La Lonja de la Seda de Valencia

Sala de Contratación (Contract or Trading Hall)

Facade of La Lonja

Built between 1482 and 1533, this group of buildings was originally used for trading in silk (hence its name, the Silk Exchange) and it has always been a centre for commerce. It is a masterpiece of late Gothic architecture. The grandiose Sala de Contratación (Contract or Trading Hall), in particular, illustrates the power and wealth of a major Mediterranean mercantile city in the 15th and 16th centuries.

 Spain

Province and Autonomous Community of Valencia

N39 28 27.9 E0 22 42.4

Date of Inscription: 1996

Criteria: (i)(iv)

Ref: 782

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

• Sala de Contratacion (The Contract Hall)
• Pavilion of the Consulate
• Tower of La Lonja

Christiansfeld, a Moravian Church Settlement

Founded in 1773 in South Jutland, the site is an example of a planned settlement of the Moravian Church, a Lutheran free congregation centred in Herrnhut, Saxony. The town was planned to represent the Protestant urban ideal, constructed around a central Church square. The architecture is homogenous and unadorned, with one and two-storey buildings in yellow brick with red tile roofs. The democratic organization of the Moravian Church, with its pioneering egalitarian philosophy, is expressed in its humanistic town planning. The settlement’s plan opens onto agricultural land and includes important buildings for the common welfare such as large communal houses for the congregation’s widows and unmarried men and women. The buildings are still used by an influential community of the Moravian Church.

 Denmark

N55 21 20 E9 28 53

N55 21 20 E9 28 53

Date of Inscription: 2015

Criteria: (iii)(iv)

Property : 21 ha 

Buffer zone: 385 ha

Ref: 1468

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu

Shuri Castle Site

Five hundred years of Ryukyuan history (12th-17th century) are represented by this group of sites and monuments. The ruins of the castles, on imposing elevated sites, are evidence for the social structure over much of that period, while the sacred sites provide mute testimony to the rare survival of an ancient form of religion into the modern age. The wide- ranging economic and cultural contacts of the Ryukyu Islands over that period gave rise to a unique culture.

• Tamaudun
• Sonohyan-utaki Ishimon
• Nakijin Castle Site 
• Zakimi Castle Site
• Katsuren Castle Site
• Nakagusuku Castle Site
• Shuri Castle Site
• Shikinaen
• Sefa-utaki

 Japan

Okinawa Prefecture

N26 12 31 E127 40 58

Date of Inscription: 2000

Criteria: (ii)(iii)(vi)

Property : 55 ha 

Buffer zone: 560 ha

Ref: 972

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Hiraizumi – Temples, Gardens and Archaeological Sites Representing the Buddhist Pure Land

Chūson-ji

Hiraizumi - Temples, Gardens and Archaeological Sites Representing the Buddhist Pure Land comprises five sites, including the sacred Mount Kinkeisan. It features vestiges of government offices dating from the 11th and 12th centuries when Hiraizumi was the administrative centre of the northern realm of Japan and rivalled Kyoto. The realm was based on the cosmology of Pure Land Buddhism, which spread to Japan in the 8th century. It represented the pure land of Buddha that people aspire to after death, as well as peace of mind in this life. In combination with indigenous Japanese nature worship and Shintoism, Pure Land Buddhism developed a concept of planning and garden design that was unique to Japan.

• Chūsonji keidai
• Mōtsūji keidai
• Kanjizaiōin ato
• Muryōkōin ato
• Kinkeizan

 Japan

N39 0 4 E141 6 28

Date of Inscription: 2011

Criteria: (ii)(vi)

Property : 176 ha 

Buffer zone: 6,008 ha

Ref: 1277rev

Source: http://whc.unesco.org