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 

Town of Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang is an outstanding example of the fusion of traditional architecture and Lao urban structures with those built by the European colonial authorities in the 19th and 20th centuries. Its unique, remarkably well-preserved townscape illustrates a key stage in the blending of these two distinct cultural traditions.

 Lao People's Democratic Republic

Province of Luang Prabang

N19 53 20.004 E102 7 59.988

Date of Inscription: 1995

Minor boundary modification inscribed year: 2013

Criteria: (ii)(iv)(v)

Property : 820 ha

Buffer zone: 12,560 ha

Ref: 479bis

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

This karst landscape in the state of New Mexico comprises over 80 recognized caves. They are outstanding not only for their size but also for the profusion, diversity and beauty of their mineral formations. Lechuguilla Cave stands out from the others, providing an underground laboratory where geological and biological processes can be studied in a pristine setting.

 United States of America

Eddy County, State of New Mexico

N32 10 0 W104 22 60

Date of Inscription: 1995

Criteria: (vii)(viii)

Property : 18,926 ha

Ref: 721

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Kutná Hora: Historical Town Centre with the Church of St Barbara and the Cathedral of Our Lady at Sedlec

 

Kutná Hora developed as a result of the exploitation of the silver mines. In the 14th century it became a royal city endowed with monuments that symbolized its prosperity. The Church of St Barbara, a jewel of the late Gothic period, and the Cathedral of Our Lady at Sedlec, which was restored in line with the Baroque taste of the early 18th century, were to influence the architecture of central Europe. These masterpieces today form part of a well-preserved medieval urban fabric with some particularly fine private dwellings.

Czech Republic

City and District of Kutná Hora, Central Bohemian Region

N49 57 0 E15 16 0

Date of Inscription: 1995

Criteria: (ii)(iv)

Property : 62 ha

Buffer zone: 650 ha

Ref: 732

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Hanseatic Town of Visby

Hanseatic Town of Visby

A former Viking site on the island of Gotland, Visby was the main centre of the Hanseatic League in the Baltic from the 12th to the 14th century. Its 13th-century ramparts and more than 200 warehouses and wealthy merchants' dwellings from the same period make it the best-preserved fortified commercial city in northern Europe.

Sweden

Island region of Gotland

N57 38 30.012 E18 17 44.988

Date of Inscription: 1995

Criteria: (iv)(v)

Ref: 731

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Roskilde Cathedral

Brief Description

Built in the 12th and 13th centuries, this was Scandinavia's first Gothic cathedral to be built of brick and it encouraged the spread of this style throughout northern Europe. It has been the mausoleum of the Danish royal family since the 15th century. Porches and side chapels were added up to the end of the 19th century. Thus it provides a clear overview of the development of European religious architecture.

Denmark

Island of Sjaelland, City of Roskilde, Sealand Region

N55 38 32 E12 4 47

Date of Inscription: 1995

Criteria: (ii)(iv)

Property : 0.40 ha

Buffer zone: 1.50 ha

Ref: 695rev

Source:  http://whc.unesco.org

Crespi d'Adda

Crespi d'Adda

Crespi d'Adda in Capriate San Gervasio in Lombardy is an outstanding example of the 19th- and early 20th-century 'company towns' built in Europe and North America by enlightened industrialists to meet the workers' needs. The site is still remarkably intact and is partly used for industrial purposes, although changing economic and social conditions now threaten its survival.

 Italy

Province of Bergamo, Lombardy

N45 35 35.988 E9 32 17.988

Date of Inscription: 1995

Criteria: (iv)(v)

Ref: 730

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Rapa Nui National Park

Rapa Nui National Park

Rapa Nui, the indigenous name of Easter Island, bears witness to a unique cultural phenomenon. A society of Polynesian origin that settled there c. A.D. 300 established a powerful, imaginative and original tradition of monumental sculpture and architecture, free from any external influence. From the 10th to the 16th century this society built shrines and erected enormous stone figures known as moai , which created an unrivalled cultural landscape that continues to fascinate people throughout the world.

Chile

Easter Island province of the Valparaíso Region

S27 8 60 W109 27 0

Date of Inscription: 1995

Criteria: (i)(iii)(v)

Property : 6,666 ha

Ref: 715

Source:http://whc.unesco.org

Messel Pit Fossil Site

Messel Pit Fossil Site

Messel Pit is the richest site in the world for understanding the living environment of the Eocene, between 57 million and 36 million years ago. In particular, it provides unique information about the early stages of the evolution of mammals and includes exceptionally well-preserved mammal fossils, ranging from fully articulated skeletons to the contents of stomachs of animals of this period.

Germany

District of Darmstadt-Dieburg, State of Hesse (Hessen)

N49 55 0.012 E8 45 14.004

Date of Inscription: 1995

Minor modification inscribed year: 2010

Criteria: (viii)

Property : 42 ha

Buffer zone: 23 ha

Ref: 720bis

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Cultural Landscape of Sintra

 Cultural Landscape of Sintra

In the 19th century Sintra became the first centre of European Romantic architecture. Ferdinand II turned a ruined monastery into a castle where this new sensitivity was displayed in the use of Gothic, Egyptian, Moorish and Renaissance elements and in the creation of a park blending local and exotic species of trees. Other fine dwellings, built along the same lines in the surrounding serra , created a unique combination of parks and gardens which influenced the development of landscape architecture throughout Europe.

Portugal

Sintra/Serra

N38 46 59.988 W9 25 0.012

Date of Inscription: 1995

Criteria: (ii)(iv)(v)

Property : 946 ha

Buffer zone: 3,641 ha

Ref: 723

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Jongmyo Shrine

Brief Description

Jongmyo is the oldest and most authentic of the Confucian royal shrines to have been preserved. Dedicated to the forefathers of the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), the shrine has existed in its present form since the 16th century and houses tablets bearing the teachings of members of the former royal family. Ritual ceremonies linking music, song and dance still take place there, perpetuating a tradition that goes back to the 14th century.

Korea, Republic of

Seoul

N37 32 60 E126 58 59.988

Date of Inscription: 1995

Criteria: (iv)

Property : 19 ha

Ref: 738

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras

Batad Cluster

Mayoyao Cluster

For 2,000 years, the high rice fields of the Ifugao have followed the contours of the mountains. The fruit of knowledge handed down from one generation to the next, and the expression of sacred traditions and a delicate social balance, they have helped to create a landscape of great beauty that expresses the harmony between humankind and the environment.

• (i) the Nagacadan terrace cluster
• (ii) the Hungduan terrace cluster
• (iii) the central Mayoyao terrace cluster 
• (iv) the Bangaan terrace cluster
• (v) the Batad terrace cluster  

Philippines
Ifugao Province, Cordillera Region, Luzon Island
N16 56 2.004 E121 8 12.012
Date of Inscription: 1995
Criteria: (iii)(iv)(v)
Ref: 722

Source:  http://whc.unesco.org

   

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

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

Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta

Brief Description

Ferrara, which grew up around a ford over the River Po, became an intellectual and artistic centre that attracted the greatest minds of the Italian Renaissance in the 15th and 16th centuries. Here, Piero della Francesca, Jacopo Bellini and Andrea Mantegna decorated the palaces of the House of Este. The humanist concept of the 'ideal city' came to life here in the neighbourhoods built from 1492 onwards by Biagio Rossetti according to the new principles of perspective. The completion of this project marked the birth of modern town planning and influenced its subsequent development.

Italy

City and Province of Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna Region

N44 50 16 E11 37 10

Date of Inscription: 1995

Extension: 1999

Criteria: (ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)

Property : 46,712 ha

Buffer zone: 117,649 ha

Ref: 733bis

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Seokguram Grotto and Bulguksa Temple

A beautiful Postcard from Suhyeon Jeon of South Korea, Gamsahammida::

Brief Description

Established in the 8th century on the slopes of Mount Toham, the Seokguram Grotto contains a monumental statue of the Buddha looking at the sea in the bhumisparsha mudra position. With the surrounding portrayals of gods, Bodhisattvas and disciples, all realistically and delicately sculpted in high and low relief, it is considered a masterpiece of Buddhist art in the Far East. The Temple of Bulguksa (built in 774) and the Seokguram Grotto form a religious architectural complex of exceptional significance.

Korea, Republic of

N35 46 60 E129 20 60

Date of Inscription: 1995

Criteria: (i)(iv)

Ref: 736

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Historic Centre of Avignon: Papal Palace, Episcopal Ensemble and Avignon Bridge

A Beautiful Postcard from the Mother of Emilie Morlon

Brief Description

In the 14th century, this city in the South of France was the seat of the papacy. The Palais des Papes, an austere-looking fortress lavishly decorated by Simone Martini and Matteo Giovanetti, dominates the city, the surrounding ramparts and the remains of a 12th-century bridge over the Rhone. Beneath this outstanding example of Gothic architecture, the Petit Palais and the Romanesque Cathedral of Notre-Dame-des-Doms complete an exceptional group of monuments that testify to the leading role played by Avignon in 14th-century Christian Europe.

France

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

N43 57 10 E4 48 22

Date of Inscription: 1995

Criteria: (i)(ii)(iv)

Property : 8.20 ha

Ref: 228rev

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

 

Old and New Towns of Edinburgh

Brief Description

Edinburgh has been the Scottish capital since the 15th century. It has two distinct areas: the Old Town, dominated by a medieval fortress; and the neoclassical New Town, whose development from the 18th century onwards had a far-reaching influence on European urban planning. The harmonious juxtaposition of these two contrasting historic areas, each with many important buildings, is what gives the city its unique character.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Lothian Region, Scotland
N55 57 0 W3 13 0
Date of Inscription: 1995
Criteria: (ii)(iv)
Ref: 728


Source: http://whc.unesco.org