Plantin-Moretus House-Workshops-Museum Complex

 

Plantin-Moretus House-Workshops-Museum Complex

The Plantin-Moretus Museum is a printing plant and publishing house dating from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Situated in Antwerp, one of the three leading cities of early European printing along with Paris and Venice, it is associated with the history of the invention and spread of typography. Its name refers to the greatest printer-publisher of the second half of the 16th century: Christophe Plantin (c. 1520–89). The monument is of outstanding architectural value. It contains exhaustive evidence of the life and work of what was the most prolific printing and publishing house in Europe in the late 16th century. The building of the company, which remained in activity until 1867, contains a large collection of old printing equipment, an extensive library, invaluable archives and works of art, among them a painting by Rubens.

 Belgium

City of Antwerp, Flanders Region

N51 13 5.988 E4 23 52.008

Date of Inscription: 2005

Criteria: (ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)

Ref: 1185

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California

Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California

The site comprises 244 islands, islets and coastal areas that are located in the Gulf of California in north-eastern Mexico. The Sea of Cortez and its islands have been called a natural laboratory for the investigation of speciation. Moreover, almost all major oceanographic processes occurring in the planet’s oceans are present in the property, giving it extraordinary importance for study. The site is one of striking natural beauty in a dramatic setting formed by rugged islands with high cliffs and sandy beaches, which contrast with the brilliant reflection from the desert and the surrounding turquoise waters. It is home to 695 vascular plant species, more than in any marine and insular property on the World Heritage List. Equally exceptional is the number of fish species: 891, 90 of them endemic. The site, moreover, contains 39% of the world’s total number of species of marine mammals and a third of the world’s marine cetacean species

 Mexico

States of Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora, Sinaloa, and Nayarit

N27 37 36.012 W112 32 44.988

Date of Inscription: 2005

Minor modification inscribed year:2007, 2011

Criteria: (vii)(ix)(x)

Property : 688,558 ha 

Buffer zone: 1,210,477 ha

Ref: 1182ter

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Struve Geodetic Arc

Norway

Finland

Ukraine

Russia

Belarus

The Struve Arc is a chain of survey triangulations stretching from Hammerfest in Norway to the Black Sea, through 10 countries and over 2,820 km. These are points of a survey, carried out between 1816 and 1855 by the astronomer Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve, which represented the first accurate measuring of a long segment of a meridian. This helped to establish the exact size and shape of the planet and marked an important step in the development of earth sciences and topographic mapping. It is an extraordinary example of scientific collaboration among scientists from different countries, and of collaboration between monarchs for a scientific cause. The original arc consisted of 258 main triangles with 265 main station points. The listed site includes 34 of the original station points, with different markings, i.e. a drilled hole in rock, iron cross, cairns, or built obelisks.

Belarus

Estonia

Finland

Latvia

Lithuania

Moldova, Republic of

Norway

Russian Federation

Sweden

Ukraine

N59 3 28 E26 20 16

Date of Inscription: 2005

Criteria: (ii)(iii)(vi)

Ref: 1187

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Le Havre, the City Rebuilt by Auguste Perret

The city of Le Havre, on the English Channel in Normandy, was severely bombed during the Second World War. The destroyed area was rebuilt according to the plan of a team headed by Auguste Perret, from 1945 to 1964. The site forms the administrative, commercial and cultural centre of Le Havre. Le Havre is exceptional among many reconstructed cities for its unity and integrity. It combines a reflection of the earlier pattern of the town and its extant historic structures with the new ideas of town planning and construction technology. It is an outstanding post-war example of urban planning and architecture based on the unity of methodology and the use of prefabrication, the systematic utilization of a modular grid, and the innovative exploitation of the potential of concrete.

France

Department of Seine-Maritime, Region of Haute-Normandie

N49 29 34.008 E0 6 27

Date of Inscription: 2005

Criteria: (ii)(iv)

Property : 133 ha

Buffer zone: 114 ha

Ref: 1181

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

West Norwegian Fjords – Geirangerfjord and Nærøyfjord

 

Situated in south-western Norway, north-east of Bergen, Geirangerfjord and Nærøyfjord, set 120 km from one another, are part of the west Norwegian fjord landscape, which stretches from Stavanger in the south to Andalsnes, 500 km to the north-east. The two fjords, among the world’s longest and deepest, are considered as archetypical fjord landscapes and among the most scenically outstanding anywhere. Their exceptional natural beauty is derived from their narrow and steep-sided crystalline rock walls that rise up to 1,400 m from the Norwegian Sea and extend 500 m below sea level. The sheer walls of the fjords have numerous waterfalls while free-flowing rivers cross their deciduous and coniferous forests to glacial lakes, glaciers and rugged mountains. The landscape features a range of supporting natural phenomena, both terrestrial and marine, such as submarine moraines and marine mammals.

Norway

Counties of Møre & Romsdal and Sogn & Fjordane

N62 7 0.012 E7 10 0.012

Date of Inscription: 2005

Criteria: (vii)(viii)

Ref: 1195

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Shiretoko

Brief Description

Shiretoko Peninsula is located in the north-east of Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan. The site includes the land from the central part of the peninsula to its tip (Shiretoko Cape) and the surrounding marine area. It provides an outstanding example of the interaction of marine and terrestrial ecosystems as well as extraordinary ecosystem productivity, largely influenced by the formation of seasonal sea ice at the lowest latitude in the northern hemisphere. It has particular importance for a number of marine and terrestrial species, some of them endangered and endemic, such as Blackiston’s fish owl and the Viola kitamiana plant. The site is globally important for threatened seabirds and migratory birds, a number of salmonid species, and for marine mammals including Steller’s sea lion and some cetacean species.

Japan

Hokkaido prefecture

N43 56 57.984 E144 57 56.988

Date of Inscription: 2005

Criteria: (ix)(x)

Property : 71,100 ha

Ref: 1193

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

Historic Centres of Berat and Gjirokastra

Brief Description

Berat and Gjirokastra are inscribed as rare examples of an architectural character typical of the Ottoman period. Located in central Albania, Berat bears witness to the coexistence of various religious and cultural communities down the centuries. It features a castle, locally known as the Kala, most of which was built in the 13th century, although its origins date back to the 4th century BC. The citadel area numbers many Byzantine churches, mainly from the 13th century, as well as several mosques built under the Ottoman era which began in 1417. Gjirokastra, in the Drinos river valley in southern Albania, features a series of outstanding two-story houses which were developed in the 17th century. The town also retains a bazaar, an 18th-century mosque and two churches of the same period.

Albania

N40 4 10 E20 7 60

Date of Inscription: 2005

Extension: 2008

Criteria: (iii)(iv)

Property : 59 ha

Buffer zone: 136 ha

Ref: 569bis

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

Architectural, Residential and Cultural Complex of the Radziwill Family at Nesvizh

 

Brief Description

The Architectural, Residential and Cultural Complex of the Radziwill Family at Nesvizh is located in central Belarus. The Radziwill dynasty, who built and kept the ensemble from the 16th century until 1939, gave birth to some of the most important personalities in European history and culture. Due to their efforts, the town of Nesvizh came to exercise great influence in the sciences, arts, crafts and architecture. The complex consists of the residential castle and the mausoleum Church of Corpus Christi with their setting. The castle has ten interconnected buildings, which developed as an architectural whole around a six-sided courtyard. The palaces and church became important prototypes marking the development of architecture throughout Central Europe and Russia.

Belarus

Minsk Province (Minskaya Voblasts')

N53 13 22.008 E26 41 29.004

Date of Inscription: 2005

Criteria: (ii)(iv)(vi)

Ref: 1196

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

 

Syracuse and the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica

Brief Description

The site consists of two separate elements, containing outstanding vestiges dating back to Greek and Roman times: The Necropolis of Pantalica contains over 5,000 tombs cut into the rock near open stone quarries, most of them dating from the 13th to 7th centuries BC. Vestiges of the Byzantine era also remain in the area, notably the foundations of the Anaktoron (Prince’s Palace). The other part of the property, Ancient Syracuse, includes the nucleus of the city’s foundation as Ortygia by Greeks from Corinth in the 8th century BC. The site of the city, which Cicero described as ‘the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of all’, retains vestiges such as the Temple of Athena (5th century BC, later transformed to serve as a cathedral), a Greek theatre, a Roman amphitheatre, a fort and more. Many remains bear witness to the troubled history of Sicily, from the Byzantines to the Bourbons, interspersed with the Arabo-Muslims, the Normans, Frederick II of the Hohenstaufen dynasty (1197–1250), the Aragons and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Historic Syracuse offers a unique testimony to the development of Mediterranean civilization over three millennia.

Italy

City and Province of Syracuse, Sicily

N37 3 33.984 E15 17 35.016

Date of Inscription: 2005

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

Property : 898 ha

Buffer zone: 5,519 ha

Ref: 1200

Source: http://whc.unesco.org

 

Historic Centre of Macao

Brief Description

Macao, a lucrative port of strategic importance in the development of international trade, was under Portuguese administration from the mid-16th century until 1999, when it came under Chinese sovereignty. With its historic street, residential, religious and public Portuguese and Chinese buildings, the historic centre of Macao provides a unique testimony to the meeting of aesthetic, cultural, architectural and technological influences from East and West. The site also contains a fortress and a lighthouse, the oldest in China. It bears witness to one of the earliest and longest-lasting encounters between China and the West, based on the vibrancy of international trade.

  China

Macao Special Administrative Region

N22 11 28.651 E113 32 11.26

Date of Inscription: 2005

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

Property : 16 ha

Buffer zone: 107 ha

Ref: 1110

Source:  http://whc.unesco.org