World Heritage Site

Jelling

1.50 Zoë Sheng Chinese-Canadian - 19-Apr-25

I visited this site back in September ‎2017 (compare the picture Frederik Dawson posted and mine you'll see it's exactly the same as five years before. I think it will always look like this although the glass covers might change). In 2017 the museum was new, I think, and it's DEFINITELY worth a visit for more than just the Jelling stones but overall Viking info. You can even go into Valhalla - I mean, literally? Jelling is a must visit but why the low score from me and from most visitors? Well, it's important - but not worth seeing the stones themselves. In fact the picture of a stone would probably be enough anyway. You have to stand in front of it and think "oh, wow, so this was planted here and that's why there are Christians in Denmark afterwards"

Babylon

3.00 Els Slots The Netherlands - 15-Apr-25

I made it to Babylon in April 2025. There’s a lot to explain here – we’re missing a Solivagant-style PhD review, so I have tried my best to cover a few subjects to better be able to understand this WHS. I based myself on the official nomination documents, web searches, and the wonderful book “Mesopotamia, Ancient Art and Architecture”.

First, the Babylonian Empire itself. We had a connection here already. I’ve redone it to distinguish between the “Old” or “First” Babylonian Empire and the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Remains of the first (2nd millennium BCE) are hardly existent at the Babylon WHS. It focuses on the Neo-Babylonian empire, about 1,000 years younger and a relatively late stage in the history of Mesopotamia overall (it is Chapter 12 of 14 in the aforementioned, chronologically ordered book). The King of Babylon (most notably Nebuchadnezzar II) regained regional power and started a monumental building scheme that centered on his capital, Babylon and included the famous Ishtar Gate

Seville

3.50 Alikander99 Spain - 06-Apr-25

I visited this world heritage site on March of 2025. Well technically I had already been, but it was so long ago I barely had memories about it and I crucially didn't go to the alcazar. 

So after reading extensively about Islamic architecture I decided it was time to re-visit the city. 

The world heritage site itself is a bit weird. It comprises three buildings built in different time periods for very distinct reasons. Their main point of connection is that they're right in front of each other. 

Angkor

5.00 CugelVance Germany - 13-Apr-25

Time of the visit of Siam Reap: 26.03.-5.04.2025

As soon as I arrived in Siam Reap I bought a 7-day pass( You have 1 month to use up the 7 days) for the unesco complex of Angkor Wat and went immediately to the temple Angkor Wat where I spent around 3h till sunset.It was a very hot day and the temple was totally overcrowded with visitors from all parts of our planet.The next two following days I visited the unesco sites Preah Vihear near the Thai border as well as Koh Ker. I also visited the Angkor National Museum (strongly recommended as it helps you to understand quite a few things better when out in the Angkor Wat Complex),the war museum and the cultural village ( a kind of surreal cambodian disneyland,quite big) in Siam Reap. I carefully planned the next six days to divide the massive temple complex into six manageable sections

Baghdad Rusafa (T)

Els Slots The Netherlands - 14-Apr-25

Behind this long site name hides what could be called “Old Baghdad”, the area from which the Abassid Caliphate (762–1258) ruled and where the Ottomans later had their headquarters as well. It is closely tied to its position on the eastern river bank of the Tigris, and the Tentative Description also proposes it as a City of the River, like Paris and Budapest. Baghdad nowadays markets itself as the ‘Capital of Arab Tourism 2025,’ and this is a focus area in the city for tourists. The area has been in a rehabilitation process since 2017 (it had been neglected and damaged in the decades before) and is bustling again