World Heritage Site newsletter #8

September/October 2005

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It has been a while, but a lot has been going on concerning the World Heritage website. The number of visitors rises and rises, and with that the number of WHS descriptions and reviews. A few years ago I could only dream about providing an interesting webpage for any WHS (because there are so many, and some are so obscure), but that has now come within reach. Below you can find some of the highlights of the last months.

Recommended sites

Collectively, the visitors of the World Heritage website now have written 1362 reviews on 592 different sites.

We all know that some sites provide a more satisfying visit than others. As many sites now have been described by more than one contributor, some WHS clearly become to stand out as general favourites.

The Top 5 of sites with the most raving reviews in the past months:

· Plantin-Moretus Museum

· Speyer Cathedral

· Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St. Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier

· Dresden Elbe Valley

· Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc

Remarkable visits

This edition’s most remarkable visit deals with the Complex of Koguryo Tombs in North Korea (DPRK). A trip to the DPRK is surrounded with a lot of restrictions, and you’re certainly not allowed to choose your own sights. But Paul Tanner got lucky as he and his tour group were escorted to the Tomb of King Tongmyung. “I was perhaps lucky that our visit coincided with the 60th anniversary of the founding of the ruling “Workers Party of Korea” and there was a BIG morning parade in the city to which foreigners were NOT invited. So the opportunity to take us 25kms outside town for the morning might have seen particularly attractive – or maybe my "special request" to see the tomb was genuinely acted upon!”

The rest of his fascinating trip story can be read on the Complex of Koguryo Tombs-page.

Looking for more remarkable visits:

Although the project of covering all WHS is going very well, I can still use more reviews. Altamira Cave in Spain, the Ohrid Region in the FYR of Macedonia or East Rennell on the Solomon Islands for example. Have you been there? Add a report of your trip to the website!

The Website

Via Themes in the Main Menu you can now browse through the WHS from a different angle: sorted by categories or, more accurate, themes. I’m fully responsible for arranging the WHS into these themes, there’s no official line from Unesco on this subject. But I think these groupings give some more insight in what’s on the list. It becomes very clear that Christian religious sites and the military/fortifications are overrepresented, while desert landscapes and modern structures are lagging far behind.

New visited sites

My personal travels in the past months were limited to weekends in Europe. To Finland for example, where I drove hours in the pouring rain to visit the Petäjävesi Church. Fortunately, Old Rauma and the Bronze Age Burial Site at Sammallahdenmaki were more rewarding. And a weekend trip to Copenhagen brought me Kronborg Castle and Roskilde Cathedral.

Hong Kong was the subject of a longer trip. A city famous for its sky line, which didn’t cease to impress me no matter how many times I approached it. The only WHS in these surroundings is the former Portuguese enclave of Macao. It’s an easy daytrip by boat from Hong Kong. Macao has a lot in common with its neighbour, but behind the skyscrapers hides a colonial Portuguese city center that can remind one of Brazil.

My total is up to 193 now. Next destination will be the Phillippines in December.

That’s it for this edition, Els
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