The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement

On the Lower Left of the Postcard is Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung

Chosen from the work of Le Corbusier, the 17 sites comprising this transnational serial property are spread over seven countries and are a testimonial to the invention of a new architectural language that made a break with the past. They were built over a period of a half-century, in the course of what Le Corbusier described as “patient research”. The Complexe du Capitole in Chandigarh (India), the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo (Japan), the House of Dr Curutchet in La Plata (Argentina) and the Unité d’habitation in Marseille (France) reflect the solutions that the Modern Movement sought to apply during the 20th century to the challenges of inventing new architectural techniques to respond to the needs of society. These masterpieces of creative genius also attest to the internationalization of architectural practice across the planet.

• Maisons La Roche et Jeanneret
• Petite villa au bord du lac Léman fr
• Cité Frugès
• Maison Guiete
• Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung
• Villa Savoye et loge du jardiner
• Immeuble Clarté
• Immeuble locatif à la Porte Molitor
• Unité d’habitation Marseille
• La Manufacture à Saint-Dié fr
• Curutchet House
• Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut de Ronchamp
• Cabanon de Le Corbusier
• Complexe du Capitole
• Couvent Sainte-Marie-de-la-Tourette
• Musée National des Beaux-Arts de l’Occident

 Argentina

 Belgium

 France

 Germany

 India

 Japan

 Switzerland

N46 28 6.29 E6 49 45.61

Date of Inscription: 2016

Criteria: (i)(ii)(vi)

Property : 98.4838 ha

Buffer zone: 1,409.384 ha

Ref: 1321rev

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Roman Theatre and its Surroundings and the "Triumphal Arch" of Orange

Situated in the Rhone valley, the ancient theatre of Orange, with its 103-m-long facade, is one of the best preserved of all the great Roman theatres. Built between A.D. 10 and 25, the Roman arch is one of the most beautiful and interesting surviving examples of a provincial triumphal arch from the reign of Augustus. It is decorated with low reliefs commemorating the establishment of the Pax Romana

 France

Department of Vacluse, Region of Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur

N44 8 8.6 E4 48 30.3

Date of Inscription: 1981

Minor boundary modification inscribed year: 2007

Criteria: (iii)(vi)

Property : 9.45 ha

Buffer zone: 232 ha

Ref: 163bis

Source: 

Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landscape

The cultural landscape of Tokaj graphically demonstrates the long tradition of wine production in this region of low hills and river valleys. The intricate pattern of vineyards, farms, villages and small towns, with their historic networks of deep wine cellars, illustrates every facet of the production of the famous Tokaj wines, the quality and management of which have been strictly regulated for nearly three centuries.

 Hungary

County of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén

N48 8 60 E21 21 0

Date of Inscription: 2002

Criteria: (iii)(v)

Property : 13,255 ha

Buffer zone: 74,879 ha

Ref: 1063

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Old Town of Cáceres

The city's history of battles between Moors and Christians is reflected in its architecture, which is a blend of Roman, Islamic, Northern Gothic and Italian Renaissance styles. Of the 30 or so towers from the Muslim period, the Torre del Bujaco is the most famous.

 Spain

Province of Cáceres, Autonomous Community of Extremadura

N39 28 27.984 W6 22 12

Date of Inscription: 1986

Minor boundary modification inscribed year: 2016

Criteria: (iii)(iv)

Property : 9 ha

Buffer zone: 60.63 ha

Ref: 384bis

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Las Médulas

In the 1st century A.D. the Roman Imperial authorities began to exploit the gold deposits of this region in north-west Spain, using a technique based on hydraulic power. After two centuries of working the deposits, the Romans withdrew, leaving a devastated landscape. Since there was no subsequent industrial activity, the dramatic traces of this remarkable ancient technology are visible everywhere as sheer faces in the mountainsides and the vast areas of tailings, now used for agriculture.

 Spain

Province of Léon, Autonomous Community of Castile-Leon

N42 28 9.804 W6 46 14.7

Date of Inscription: 1997

Criteria: (i)(ii)(iii)(iv)

Property : 2,208.2 ha

Ref: 803

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalupe

The monastery is an outstanding repository of four centuries of Spanish religious architecture. It symbolizes two significant events in world history that occurred in 1492: the Reconquest of the Iberian peninsula by the Catholic Kings and Christopher Columbus' arrival in the Americas. Its famous statue of the Virgin became a powerful symbol of the Christianization of much of the New World.

 Spain

Province of Cáceres, Autonomous Community of Extremadura

N39 27 10.26 W5 19 39

Date of Inscription: 1993

Criteria: (iv)(vi)

Property : 1.1 ha

Buffer zone: 43.65 ha

Ref: 665

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Old Town of Segovia and its Aqueduct

The Roman aqueduct of Segovia, probably built c. A.D. 50, is remarkably well preserved. This impressive construction, with its two tiers of arches, forms part of the setting of the magnificent historic city of Segovia. Other important monuments include the Alcázar, begun around the 11th century, and the 16th-century Gothic cathedral.

 Spain

Province of Segovia, Autonomous Community of Castile-Leon

N40 56 54.5 W4 7 0.3

Date of Inscription: 1985

Minor boundary modification inscribed year: 2015

Criteria: (i)(iii)(iv)

Property : 134.28 ha

Buffer zone: 401.44 ha

Ref: 311bis

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Historic Town of Banská Štiavnica and the Technical Monuments in its Vicinity

Over the centuries, the town of Banská Štiavnica was visited by many outstanding engineers and scientists who contributed to its fame. The old medieval mining centre grew into a town with Renaissance palaces, 16th-century churches, elegant squares and castles. The urban centre blends into the surrounding landscape, which contains vital relics of the mining and metallurgical activities of the past.

 Slovakia

Town and District of Banská Štiavnica, Region of Banská Bystrica

N48 27 39.996 E18 53 60

Date of Inscription: 1993

Criteria: (iv)(v)

Property : 20,632 ha

Buffer zone: 62,128 ha

Ref: 618rev

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

The Trulli of Alberobello

The trulli , limestone dwellings found in the southern region of Puglia, are remarkable examples of drywall (mortarless) construction, a prehistoric building technique still in use in this region. The trulli are made of roughly worked limestone boulders collected from neighbouring fields. Characteristically, they feature pyramidal, domed or conical roofs built up of corbelled limestone slabs.

 Italy

Province of Bari, Puglia Region

N40 46 57 E17 14 12.984

Date of Inscription: 1996

Criteria: (iii)(iv)(v)

Property : 10.52 ha

Ref: 787

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Hortobágy National Park - the Puszta

The cultural landscape of the Hortobágy Puszta consists of a vast area of plains and wetlands in eastern Hungary. Traditional forms of land use, such as the grazing of domestic animals, have been present in this pastoral society for more than two millennia.

 Hungary

Counties of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, Heves, Hajdú-Bihar and Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok

N47 35 40.488 E21 9 24.408

Date of Inscription: 1999

Criteria: (iv)(v)

Property : 74,820 ha

Buffer zone: 199,380 ha

Ref: 474rev

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera

This is the most outstanding, intact example of a troglodyte settlement in the Mediterranean region, perfectly adapted to its terrain and ecosystem. The first inhabited zone dates from the Palaeolithic, while later settlements illustrate a number of significant stages in human history. Matera is in the southern region of Basilicata.

 Italy

City and Province of Matera, Region of Basilicata

N40 39 59 E16 36 37

Date of Inscription: 1993

Criteria: (iii)(iv)(v)

Property : 1,016 ha

Buffer zone: 4,365 ha

Ref: 670

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Studenica Monastery

The Studenica Monastery was established in the late 12th century by Stevan Nemanja, founder of the medieval Serb state, shortly after his abdication. It is the largest and richest of Serbia’s Orthodox monasteries. Its two principal monuments, the Church of the Virgin and the Church of the King, both built of white marble, enshrine priceless collections of 13th- and 14th-century Byzantine painting.

 Serbia

Village of Studenica, Commune of Kraljevo, Raška District, Republic of Serbia

N43 29 9.996 E20 32 12.012

Date of Inscription: 1986

Criteria: (i)(ii)(iv)(vi)

Property : 1.16 ha

Buffer zone: 269.34 ha

Ref: 389

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Rock-Hewn Churches, Lalibela

The 11 medieval monolithic cave churches of this 13th-century 'New Jerusalem' are situated in a mountainous region in the heart of Ethiopia near a traditional village with circular-shaped dwellings. Lalibela is a high place of Ethiopian Christianity, still today a place of pilmigrage and devotion.

 Ethiopia

Amhara Region

N12 1 45.66 E39 2 25.512

Date of Inscription: 1978

Criteria: (i)(ii)(iii)

Ref: 18

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz

The Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz is an exceptional example of landscape design and planning of the Age of the Enlightenment, the 18th century. Its diverse components - outstanding buildings, landscaped parks and gardens in the English style, and subtly modified expanses of agricultural land - serve aesthetic, educational, and economic purposes in an exemplary manner.

 Germany

State of Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt)

N51 50 33 E12 25 14.988

Date of Inscription: 2000

Criteria: (ii)(iv)

Property : 14,500 ha

Ref: 534rev

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Gamzigrad-Romuliana, Palace of Galerius

The Late Roman fortified palace compound and memorial complex of Gamzigrad-Romuliana, Palace of Galerius, in the east of Serbia, was commissioned by Emperor Caius Valerius Galerius Maximianus, in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries. It was known as Felix Romuliana, named after the emperor’s mother. The site consists of fortifications, the palace in the north-western part of the complex, basilicas, temples, hot baths, memorial complex, and a tetrapylon. The group of buildings is also unique in its intertwining of ceremonial and memorial functions.

 Serbia

Eastern Serbia

N43 53 57.5 E22 11 10

Date of Inscription: 2007

Criteria: (iii)(iv)

Property : 179.217 ha

Buffer zone: 544.925 ha

Ref: 1253

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto (South-Eastern Sicily)

The eight towns in south-eastern Sicily: Caltagirone, Militello Val di Catania, Catania, Modica, Noto, Palazzolo, Ragusa and Scicli, were all rebuilt after 1693 on or beside towns existing at the time of the earthquake which took place in that year. They represent a considerable collective undertaking, successfully carried out at a high level of architectural and artistic achievement. Keeping within the late Baroque style of the day, they also depict distinctive innovations in town planning and urban building.

 Italy

Provinces of Catania, Ragusa, and Syracuse, Sicily

N36 53 35.5 E15 4 8.1

Date of Inscription: 2002

Criteria: (i)(ii)(iv)(v)

Property : 112.79 ha

Buffer zone: 305.8 ha

Ref: 1024rev

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Kulangsu, a Historic International Settlement

Kulangsu is a tiny island located on the estuary of the Chiu-lung River, facing the city of Xiamen. With the opening of a commercial port at Xiamen in 1843, and the establishment of the island as an international settlement in 1903, this island off the southern coast of the Chinese empire suddenly became an important window for Sino-foreign exchanges. Kulangsu is an exceptional example of the cultural fusion that emerged from these exchanges, which remain legible in its urban fabric. There is a mixture of different architectural styles including Traditional Southern Fujian Style, Western Classical Revival Style and Veranda Colonial Style. The most exceptional testimony of the fusion of various stylistic influences is a new architectural movement, the Amoy Deco Style, which is a synthesis of the Modernist style of the early 20th century and Art Deco.

 China

N24 26 51 E118 3 43

Date of Inscription: 2017

Criteria: (ii)(iv)

Property : 316.2 ha

Buffer zone: 886 ha

Ref: 1541

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Historic Centre of San Gimignano

'San Gimignano delle belle Torri' is in Tuscany, 56 km south of Florence. It served as an important relay point for pilgrims travelling to or from Rome on the Via Francigena. The patrician families who controlled the town built around 72 tower-houses (some as high as 50 m) as symbols of their wealth and power. Although only 14 have survived, San Gimignano has retained its feudal atmosphere and appearance. The town also has several masterpieces of 14th- and 15th-century Italian art.

 Italy

Province of Siena, Tuscany

N43 28 5.016 E11 2 30.012

Date of Inscription: 1990

Criteria: (i)(iii)(iv)

Property : 13.88 ha

Ref: 550

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Historic Centre of Siena

Siena is the embodiment of a medieval city. Its inhabitants pursued their rivalry with Florence right into the area of urban planning. Throughout the centuries, they preserved their city's Gothic appearance, acquired between the 12th and 15th centuries. During this period the work of Duccio, the Lorenzetti brothers and Simone Martini was to influence the course of Italian and, more broadly, European art. The whole city of Siena, built around the Piazza del Campo, was devised as a work of art that blends into the surrounding landscape.

 Italy

City and Province of Siena, Tuscany

N43 19 7 E11 19 54

Date of Inscription: 1995

Criteria: (i)(ii)(iv)

Property : 170 ha

Buffer zone: 9,907 ha

Ref: 717

Source: http://whc.unesco.org 

Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy

Lago D'Orta

The nine Sacri Monti (Sacred Mountains) of northern Italy are groups of chapels and other architectural features created in the late 16th and 17th centuries and dedicated to different aspects of the Christian faith. In addition to their symbolic spiritual meaning, they are of great beauty by virtue of the skill with which they have been integrated into the surrounding natural landscape of hills, forests and lakes. They also house much important artistic material in the form of wall paintings and statuary.

• The Sacro Monte of Nuova Gerusalemme (New Jerusalem) of Varallo Sesia (1486), Varallo Sesia, province of Vercelli
• The Sacro Monte of Santa Maria Assunta, Serralunga di Crea (1589), province of Alessandria
• The Sacro Monte of San Francesco, Orta San Giulio (1590), province of Novara
• The Sacro Monte of the Rosary, Varese (1598)
• The Sacro Monte of the Blessed Virgin, Oropa (1617), province of Biella
• The Sacro Monte of the Blessed Virgin of Succour, Ossuccio (1635), province of Como
• The Sacro Monte of the Holy Trinity, Ghiffa (1591), province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola
• The Sacro Monte and Calvary, Domodossola (1657), province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola
• The Sacro Monte of Belmonte, Valperga (1712), Metropolitan City of Turin

 Italy

Regions of Lombardy and Piedmont

N45 58 28.4 E9 10 10.4

Date of Inscription: 2003

Criteria: (ii)(iv)

Property : 90.5 ha

Buffer zone: 721.9 ha

Ref: 1068rev

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

St Mary's Cathedral and St Michael's Church at Hildesheim

St Michael's Church was built between 1010 and 1020 on a symmetrical plan with two apses that was characteristic of Ottonian Romanesque art in Old Saxony. Its interior, in particular the wooden ceiling and painted stucco-work, its famous bronze doors and the Bernward bronze column, are – together with the treasures of St Mary's Cathedral – of exceptional interest as examples of the Romanesque churches of the Holy Roman Empire.

 Germany

District of Hanover, State of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen)

N52 9 10.008 E9 56 38.004

Date of Inscription: 1985

Minor boundary modification inscribed year: 2008

Criteria: (i)(ii)(iii)

Property : 0.58 ha

Buffer zone: 157.68 ha

Ref: 187bis

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Fagus Factory in Alfeld

Fagus Factory in Alfeld is a 10-building complex - began around 1910 to the design of Walter Gropius, which is a landmark in the development of modern architecture and industrial design. Serving all stages of manufacture, storage and dispatch of lasts used by the shoe industry, the complex, which is still operational today, is situated in Alfeld an der Leine in Lower Saxony. With its groundbreaking vast expanses of glass panels and functionalist aesthetics, the complex foreshadowed the work of the Bauhaus school and is a landmark in the development of architecture in Europe and North America.

 Germany

N51 59 1 E9 48 40

Date of Inscription: 2011

Criteria: (ii)(iv)

Property : 1.88 ha

Buffer zone: 18.89 ha

Ref: 1368

Source: http://whc.unesco.org