Most, if not all of the "pile dwellings" are difficult to visit because underwater,
Most even necesitate scuba diving gears.

A site resumes the project with a large english section
www.palafittes.ch

I saw a reconstructed pile dwelling once on the German side of Lake Constance... Not really very impressive.

I have visited many times the pile dwellings of Ledro and Fiavè, both situated within 40 km from my hometown Rovereto in Trentino (Italy). The first site is located on the shore of the small mountain Ledro lake, where you can see from the shoreline the remains of the original prehistoric village in the form of many very low wooden piles visible just under the water surface, densely concentrated in a really small area. Near them, there is a reconstruction of two dwellings and a museum renovated in 2006, when an archaeological park was created and an entrance fee applied. At Fiavè, there is a small protected natural area, a sort of wetland, with some learning paths leading through it. You can similarly see remains of piles under the surface of a tiny shallow lake. The creation of an archeological park is planned also here.
The official website of the WH candidature states that "The sites are actually invisible as they are either located under water or covered by layers of sediment on dry land. This basically impedes the presentation of the original cultural goods". This should be true for most of the sites, if not even for all of them (for example those sited under the surface of the Garda lake, the largest Italian lake also located near my hometown), but it isn't for Ledro and Fiavè. However the sites are not impressive at all and they can be regarded as disappointing, even if they certainly have a huge archaeological importance and should probably be inscribed on the WHL, but they are adequate enough if you would like to "tick off" the possible future WHS and are situated not far from the beatiful Dolomites WHS component of "Dolomiti di Brenta" (even if for example Marmolada or Catinaccio-Sciliar are much better).

Le Corbusier Update

According to Japanese newspaper, while Hiraizumi and Ogasawa got positive approval from ICOMOS and IUCN, the Tokyo National Museum part of Le Corbusier nomination has been deferred.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110507p2g00m0et050000c.html

If we can believe what we are reading we are getting a bit more "leakage" of information this year.

Now Turkey has indicated that ICOMOS reported favourably on Selimiye
http://www.world-first.co.uk/home/news/hopes-for-selimiye-unesco-inclusion$35540.aspx

Reading the Japanese report on the Le Corbusier nomination, it implies that the remainder of the nomination could still be going ahead - would you expect that Durian?

Normally in late April, the IUCN and ICOMOS reports should be completeted and UNESCO should already circulated the result to involved national WHC, that why the "leakage" happened. If the Japanese declined to say about Le Corbusier, the meaning is it's time to lobby the WHC to fix the referred or deferred sites; however for this site, I think French government will take a role, so this is maybe another reason why Japanese decided to be silence on the matter.

Dear all friend, the "almost" completed "LEAKAGE" of IUCN and ICOMOS

Cultural nominations
Pearling, Testimony of an Island Economy (Bahrain); D
Bridgetown and its Garrison (Barbados); D
West Lake Cultural Landscape of Hangzhou (China); I
Coffee Cultural Landscape (Colombia); D
Konso Cultural Landscape (Ethiopia);
The Causses and the Cévennes (France);
The architectural work of Le Corbusier, an outstanding contribution to the Modern Movement (France, Argentina, Belgium, Germany, Japan, Switzerland);
Fagus Factory in Alfeld (Germany); I
The Persian Garden (Iran); I
The Land of Caves and Hiding (Israel); D
The Triple-arch Gate at Dan (Israel);
The Longobards in Italy, Places of Power, 568 - 774 A.D., (Italy); I
Hiraizumi – Temples, Gardens and Archaeological Sites Representing the Buddhist Pure Land (Japan); I
Fort Jesus, Mombasa (Kenya);
Fundidora Monterre (Mexico); N
Transboundary Nomination for Yapese Stone Money Sites in Palau and Yap (Micronesia / Palau); D
Petroglyphic Complexes of the Mongolian Altai (Mongolia); D
León Cathedral (Nicaragua); R
Oke-Idanre Cultural Landscape (Nigeria); N
Historical City of Jeddah (Saudi Arabia); N
Cultural Landscape of the Serra de Tramuntana (Spain); D
Archaeological Sites of the Island of Meroe (Sudan); D
Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps (Switzerland, Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia); I
Ancient villages of Northern Syria (Syrian Arab Republic); I
Old City and Ramparts of Alanya with Seljuk Shipyard (Turkey); N
Selimiye Mosque and its social Complex (Turkey); I
Residence of Bukovinian and Dalmatia Metropolitans (Ukraine); D
Cultural Sites of Al Ain: Hafit, Hili, Bidaa Bint Saud and Oases Areas (United Arab Emirates); D
Citadel of the Ho Dynasty (Viet Nam). D

Mixed nominations
Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park (Jamaica); N/D
Wadi Rum (Jordan); R/D
Saloum Delta (Senegal). N/I

Natural nominations:
Ningaloo Coast (Australia); I
Pendjari National Park (Benin, an extension of W National Park of Niger); D
Wudalianchi National Park (China); N
Ancient Beech Forests of Germany (Germany, an extension of the Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians, Slovakia and Ukraine); D
Western Ghats (India); D
Harra Protected Area (Iran); N
Ogasawara Islands (Japan); I
Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley; (Kenya); I
Trinational Sangha (Congo, Cameroon, Central African Republic) D
nomination under new criteria of the World Heritage property of Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park (Viet Nam). D

I = INSCRIBED
R = REFERRED
D = DEFERRED
N = NO
For some sites which have been renominated e.g. Le Corbusier, Tel Dan etc. sorry still not got proper information.

Le Corbusier Update or kind of explanation?
Form the statement of Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technolgy

" Concerning another nomination "Architectural work of Le Corbusier, an outstanding contribution to the Modern Movement", we have not received a recommendation from the Advisory Body to date, a notification will be made in an additional document. We are in the process of confirming with the respective organs on the exact date of when this notification is to be sent."

and "At the 35th World Heritage Committee Meeting scheduled to take place in Paris during June 19th – 29th, based on the recommendations by ICOMOS and IUCN," "WHC will also determine the status of the nomination: "Architectural work of Le Corbusier, an outstanding contribution to the Modern Movement" as per scheduled."

http://www.mext.go.jp/english/topics/1306113.htm

Great work on getting this information.

Really happy to see the Fargus Works getting the nod for inscription though I am really kicking myself over missing my train to Alfeld recently.

The Saloum Delta one seems odd eiether being a No or Inscribe.

Admitedly I don't know it that well but I thought Jeddah had a decent chance so was surprised to it being a No. Has anyone been there that can say if it is worthy of inscription?

Well all that is a bit of a disaster for me! I had been to 17 of the sites and had "high hopes" of a good catch of new inscriptions this year! And then to only get 4 "Inscribeds" with 7 "Deferreds", 1 "Referred" , 1 both Deferred and Referred - and 4 still to declare! (my 17 are listed below for anyone interested! I would only put Le Corbusier, African rift lakes and Meroe with perhaps Persian Gardens in the top category as far as OUV is concerned. Their management aspects are of course a different matter ). Normally a few of the "deferreds" get a sympathy vote at the WHC so there is some hope there I suppose!!

Regarding Jeddah's credentials. Well a lot of the so called "Old city" didn't look that old to me. There is certainly an area of houses with the famed wooden shutter windows behind which Saudi ladies could look out - some well preserved, some rather grotty - and I wondered how authentic the houses to which they were attached really were. We went into the Naseef house which is representative of the merchant houses of the late 19th century (though I couldn't see many others) and is a museum now - interesting but nothing that special. The mosques we didn't get into of course but I don't believe there is anything of note historically or architecturally there either. And the souks weren't really as interesting and atmospheric/authentic as Aleppo, Jerusalem, Marrakesh (or indeed scores of other Arab souks!). As I have commented before Wahhabi beliefs do not favour keeping "old" things as to do so is regarded as an example of "worshipping" objects - so with that background and the headlong economic growth of the oil era a lot has been pulled down - though the street pattern has survived, the small shops are undistinguished concrete blocks. I always remember one named "Everything's a Riyal" (We have a cheapo shop in UK titled "Everything's a £"!). Among the guide books one can buy of Jeddah there is one dedicated to the city's many roundabouts ("Rotaries" in American) - many of which have modern sculptures/art works on them!! Some were indeed very fine. Wiki says of them "Jeddah contains a large number of modern open-air sculptures and works of art, typically situated in roundabouts, making the city one of the largest open-air art galleries in the world. Sculptures include works by a variety of artists, ranging from the obscure to international stars such as Jean/Hans Arp, César Baldaccini, Alexander Calder, Henry Moore, Joan Miró and Victor Vasarely. They often depict elements of traditional Saudi culture: coffee pots, incense burners, palm trees, etc. The fact that Islamic tradition prohibits the depiction of living creatures, notably the human form, has made for some very creative modern art, ranging from the tasteful to the bizarre and downright hideous. These include a mounted defunct propeller plane, a giant geometry set, a giant bicycle, and a huge block of concrete with several cars protruding from it at odd angles". - this tells you something about where the real interest in Jeddah is situated!!
I would also suspect that the Saudis might have problems convincing ICOMOS of their intention to preserve the remaining features from development -the planned "Mile High" tower would put the St Petersburg Gazprom tower, which ICOMOS/UNESCO opposed, almost literally into the shade and no doubt would be fully visible from e.g the Naseef House etc.
But I would think that Saudi would be very disappointed with this result. See this Wiki article on the so called "Old city" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Balad,_Jeddah.

Pearling, Testimony of an Island Economy (Bahrain); D
Bridgetown and its Garrison (Barbados); D
West Lake Cultural Landscape of Hangzhou (China); I
Konso Cultural Landscape (Ethiopia);
The Causses and the Cévennes (France);
The architectural work of Le Corbusier, an outstanding contribution to the Modern Movement
The Persian Garden (Iran); I
Fort Jesus, Mombasa (Kenya);
León Cathedral (Nicaragua); R
Historical City of Jeddah (Saudi Arabia); N
Archaeological Sites of the Island of Meroe (Sudan); D
Selimiye Mosque and its social Complex (Turkey); I
Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park (Jamaica); N/D
Wadi Rum (Jordan); R/D
Pendjari National Park (Benin, an extension of W National Park of Niger); D
Western Ghats (India); D
Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley; (Kenya); I

Hmm, I don't see myself getting to the Ancient villages of Northern Syria in the near future...

I've got only 1 of the "Inscribeds" from the List above, the overrated West Lake in Hangzhou.

Not a good year also for the spreading of WHS around the world: I don't see any WHS coming in from countries that are not represented yet.
I do notice however some additions to areas which are already a Hotspot:
- The Fagus Factory (near Bremen and Hildesheim)
- The Longobards (near Venice and Aquileia)

Given recent events in Bahrain it will be interesting to see whether
a. The 2011 WHC still takes place there.....
b. Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed al Khalifa is still Bahrain's Minister of Culture and Information and Chair of the WHC wherever it takes place! ..... it would be somewhat embarrassing to UNESCO if its "chair" had been removed from government by a "revolution" in advance of the WHC!! (posted above on 21 Feb)

Well the WHC did get moved of course but it appears that, with the Khalifa family rule "saved" by Saudi troops and tanks, she will still be chairing this years WHC!
See
"the Minister of Culture Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa conducted a visit to the UNESCO headquarters today. During the visit she met with UNESCO Director-General Mrs Irina Bokova .......... both sides reviewed issues related to the 35th World Heritage meeting that would be held in June chaired by Kingdom of Bahrain"
in
http://www.bna.bh/portal/en/news/458082

Agreed with Els, but I believe that Bridgetown and its Garrison (Barbados), Transboundary Nomination for Yapese Stone Money Sites in Palau and Yap (Micronesia / Palau), and Cultural Sites of Al Ain: Hafit, Hili, Bidaa Bint Saud and Oases Areas (United Arab Emirates) will be get inscibed since these sites are from the countries with no WHS even ICOMOS deferred them similar to recent year trend of WHC.

I wonder about its nomination document, as far as I know about the site it would be a very poor WHS

So, a bit more "leakage" regarding what ICOMOS has said about the Le Corbusier nomination

As for why the 19 buildings should not be registered, ICOMOS claimed they do not clearly "demonstrate remarkable universal significance of the modern architectural movement" and that "Le Corbusier was not the only architect who promoted the modern architectural movement, in which many architects participated."

ICOMOS suggested, however, that three of the buildings--Villa Savoye in Paris, a Unite d'Habitation housing development in Marseille, France, and the Notre Dame du Haut chapel in Ronchamp, France--be nominated individually as examples of masterful architecture.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110528002670.htm

It looks as if ICOMOS is trying to put a stop to "catch all" nominations in which many sites ride on the back of a few stars whilst claiming to be evidential of a significance which would not be adequately demonstrated without them! I presume that the comment about "nominated individually" means a single nomination rather than 3 individual ones and the implication is that this should be done in a future year rather than that the current nomination could just be cut down and inscribed on that basis.