Ian Cade Profile

I discovered the World Heritage list whilst studying in the Czech city of Olomouc in 2003, and since then I have spent a fair bit of my time visiting the sites and boring people with information about them. World Heritage Sites provide a great way to hunt out the best bits of countries and can give you a look at some great parts of a destination that you would otherwise not see. A few of my favourite sites have been the ones that I have made a special effort to get to see because of their place on the list; Sceilg Mhichíl, Guanajuato and Preah Vihear

I mostly take short trips around Europe, making the most of budget airlines special offers, seeing some of the continent's great cities, visiting friends and dragging them to some pretty obscure places.
I try to travel outside Europe at least once a year and hope to tick off a few of the places on my wish list when money, politics and time enable this.

It's not about the shark!:
Whilst the World Heritage Sites themselves are the focus of my travels, they are more a means to an end, the real joy of travelling comes from interacting with people, waiting for trains at hitherto unknown corners of the world then eating and drinking the tasty (and not so tasty) delights on offer.

UK Last Update 23.02.25 323 WHS Visited 315 Reviews 323 WHS Rated 64 TWHS Visited

Visited Sites Ian Cade

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Recent Reviews Ian Cade

Dutch Water Defence Lines

Ian Cade UK - 24-Sep-24

18 years after my first visit, I made the most of being based in the Netherlands for the summer to try to understand this somewhat enigmatic site.

But where to choose? Well quite by accident I hit a jackpot.

The Waterlinie Museum

This fantastic museum just outside Utrecht focuses on the New Dutch Waterline section that runs from Muiden on the Ijmeer, south to the Waal (essentially the Rhine) river at Gorinchem. The elegant concrete brutalist bunker has been inserted into the centre of the original fort, and its central courtyard now has a beautiful concrete 3D map of the whole system that can be filled with water to fully illustrate how water defence system can be used to flood a band across the central Netherlands to protect Holland and Amsterdam from attaches from the South and East.

Read On

Le Havre

Ian Cade UK - 27-Feb-24

Come on Kids, lets explore …. Prefabricated concrete structural classicism!!

Le Havre for a rainy weekend in February probably doesn’t scream “Family Holiday” but this was perhaps our most successful attempt to combine World Heritage Sites with something a 4 year old will enjoy.

There were multiple reasons why this was enjoyable, but at the heart of all of them was how successful this rebuilding project was in creating a livable city. There is a bit of an academic pursuit in pointing out how every block of concrete pillars along ave

Read On

Paris, Banks of the Seine

Ian Cade UK - 29-May-23

Paris is great, it justifiably is one of the metropoles around which Europe seems to revolve and the Banks of the Seine show the finest parts of it. But I just want to focus on one specific part of the inscribed area.

“Oh Dad, THERE IS AN OBELISK! Can we go and visit it?”

Now I am a seriously proud Dad of a 5 year old that can not only recognise an obelisk, but gets properly excited by them, however at this precise moment I really didn’t want to indulge the request, partially because we were on a boat enjoying a cruise, but also I knew that this lump of Luxor that so enthused my daughter was in a place I hate above most other places I have visited on this World Heritage Site quest.

Read On

Pont sur la gorge du Salgina (T)

Ian Cade UK - 04-Apr-23

TLDR I really liked this bridge and Philip has already covered the relevant practical and historical details below. I was fortunate that he offered to be my guide over a weekend to eastern Switzerland (and bits of Germany and Liechtenstein too) and can say I am in full agreement with all his points. So the best I can offer is my own journey from finding this bridge ugly and boring to thinking it should be inscribed as a masterpiece of human creative genius.

What makes something beautiful?

After a couple of decades of thinking about it, I’m pretty comfortable knowing that there isn’t really such a thing as objective beauty, rather we regularly arrive at things we can agree on as being pleasing mostly based on habit and convention.

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Alvaro Siza's Architecture Works (T)

Ian Cade UK - 18-May-22

We decided to throw ourselves into this tentative site a little more by staying in an apartment in the Barrio da Bouca in Porto, located a short walk (or two metro stops) from the centre of the city.

I rather liked the unique layout and aesthetics of the estate, squeezed into a triangle of ground, it was densely populated but provided ample space between buildings, and the units themselves were pleasant and spacious. The interiors offered design touches that separated it from your standard holiday rental. I liked the sliding wall that separates a bedroom from the main living space, and the wooden shutters across the doors and windows were both very functional and aesthetically pleasing, bringing back fond memories of Casa Barragan.

Read On

Profile Data

Name: Ian Cade
Country: UK
Ranking: 160
Most Impressive: Angkor
Proposal: Major Buildings of the Chicago School of Architecture
Website: website

Recently Visited WHS

Update 23.02.25: Cilento and Vallo di Diano

Pompei

Naples

Royal Palace at Caserta

10 Best Missing

8 Countries Complete

Belgium . Estonia . Gambia . Holy See . Ireland . Luxembourg . Malta . Moldova .

Visited WHS

Rating Stats

Angkor 5

Bauhaus Sites 5

Grand Canyon 5

Mexico City and Xochimilco 5

Rome 5

Yellowstone 5

Ajanta Caves 4.5

Auschwitz Birkenau 4.5

Brasilia 4.5

Chaco Culture 4.5

Convent of Christ in Tomar 4.5

Ellora Caves 4.5

Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings 4.5

Grimeton Radio Station 4.5

Guanajuato 4.5

Istanbul 4.5

Mesa Verde 4.5

Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve 4.5

Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles 4.5

Plantin-Moretus Museum 4.5

Prague 4.5

Sceilg Mhichíl 4.5

Venice and its Lagoon 4.5

Vienna 4.5

Aquileia 4

Bamberg 4

Cesky Krumlov 4

Cilento and Vallo di Diano 4

Dougga/Thugga 4

Edinburgh 4

Funerary and memory sites of the First World War 4

Granada 4

Great Wall 4

Gwynedd Castles 4

Kyiv Cathedral and Lavra 4

Le Havre 4

Luis Barragán House and Studio 4

Medina of Marrakesh 4

Mostar 4

Naples 4

Palau de la Musica Catalana & Hospital de Sant Pau 4

Pampulha 4

Paris, Banks of the Seine 4

Pompei 4

Preah Vihear Temple 4

Salzburg 4

Segovia 4

Split 4

Stonehenge 4

Summer Palace 4

Tallinn 4

Vatican City 4

Villa Adriana (Tivoli) 4

Yosemite National Park 4

Zollverein 4

Abbey of St Gall 3.5

Amsterdam Canal Ring 3.5

Beijing Central Axis 3.5

Bordeaux 3.5

Budapest 3.5

Churches of Peace 3.5

Cordoba 3.5

El Escurial 3.5

Everglades 3.5

Florence 3.5

Frontiers of the Roman Empire 3.5

Gammelstad 3.5

Graz 3.5

Hwaseong Fortress 3.5

Jodrell Bank Observatory 3.5

Kraków 3.5

L'viv 3.5

Major Town Houses 3.5

Medina of Fez 3.5

Monastery of Alcobaça 3.5

Monastery of Batalha 3.5

Old City of Berne 3.5

Piazza del Duomo (Pisa) 3.5

Puebla 3.5

Quedlinburg 3.5

Rabat 3.5

Rammelsberg and Goslar 3.5

Regensburg 3.5

Rietveld Schröderhuis 3.5

Riga 3.5

Rio de Janeiro 3.5

Route of Santiago de Compostela 3.5

Saint-Emilion 3.5

Sambor Prei Kuk 3.5

Santa Maria delle Grazie 3.5

Sintra 3.5

Strasbourg 3.5

Sydney Opera House 3.5

Syracuse 3.5

Temple of Heaven 3.5

Teotihuacan 3.5

Thingvellir 3.5

Tugendhat Villa 3.5

Valletta 3.5

Volubilis 3.5

Wartburg Castle 3.5

Westminster 3.5

Works of Antoni Gaudí 3.5

Würzburg Residence 3.5

Xochicalco 3.5

Altamira Cave 3

Amiens Cathedral 3

Amphitheater of El Jem 3

Avignon 3

Belem 3

Belfries 3

Brú na Bóinne 3

Bursa and Cumalikizik 3

Central University City Campus of the UNAM 3

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus 3

City of Bath 3

City of Luxembourg 3

Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape 3

Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland 3

Durham Castle and Cathedral 3

Eisinga Planetarium 3

Fagus Factory 3

Great Spa Towns of Europe 3

Gyeongju 3

Haeinsa Temple 3

Hal Saflieni Hypogeum 3

Hallstatt-Dachstein 3

Heritage of Mercury 3

Holy Trinity Column 3

Imperial Palace 3

Ironbridge Gorge 3

Kerkuane 3

Ksar of Aït Ben Haddou 3

Kunta Kinteh Island 3

Lake District 3

Litomysl Castle 3

Lyon 3

Malbork Castle 3

Maritime Greenwich 3

Medina of Tunis 3

Meknes 3

Mont-Saint-Michel 3

Monticello 3

Museumsinsel (Museum Island) 3

Neolithic Flint Mines at Spiennes 3

Oporto 3

Orange 3

Pilgrimage Church of Wies 3

Plitvice Lakes 3

Pont du Gard 3

Popocatepetl monasteries 3

Primeval Beech Forests 3

Querétaro 3

Reims 3

Rhaetian Railway 3

Roskilde Cathedral 3

San Miguel de Allende 3

Seville 3

Skocjan Caves 3

Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District 3

Statue of Liberty 3

Stoclet House 3

Stone Circles of Senegambia 3

Studley Royal Park 3

Sukhothai 3

Taos Pueblo 3

Telc 3

The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier 3

The Porticoes of Bologna 3

The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales 3

University of Coimbra 3

Upper Middle Rhine Valley 3

Val di Noto 3

Van Nellefabriek 3

Verona 3

Versailles 3

Via Appia 3

Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai 3

Villa d'Este 3

Vilnius 3

Wachau Cultural Landscape 3

Warsaw 3

Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines 3

Aachen Cathedral 2.5

Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque 2.5

Arles 2.5

Asturian Monuments 2.5

Ayutthaya 2.5

Beemster Polder 2.5

Brugge 2.5

Burgundy 2.5

Canterbury 2.5

Carthage 2.5

Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust 2.5

Cathedral of St. James in Sibenik 2.5

Centennial Hall 2.5

Champagne 2.5

Changdeokgung Palace Complex 2.5

Classical Weimar 2.5

Elephanta Caves 2.5

Engelsberg Ironworks 2.5

Flemish Béguinages 2.5

Fontainebleau 2.5

Forth Bridge 2.5

Giant's Causeway 2.5

Gorham's Cave Complex 2.5

Grand Canal 2.5

Grand Place, Brussels 2.5

Hildesheim Cathedral and Church 2.5

Kairouan 2.5

Kew Gardens 2.5

Kutna Hora 2.5

Laponian Area 2.5

Longobards in Italy 2.5

Luther Memorials 2.5

Lübeck 2.5

Maison Carrée of Nîmes 2.5

Mantua and Sabbioneta 2.5

Medina of Essaouira 2.5

Medina of Sousse 2.5

Megalithic Temples of Malta 2.5

Mudejar Architecture of Aragon 2.5

New Lanark 2.5

Pilgrimage Church of St. John of Nepomuk 2.5

Potsdam 2.5

Reichenau 2.5

Rideau Canal 2.5

Rock Carvings in Tanum 2.5

Saltaire 2.5

Santiago de Compostela 2.5

Seokguram Grotto and Bulguksa Temple 2.5

Stari Grad Plain 2.5

Stevns Klint 2.5

Toledo 2.5

Torun 2.5

Town Hall and Roland, Bremen 2.5

Trier 2.5

Trogir 2.5

Vicenza and the Palladian Villas 2.5

Wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian Region 2.5

Alcala de Henares 2

Antequera Dolmens Site 2

Aranjuez 2

Avila 2

Blaenavon Industrial Landscape 2

Cahokia Mounds 2

Camino Real 2

Chartres Cathedral 2

Cologne Cathedral 2

Dong Phayayen 2

Dorset and East Devon Coast 2

Drottningholm 2

Dutch Water Defence Lines 2

Euphrasian Basilica in Porec 2

Greater Blue Mountains 2

Jelling 2

Kernavė 2

Kinderdijk 2

La Lonja de la Seda 2

Messel Pit 2

Mining Cultural Landscape Erzgebirge 2

Nesvizh 2

Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin 2

Palmeral of Elche 2

Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro 2

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal 2

Roman Walls of Lugo 2

Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France 2

Royal Joseon Tombs 2

Schönbrunn 2

Semmering Railway 2

Skogskyrkogarden 2

Speyer Cathedral 2

Stralsund and Wismar 2

The Four Lifts 2

Tower of London 2

Trebic 2

Viking Age Ring Fortresses 2

Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe 1.5

Berlin Modernism Housing Estates 1.5

Blenheim Palace 1.5

Botanical Garden, Padua 1.5

Donana National Park 1.5

Falun Great Copper Mountain 1.5

Fortifications of Vauban 1.5

Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz 1.5

Gardens and Castle at Kromeríz 1.5

Hahoe and Yangdong 1.5

Holasovice 1.5

Imperial Tombs 1.5

Independence Hall 1.5

Jewish-Medieval heritage of Erfurt 1.5

Kladruby nad Labem 1.5

Kronborg Castle 1.5

Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape 1.5

Mining Sites of Wallonia 1.5

Modena 1.5

Morelia 1.5

Muskauer Park 1.5

Notre-Dame Cathedral in Tournai 1.5

Peking Man Site 1.5

Royal Palace at Caserta 1.5

Schokland 1.5

Stećci 1.5

Tower of Hercules 1.5

Valongo Wharf 1.5

Venetian Works of Defence 1.5

Birka and Hovgarden 1

Colonies of Benevolence 1

Corvey 1

Derwent Valley Mills 1

Gochang, Hwasun, and Ganghwa Dolmen 1

Ir. D.F. Woudagemaal 1

Jongmyo Shrine 1

Mafra 1

Mir Castle 1

Moravian Church Settlements 1

Prehistoric Pile Dwellings 1

Struve Geodetic Arc 1

Wadden Sea 1

Danube Limes 0.5

Lower German Limes 0.5

Par force hunting landscape 0.5

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Ian Cade Profile

Visited Sites Ian Cade

Legend

Recent Reviews Ian Cade

Dutch Water Defence Lines

Le Havre

Come on Kids, lets explore …. Prefabricated concrete structural classicism!!

Paris, Banks of the Seine

Pont sur la gorge du Salgina (T)

Alvaro Siza's Architecture Works (T)

Profile Data

Recently Visited WHS

10 Best Missing

8 Countries Complete

Visited WHS

Reviewed WHS

Visited TWHS

Reviewed TWHS

Top 50 Missing Sites

Top 200 WHS