World Heritage Site

We’ve seen quite a lot of new members to our WH Community over the past year, and I have noticed that it can be hard to find your way around the website as a newbie. The main thing to understand is that this is a community-based website that is driven by Community Contribution. There’s no hidden, paid team behind the scenes that creates all the content. Even the technical side is supported purely voluntarily.

You can contribute to any subject where your expertise or interest lies, and any amount of time is fine. Ways in which you can participate include:

1.  Create a User Profile 

To become a registered member, it is as simple as creating a user profile. To be shown in Our Community list of members, you will then need to add the number of World Heritage Sites (WHS) you have visited via Update your count. You can use a nickname, but we don’t allow anonymous contributions.

With this account, you’re also eligible to rate the quality of the WHS and Tentative Sites (TWHS) you have visited, which will be reflected in the ‘quality scores’ these sites have. Also, you will be able to vote in polls like the Top Missing or Most Valuable 200 that we have organized in the past.

With a User Profile, you can also get access to the Forum by creating a separate account via the User Dashboard. 

2.  Write a Review

“Reviews” are the most visible form of community participation on this website. The idea is that you reflect on your visit to a WHS or a TWHS by submitting a short story (300-800 words would be optimal). One of the treasures of this website is seeing the visitor experience to a specific WHS change over the years by reading about visits spanning 20 years or so.

As most sites have been reviewed already many times, try to focus on:

• WHS and TWHS that have not been reviewed yet, or not recently (you can see here which ones are)
• Aspects of WHS and TWHS that have not been highlighted before: a different location, a new way of approach, specific circumstances of the day, updated access information, etc.

Always add a photo (I cannot believe you haven’t got one, it’s 2025) and be as specific as possible. 98% of the reviews will be published, but in times of high supply, the lead time to publication may be up to 3 weeks.

3.  Supply Photos

This website's photo policy aims to show original and “meaningful” photos of the (T)WHS. Ideally, all photos shown have been taken by community members.

You can supply main site photos for WHS and TWHS and banner photos, and, if published, your name will be shown in the photo credits. Look at this list (sort on the last column) where we are still missing photos or where you can replace one from the Public Domain. Or at the Looking for Photos topic at the Forum for specific requests.

If you have any photos (full size so not cropped, preferably landscape - horizontal, and no selfies!), please send them via Contact.

4.  Be a Detective

Fortunately, the updates on the World Heritage List and Tentative Lists by official sources have become more transparent over the years, but a special goal of our community is to be ahead of the game. We want to know as early as possible how the new Belgian Tentative List will look, or which sites are in the running to be nominated to be in the World Heritage List in 2028.

So some people regularly scour the news (in many languages!) for updates and share them in dedicated topics on the Forum, such as the WHC forecasts and Aspiring to be on the T List.

5.  Share WH-related travel details

The place to do it is at the dedicated topic at the Forum of the relevant country. We are especially interested in WHS-focused itineraries and practical experiences. This would also be the place to share a snippet of information about a WHS visit that would not warrant a substantial review. And it is where to seek help, advice, and encouragement from others for your upcoming trip, or just to make sense of the country's (T)WHS.

6.  Make Connections

People who enjoy following the World Heritage List often enjoy lists in general. We’ve had a feature called ‘Connections’ for a long time, where we connect at least 3 WHS around a piece of trivia. The Connection Suggestion topic on the Forum is the place to suggest a new connection: announce it publicly, so other people can verify whether they are valid and suggest additions.

7.  Improve the geographic data

We have learned that the “official” coordinates, as presented by UNESCO and brought forward by the respective countries, aren’t accurate all the time. So on this website, we aim to present the best possible set of geographic data about WHS and TWHS. With community members travelling to (T)WHS all the time, they are in the best position to verify the geographic locations of the sites. Just alerting to an error in an individual location is already worthwhile.

Soon we will introduce more advanced features, such as displaying the full core zones. While in the past, a simple comment with the coordinates was enough, this is no longer the case. Geospatial data needs to be provided in a standard file format (KML or better GeoJson). You can use tools such as Google Earth or QGIS to create these file types.

8.  Find a Plaque

If you’re a true WH nerd, you will spend part of your time at a WHS to find the Plaque. A plaque should be present at every WHS to commemorate its inscription, but they come in many shapes and sizes (or are not there at all). We’ve managed to create a large inventory of these plaques and their locations, and we are always looking for more. It’s best to share a finding on the dedicated Forum topic. A new, original photo of a plaque can be sent to the general contact e-mail address.

9.  Participate in a Project

Over the years, we have had projects like “writing introduction texts to all TWHS” to add large amounts of new content to the website. These projects will be announced on the Forum, and you can bring forward ideas for new projects there as well.

10.  Organize a meet-up

Travelling to World Heritage Sites together is also fun, and we have had several meet-ups in real life already. We are always open to such initiatives, especially those that will give interested community members access to a site that is hard to visit. Think of sites with restricted access (you gotta know someone to get in) or those that require chartering a boat.

11.  Help with the IT side

This website is fully built and run independently, from the operating system upwards. If you have experience with CSS/HTML/JavaScript, Python or Linux hosting and can be a reliable help, please step forward. We are working on the new version of the website and any help is appreciated.

12.  Help with the editorial side

The World Heritage topic is very dynamic. For example, think of all the new Tentative Sites that pop up during the year: for each, an introduction text has to be written. Purely from scratch, as (like with the photos) we value originality, authenticity and accuracy. And then there’s the editing of all the connection intro texts and rationales of site connections. These could be much more complete and consistent than they are now. Or interview a WH traveller? So if you like writing texts in your spare time, you’re welcome to lend a hand.

If you're inspired, just dive in! There are tons of things to do. Soon, we will have a Content Management System in place that will support giving community members greater responsibilities as well.