 'Pyramid of the Niches', a masterpiece of ancient Mexican and American architecture, reveals the astronomical and symbolic significance of the buildings. El Tajin has survived as an outstanding example of the grandeur and importance of the pre-Hispanic cultures of Mexico.

Mexico

Etat de Veracruz, municipalité de Papantla

N20 28 35.004 W97 22 39

Date of Inscription: 1992

Criteria: (iii)(iv)

Property : 240 ha

Ref: 631

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia

Brief Description

In a spectacular landscape, entirely sculpted by erosion, the Göreme valley and its surroundings contain rock-hewn sanctuaries that provide unique evidence of Byzantine art in the post-Iconoclastic period. Dwellings, troglodyte villages and underground towns – the remains of a traditional human habitat dating back to the 4th century – can also be seen there.

Turkey

Nevşehir Province (Cappadocia) in Central Anatolia

N38 40 0.012 E34 51 0

Date of Inscription: 1985

Criteria: (i)(iii)(v)(vii)

Property : 9,884 ha

Ref: 357

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

L'viv – the Ensemble of the Historic Centre

Brief Description

The city of L''viv, founded in the late Middle Ages, was a flourishing administrative, religious and commercial centre for several centuries. The medieval urban topography has been preserved virtually intact (in particular, there is evidence of the different ethnic communities who lived there), along with many fine Baroque and later buildings.

Ukraine

Halychyna, L’viv Oblast'

N49 50 29.868 E24 1 55.128

Date of Inscription: 1998

Minor modification inscribed year: 2008

Criteria: (ii)(v)

Property : 120 ha

Buffer zone: 2,441 ha

Ref: 865bis

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Old Town Lunenburg

Brief Description

Lunenburg is the best surviving example of a planned British colonial settlement in North America. Established in 1753, it has retained its original layout and overall appearance, based on a rectangular grid pattern drawn up in the home country. The inhabitants have managed to safeguard the city's identity throughout the centuries by preserving the wooden architecture of the houses, some of which date from the 18th century.

Canada

Nova Scotia

N44 22 34 W64 18 33

Date of Inscription: 1995

Criteria: (iv)(v)

Property : 33 ha

Ref: 741

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Landscape of Grand Pré

Brief Description

Situated in the southern Minas Basin of Nova Scotia, the Grand Pré marshland and archaeological sites constitute a cultural landscape bearing testimony to the development of agricultural farmland using dykes and the aboiteau wooden sluice system, started by the Acadians in the 17th century and further developed and maintained by the Planters and present-day inhabitants. Over 1,300 ha, the cultural landscape encompasses a large expanse of polder farmland and archaeological elements of the towns of Grand Pré and Hortonville, which were built by the Acadians and their successors. The landscape is an exceptional example of the adaptation of the first European settlers to the conditions of the North American Atlantic coast. The site – marked by one of the most extreme tidal ranges in the world, averaging 11.6 m – is also inscribed as a memorial to Acadian way of life and deportation, which started in 1755, known as the Grand Dérangement.

Canada

N45 7 6 W64 18 26

Date of Inscription: 2012

Criteria: (v)(vi)

Property : 1,323 ha

Buffer zone: 5,865 ha

Ref: 1404

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Qal’at al-Bahrain – Ancient Harbour and Capital of Dilmun

Brief Description

Qal’at al-Bahrain is a typical tell – an artificial mound created by many successive layers of human occupation. The strata of the 300 × 600 m tell testify to continuous human presence from about 2300 BC to the 16th century AD. About 25% of the site has been excavated, revealing structures of different types: residential, public, commercial, religious and military. They testify to the importance of the site, a trading port, over the centuries. On the top of the 12 m mound there is the impressive Portuguese fort, which gave the whole site its name, qal’a (fort). The site was the capital of the Dilmun, one of the most important ancient civilizations of the region. It contains the richest remains inventoried of this civilization, which was hitherto only known from written Sumerian references.

Bahrain
Northern Region

N26 13 59.016 E50 31 19.992

Date of Inscription: 2005

Minor modification inscribed year: 2008

Criteria: (ii)(iii)(iv)

Property : 32 ha

Buffer zone: 1,238 ha

Ref: 1192bis

Source:  http://whc.unesco.org

Fujisan, sacred place and source of artistic inspiration

Brief Description

The beauty of the solitary, often snow-capped, stratovolcano, known around the world as Mount Fuji, rising above villages and tree-fringed sea and lakes has long inspired artists and poets and been the object of pilgrimages. Its representation in Japanese art goes back to the 11th century but 19th century wood block prints have made Fujisan become an internationally recognized icon of Japan and have had a deep impact on the development of Western art. The inscribed property consists of 25 sites which reflect the essence of Fujisan’s sacred landscape. In the 12th century, Fujisan became the centre of training for ascetic Buddhism, which included Shinto elements. On the upper 1,500-metre tier of the 3,776m mountain, pilgrim routes and crater shrines have been inscribed alongside sites around the base of the mountain including Sengen-jinja shrines, Oshi lodging houses, and natural volcanic features such as lava tree moulds, lakes, springs and waterfalls, which are revered as sacred.

Japan

N35 21 39 E138 43 39

Date of Inscription: 2013

Criteria: (iii)(vi)

Property : 20,702 ha

Buffer zone: 49,628 ha

Ref: 1418

Source: http://whc.unesco.org