Name changes

Major name changes of WHS during the "UNESCO related" life of the site (ie in the run up to inscription and thereafter) which reflect a reaction to cultural or political pressures/changes taking place in the country.

World Heritage Sites connected to 'Name changes':

  • Centennial Hall "Centennial Hall in Wroclaw" was originally nominated as "Centennial Hall in Wroclaw (Poland)" but in its evaluation ICOMOS recommended a name change!
  • iSimangaliso Wetland Park Complete name changes - "iSimangaliso Wetland Park" was inscribed as "Greater St Lucia Wetland Park" and was officially changed in 2008
  • Mazagan Was proposed in 2002 as "Portuguese City of El Jadida (Mazagan)", then deferred at the Bureau session and suggested to change its name to "Portuguese City of Mazagan" (El Jadida) (under which it was finally inscribed in 2004)
  • Puerto-Princesa Subterranean River Philippines' Puerto Princesa River NP. It was initially nominated as St. Paul Subterranean River NP. But there was an official name change in reference to the site's location near the settlement of Puerto Princesa.
  • Sagarmatha National Park The "quiet" dropping of the "colonial" part of the name - "Sagamatha" was called "Sagamatha - Mt Everest" in the nomination documents. It isn't clear exactly when/why this difference occurred but the shorter title was already used in the 1979 WHC minutes recording the inscription.
  • SGang Gwaay A series of changes which has resulted in the "extinction" of the original name - "Sgang Gwaay" started off as "Anthony Island" and offically passed through "Sgang Gwaay (Anthony Island)" before reaching its current title!
  • St. Petersburg Changed from "Leningrad" (1991 in the real world, unclear when at Unesco list)
  • Te Wahipounamu A complicated "morphing" of the name as part of boundary and other changes - so the 2 separate inscriptions from 1986 "The Westland and Mount Cook NP" and the "Fjordland NP" were subsumed within a new larger site which was called "SW NZ World Heritage area (Te Wahipounamu)" in the 1990 IUCN documentation but was officially inscribed as "Te Wahipounamu - SW NZ". This "final" name change to give precedence to the Maori aspects of the name occurred following comments made in the earlier Bureau meeting.
  • Uluru The additon of Cultural cirteria being used as a trigger for "name change" - "Uluru-Kata Tjuta NP" was originally "Uluru (Ayers Rock- Mt Olga) NP" in 1989 and the change took place on the occasion of the addition of Cultural Criteria in 1994.
  • Victoria Falls A reseqencing of a bilingual name - "Mosi-oa-tunya/Victoria Falls" was "Victoria Falls/Mosi-oa-Tunya" in the documentation and WHC minutes of 1989.