Looking for a third site to make a complete connection

Diamantina - Niemeyer had a commission there to build the Hotel do Tijuco (1951) . It is said that he gained inspiration from the arcaded building in the central market square in Diamantina for the Palacio da Alvorada in Brasilia. Niemeyer was a friend of Kubitschek who came from Diamantina and became the Brazilian President who pushed through the development of Brasilia.
So you can take your choice over the logic for a Connection - the inspiration or the actual work - or both! Unfortunately I didn't (knowingly) visit/see any of his buildings when I was in Diamantina but do see a degree of possible inspiration regarding the Market hall which i did see and have included a photo of it in my review on this site.

The evaluation document states :-
"Obviously, the modern town emerges as the visitor moves further away from the historic centre. Recent constructions of a high standard, such as those by Niemeyer, have been introduced into the townscape and usually blend harmoniously with it."
For the hotel see http://www.hoteltijuco.com.br/hotel.html

Neither the Evaluation nor the Nomination document includes a town map but the latter includes numerous references to Niemeyer's works in the town - also a School (1954) and a Club (1950). All the implications are that the nomination includes this work e.g :-
"Diamantina présente une particularité: celle de superposer l'architecture de Oscar Niemeyer des années 50 de ce siècle, aux interventions architectoniques survenues au XIXè siècle, sans rupture ni désarticulation, ce qui mantient l'unité de l'ensemble naturel."
I think we can take it that they are included

(PS The Neimeyer building in Le Havre isn't an "Art Museum" but a Cultural Centre known as "Le Volcan"! :- "La Maison de la Culture (1978-1982) abrite un théâtre de 1 200 places, un cinéma de 500 places, un vaste hall d'exposition, des salles de réunion et de répétition, des ateliers et des bureaux.")


Re Passports
Lebanon - has (inevitably) a Tree of Lebanon on its front!
China - has the main (?) entrance to the Forbidden City on the front
Belgium - I understand from Wiki that the "Inside of Passport version 2008 shows town halls of capitals" - A newsletter of the Belgian Embassy in London contains this "The passport's design has also changed, with room made for buildings of symbolic value to the country's regions and provinces, including the buildings housing the staff of its respective minis-ter-presidents, followed by the town halls of the capitals of Belgium's 10 provinces". So a number of the inscribed "Belfries" will be included.

Els,
I see that, as well as creating the "Niemeyer Connection" you have added the Hotel do Tijuco to the "Hotels in Historic Buildings" Connection.
There is a slight problem with that in that the current definition of the Connection is for "building(s) of historic or architectural significance converted from (their) original use into a hotel" - The Hotel do Tijuco was of course designed as a hotel!

3 possibilities
a. Keep the definition as at present and exclude purpose-built hotels including the Tijuco
b. Alter the definition to cover "Buildings of architectural or historic significance converted from their original use into, or designed as, a hotel"
c. Add an extra connection for "Buildings of historic or architectural interest designed and still operating as hotels" whilst keeping the other requirement that the "Building must be noteworthy enough for a visit on its own." That will need another 2 Hotels designed and built as such of course to complete the triplet!!!

Either of the latter 2 courses might open up a long list? Most 5 star hotels will have had their fair share of "famous guests" so something more "historic" than just "film star x stayed here" would be required - something of particular note or lasting significance?

Between options b and c I think would prefer c as maintaining a significant distinction as to the provenance of the building concerned. For the "missing 2" I could suggest
Marrakech - Hotel La Mamounia. Famous for its guests (inc Churchill/Roosevelt whilst at Casablanca) and art deco/moorish designs from 1922.
Venice - Grand Hotel des Bains, Lido. The actual location where Thomas Mann "got the inspiration" for his novella "Death in Venice" and actually used as the main location in the movie (and as Shepheards in Cairo in "The English Patient"). A significant Palladian/Art Nouveau building from 1900

Haunted :
-Edinburgh
-Tower of London

"Manhattan":
-San Gimignano
-Shibam

Town on lagoons
- Venice with Murano, Burano and Chioggia
- Comacchio
- ?

Curonian Spit

Re LAGOON
Is the proposed connection
a. "Inscribed Towns which are on Lagoons" e.g Venice
b. "Sites which include towns on Lagoons" e.g Ravenna and the Po Delta" (Comacchio)
c. "Sites which include Lagoons" (but not specifically a "town") e.g Curonian Spit (Can the "villages" on the Spit be called "towns" - Nida for instance has a population of only c1600). Most lagoons are going to have some sort of village/town on their coast so if "town" is to be important then a clear definition of such an entity is required!

If the latter - i.e emphasising the natural feature of a "Lagoon" with or without a "town" then there are a fair number in addition to those mentioned above. (Wiki "A lagoon is a body of comparatively shallow salt or brackish water separated from the deeper sea by a shallow or exposed sandbank, coral reef, or similar feature")
Aldabra
Great Barrier Reef
Lagoons of New Caledonia
Belize Barrier Reef
Atlantic Forest
Galapagos
Henderson Island
East Rennell
Peninsular Valdez

And probably a few more - Indeed, probably most Coral Islands and most Mangrove areas.


Re HAUNTED
We already have "Legends and Folk Myths" so would need to be careful to avoid double counting. Also the issue of Ghosts of genuine historical figures or mythic ghosts (e.g Lorelei)? Himeji-jo has the "Ghost in the Well" of a female servant called Okiku who may or may not be "historical"!

MANHATTAN
already covered by Tower houses?

I meant inscribed inhabitated centres on lagoons, so the first option. However the last option may form another connection. In this case there is also the Fleet lagoons on the Dorset Coast. And also barrier beaches could be another connection, such as those at Lido or the Chesil Beach on Dorset coast.

We have "Tombolo" as a "connection" already and have included Chesil Beach in that. Reading Wiki it states "The beach is often identified as a tombolo, although research into the geomorphology of the area has revealed that it is in fact a barrier beach which has "rolled" landwards, joining the mainland with Portland Bill, giving the appearance of a tombolo" - but lacks a citation. Numerous other sites still categorize it as a Tombolo.
We don't have the islands (e.g Lido) around Venice however identified fo this Connection - are they "Tombolos" or some other geomorphological phenomenon! I am no expert on such matters.

There do seem to be a lot of different "technical" words for such features - tombolos, shoals, bars, barrier beaches etc etc. Whether the definitions of each are universally accepted among geomorphologists or overlap each other and are sometimes used interchangeably I am not sure.
It might be "safer" to extend the definition of the Tombolo connection to include "other signficant linear landforms within or extending into a body of water, typically composed of sand, silt or small pebbles"
Venice could then be added to it.

Potential problems with having a "Lagoon" connection are
a. The definitional one. For instance "Lagoon" in English is not the same as "Laguna" in Spanish we are really looking at the way the entity was formed rather than its name. And at East Renell we have Lake Tegano which is now described as a "former lagoon" -it was formed in the "way" of Lagoons - should it still be categorised as one?
b. Most lagoons are likely also to have Tombolos or other such landform so there is a danger of the 2 Connections being very similar - but does it matter if one looks at the "land" and the other at the "water"?

Aside from WHS which have had name changes to consider the native names, there are also those which are better known by their "colloquial" names than their official inscribed property names. For example, Rapa Nui is known as the Easter Island, Sagarmatha as Mount Everest. Before its extension, the Forbidden City is known as the Imperial Palaces of the Ming and Qing Dynasty (given that name, a researcher might wonder "where's that?"). Terracotta Army is listed as the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor (although the army is just part of that larger property), Mogao Caves is also known as the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas. Should the South China Karst's phased extension succeed, then it will encompass the scenic landscape of Guilin. It currently includes the Stone Forest. Lascaux Caves are part of the Vezere Valley WHS, and that Big Ben is part of the Westminster World Heritage complex. On the other hand, despite the inclusion of Gaudi's works in 1984 of the WH List, a part of the Sagrada Familia was only officially proclaimed a WHS when that property was extended in 2005. Meanwhile, the name of Oman's Frankincense WHS, "Land of Frankincense" seems too vague; I prefer its previous name of "Frankincense Trail". Those are some of the places that I can currently think of, famous places that one might wonder as not being part of the World Heritage network, but are just inscribed under different names or as parts of larger World Heritage Sites.

And Piazza del Duomo in Pisa, better known as Campo dei Miracoli.

Three new candidates:

Cactuses: Humahuaca, Galapagos, ?

Rocks named by their colours: Petra (dubbed the Red Rock), Hill of Seven Colours at the Quebrada de Humahuaca, ?

Reconstruction against Unesco´s view: Pucara of Tilcara (Humahuaca), Tel Beersheba (Biblical Tels), ?

What came out of the Lagoon suggestion by the way?

Reconstruction "against UNESCO's view" -

Tiwanaku http://heritage-key.com/blogs/ann/renovation-fiasco-tiwanaku-akapana-pyramid-danger-c ollapse
Skellig Michael http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14401046

("Reconstruction regarded as unsatisfactory by UNESCO/ICOMOS" ??)

Cactus
Almost any "dry country" site in the Americas (even the Everglades) will have cacti present. Also there are epiphyte cacti which exist in tropical areas.
A problem with having any connections based on a plant family is that there are likely to be a lot of non-endemics around which will have been spread rather widely . There is 1 group of Cacti which exists outside the new world for instance which apparently is quite widespread in the African/Asian tropics -though whether brought by bird or man (and hence when) is not known

Suggestion received today by e-mail, can someone help?

Aleijadinho:
-Congonhas
-Ouro Preto

I need a third...

hi els. check this excel file out re: whs with longest names:
http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=TzY3c0w0WlRsamNLSkE9PQ

there are two columns, one also counting the space in between words, and other if the space is excluded. based on this, you can actually expand the "longest names" connection.

WHS on Other Lists. Can the WWF listings be also included here? Like Global 200 Ecoregions, Terrestrial Ecoregions. There are also CI's global biodiversity hotspots, and Endemic Bird Areas.