The Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley is an outstanding representation of the Buddhist art that resulted from the interaction between man and nature especially from the 1st to 13th centuries CE.

The kingdom of Bamiyan was a Buddhist state positioned at a strategic location along the trade routes that for centuries linked China and Central Asia with India and the west.

Many statues of Buddha were carved into the sides of cliffs facing Bamiyan city. The two most prominent of these statues were standing Buddhas, measuring 55 and 37 meters high respectively, that were the largest examples of standing Buddha carvings in the world. They were probably erected in the 4th or 5th century.

In March 2001, the Afghan Taliban government ordered them to be demolished.

The Minaret and Archaeological Remains of Jam represent the artistic creativity and mastery of structural engineering of the Ghurid civilization (1000-1220).

Jam is probably located at the site of the Ghurid dynasty's summer capital, Firuzkuh. The 12th and 13th century Ghurids controlled not only Afghanistan, but also parts of eastern Iran, Northern India and parts of Pakistan.

The 65 metre high minaret, surrounded by mountains that reach up to 2400 meters, is built entirely of baked bricks. It is famous for its intricate brick, stucco and glazed tile decoration, which consists of alternating bands of kufic and naskhi calligraphy, geometric patterns, and verses from the Qur'an.

The Minaret was forgotten by the outside world until rediscovered in 1886 by Sir Thomas Holdich.

The Historic Centres of Berat and Gjirokastra are both well-preserved Ottoman towns, decorated with outstanding examples of kule: Balkan-Ottoman style tower houses.

Berat has been particularly marked by the peaceful coexistence of Ottoman Islam with a large Christian minority. The designated area includes Berat castle, mosques, churches, and the Gorica bridge.

Gjirokastra was built around a 13th-century citadel. From the 14th to the 19th century it developed into a regional center. Residential quarters, the bazaar, churches, and mosques were built vertically and in stone.

Butrint is an archaeological site that provides valuable evidence of ancient and medieval civilizations on the territory of modern Albania.

The site, on a hill next to a lake connecting to the sea by a canal, has been inhabited since prehistoric times. A Greek colony was founded there in the late 7th century BC. Roman occupation prompted the development of the city and, during the Christian era, it became the seat of a bishopric. Many religious structures were built by the Christians. 

The city's last era of prosperity was under Byzantine administration (Epirus). After a short period of occupation by the Venetians (late 14th century), the city under Ottoman administration was threatened by the marshes that formed around the lake and was abandoned by the population.

The Natural and cultural heritage of the Ohrid Region comprises the ancient city of Ohrid and nearby Lake Ohrid, one of the deepest and oldest lakes in Europe.

The city of Ohrid has been a cultural centre of great importance for the Balkan and the Slavonic language. Its churches are renowned for their frescoes and icons. As an episcopal city, Ohrid was an important cultural center. Almost all surviving churches were built by the Byzantines and by the Bulgarians.

The lake's water holds many endemic species of fish, molluscs etc. The lakeshore reed beds and wetlands provide critical habitat for hundreds of thousands of wintering water birds, including rare and threatened species such as the Dalmatian Pelican, Ferruginous Duck, Swan, Spotted Eagle, and Eastern Imperial Eagle.

The Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe cover forests of the European beech in 18 countries.

They comprise the largest remaining 'virgin' forests of the European beech ('Fagus sylvatica'). They also hold the largest and tallest beech specimens in the world.

The European beech is a very adaptable species and it is spread across areas of different altitudinal zones, with different climatic and geological conditions. 

The Al Qal'a of Beni Hammad is an archeological site, which holds the first capital of the Hammadid empire. It was founded in 1007 and destroyed in 1152.

The Qal'a (Fortress) is located at more than 1,000m altitude.

The town includes a 7 km-long line of walls. Inside the walls are four residential complexes, and the largest mosque built in Algeria after that of Mansurah. The remains of the emir's palace, known as Dal al-Bahr, include three separate residences separated by gardens and pavilions.

Djemila is a mountain village in Algeria, near the northern coast east of Algiers, where some of the best preserved Roman ruins in North Africa are found.

It was recognized because of its unique adaptation of Roman architecture to a mountain environment. Buildings present in Djemila include a theatre, two fora, temples, basilicas, arches, streets, and houses.

The Kasbah of Algiers was founded on the ruins of old Icosium, a Phoenician commercial outpost called which later developed into a small Roman town. It is a small city which, built on a hill, goes down towards the sea, divided in two: the High city and the Low city.

One finds there masonries and mosques of the 17th century; Ketchaoua mosque (built in 1794 by the Dey Baba Hassan) flanked by two minarets, mosque el Djedid (built in 1660, at the time of Turkish regency) with its large finished ovoid cupola points some and its four coupolettes, mosque El Kébir, mosque Ali Betchnin, Dar Aziza, palate of Jénina. In the Kasbah, there are also labyrinths of lanes and houses that are very picturesque.

The M'Zab Valley is a region of the northern Sahara that holds five traditional fortified villages (ksour), an intact example of traditional human habitat perfectly adapted to the environment.

The Ibadis settled here from the 11th century on, making the most of the defensive possibilities. Their settlements included palm groves where they built a summer citadel (used during the seasonal migrations).

The five ksour included are El Atteuf, Bou Noura, Beni Isguen, Melika, Ghardaia.

The Tassili n'Ajjer is a mountain range characterized for its impressive rock art and geological formation of sandstone "rock forests".

Erosion in the area has resulted in nearly 300 natural rock arches being formed, along with many other spectacular landforms. It lies in the Sahara desert in southeast Algeria.

Its prehistoric rock paintings and other ancient archaeological sites date from neolithic times when the local climate was much moister, with savannah rather than desert. Over 15,000 rock paintings have been inventarized. They date from five different periods up until the first centuries AD.

Timgad, called Thamugas by the Romans, was a Roman colonial town in North Africa noteworthy for being one of the best extant examples of the grid plan as used in Roman city planning.

It was founded by the Emperor Trajan around 100 AD.

Notable features include:

• streets: decumanus maximus and cardo, lined by a partially-restored Corinthian colonnade.
• Trajan's Arch, a 12 m high triumphal arch
• 3,500-seat theater
• four thermae
• a library
• the Capitoline Temple

Tipasa is a product of the Punic and Roman civilizations. It was founded by the Phoenicians as a Carthaginian trading centre.

They left behind one of the most extensive cemeteries the Phoenician world. Then it was made a Roman military colony by the emperor Claudius, and afterwards became a municipium. The Roman city was built on three small hills which overlooked the sea.

Of the houses, most of which stood on the central hill, no traces remain; but there are ruins of three churches - the Great Basilica and the Basilica Alexander on the western hill, and the Basilica of St Salsa on the eastern hill, two cemeteries, the baths, theatre, amphitheatre and nymphaeum.

The Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley is a pastoral landscape reflecting an agricultural way of life that was once widespread in the upland regions of Europe, but now survives only in this part of the Pyrenees.

The valley was a place of passage with tracks linking it to France and Spain. Shepherds, charcoal burners, miners, blacksmiths, farmers and even smugglers have used these footpaths over the centuries. It is the only surviving unspoiled landscape in Andorra, no roads lead into the valley.

The valley corresponds with the Madriu river basin. Its highest part is a glacial landscape. The rest of it was and still is used as pastures for the grazing of cows and horses during the summer. There are two settlements within the valley, with 12 houses in total and only used in the summer months. Terraced fields have been constructed to grow rye, and wheat and to provide hay. The land is communally owned.

Mbanza Kongo, vestiges of the capital of the former Kingdom of Kongo, represents the political and religious centre of a vast African kingdom which was transformed by the arrival of the Portuguese in the late 15th century.

The site (now a town of some 175,000 inhabitants) is located on a plateau. It comprises both archaeological remains of the precolonial period as well as colonial structures – often overlapping each other. The Kingdom of Kongo has strong intangible links with the slave trade and the early conversion of African kings to the Catholic religion.

The Antigua Naval Dockyard and Related Archaeological Sites are late 18th, early 19th century defensive structures made by the British Navy.

They were built in an ideal natural setting, around a series of bays known as the English Harbour.

Enslaved laborers from plantations in the vicinity were sent to work on the dockyard. A wide range of buildings has survived. They were built in the Georgian style, with some modifications for the tropic climate.

Cueva de las Manos, Río Pinturas, is a cave of archaeological and paleontogical importance.

The Cave lies in the valley of the Pinturas River, in an isolated spot in the Patagonian landscape. It is famous (and gets its name) for the paintings of hands, made by the indigenous inhabitants (possibly forefathers of the Tehuelches) some 9,000 years ago.

Iguazu National Park, with the Falls as its main feature, was added to the World Heritage List for two reasons: its exceptional natural beauty and because it's the habitat of rare and endangered species.

The Argentinian side of the park measures 49.200 ha. The adjacent Brazilian side is a separate World Heritage Site.

The waterfalls on both sides together span over 2700 m., and have a height of 80 m. Iguazu is an indigenous (Tupi-Guarani) name, meaning Great Waters.

The Ischigualasto and Talampaya Natural Parks were established to protect geological formations of the Triassic Period.

They are rich in diversity of both plant and vertebrate fossils. The parks are contiguous and belong to the same geological formation, though divided between two Argentinian provinces.

The Triassic Period (popularly known as the Age of the Dinosaurs) lasted from 245 to 208 million years B.P. Some of the oldest known dinosaur remains were found in this location, which makes it one of the most important palaeontological sites in the world.

Also, geologically, it is the only place in the world where a complete sequence of continental sediments with abundant fossil fauna and flora for the Triassic Period can be seen.

The Jesuit Block and Estancias of Córdoba are religious, educational and agricultural developments by the Society of Jesus between 1604 and 1767. Together they form the origins and the core of the missionary activities of the Jesuits in South America.

In Córdoba proper, the Jesuits were allocated one of the blocks in the checkerboard plan of the city, like the other orders (Franciscan, Dominican). This grew into the core of their mission, with a university (Colégio Maximo) based on Jesuit teachings, a college and a church that also held the Jesuit political/administrative bodies.

The rural estancias were to provide the necessary resources through farming and textile production. Irrigation systems, factories and mills were constructed to let them flourish economically (which they did).

The Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis are the archeological remains of towns created by the Jesuit Order.

The towns existed between 1609 and 1818, and aimed to socially, culturally and religiously elevate the local Guarani Indians. They also provided protection and economic stability. Originally there were 30 missions, spread out over Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. The two Jesuit missions in Paraguay are now a separate WHS.

This designated site consists of five different missions:

• São Miguel das Missões (Brazil)
• San Ignacio Mini (Argentina)
• Nuestra Señora de Santa Ana (Argentina)
• Nuestra Señora de Loreto (Argentina)
• Santa María la Mayor (Argentina)

Los Alerces National Park is a visually stunning Andean landscape moulded by glaciations.

It is covered by lakes and temperate forests that include the best conserved pockets of globally endangered Alerce tree species. The Alerce (or Patagonian Cypress) is the second-longest living tree species in the world (> 3,600 years).

Los Glaciares National Park is a national park in southern Argentina known for its glacial activity.

It holds 47 larger active glaciers. The park is situated on the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, the largest ice cap in the world outside of Antarctica and Greenland.

The biggest glacier in the park is the well-known Perito Moreno. The area is also shaped by two large lakes: Lake Argentino and Lake Viedma.

Península Valdés is the natural habitat of the endangered southern right whale. The peninsula also holds important groups of elephant seals, sea lions and orcas (a.k.a. “killer whales”).

With an isthmus of only 11 kms wide, the Valdes Peninsula is almost an island. It has a dynamic coastal zone with active sand dunes. There are also numerous cliffs, bays and lagoons. The interior of the land is Patagonian desert steppe. The climate is dry with strong winds.

Southern right whales come to these bays to breed and give birth between June and December. They number circa 3000. The whales can be up to 17 meters long and weigh 100 tons. The orcas in these waters have developed a unique and successful hunting strategy: they chase small sea lions or elephant seals into the shallow surf until the beach, where they grab them.

Qhapaq Nan is the Andean road system created by the Inca civilization.

They used it for the purposes of communication, trade and defence. It reached its maximum expansion in the 15th century. The central square of Cusco, known as Hanan Hauk'aypata, is the origin of the four main roads that allowed the Incas to easily travel by foot to every corner of their territory.

This is a serial nomination of over 720km of stretches of road and 291 archaeological sites, stretching across Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

The Quebrada de Humahuaca is a mountain valley that has been in use as a cultural route between the Andean highlands and the plains for over 11000 years.

The valley, carved out by the Rio Grande, is ca. 150 km. long. The river is dry in winter but flows copiously through the Quebrada in the summer.

Numerous tracks, roads and settlements testify to the civilizations that once lived here: hunter-gatherers, indigenous Omaguacas, Inca, Spanish and the Argentine Republic. Due to its strategic position it has been colonized by both the Inca and the Spanish, who were after the trade, minerals and agricultural products. It also has been a stage for many battles of the Argentine War of Independence.

The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier comprises 17 locations designed by the renowned French-Swiss architect, who is seen as one of the pioneers of modern architecture.

The series shows the dissemination of his ideas over the world during a period of 50 years.

The locations span seven countries on three continents. 10 are situated in France and 2 in Switzerland, the homelands of Le Corbusier (born in Switzerland, became a French citizen). But also Chandigarh (India), National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo (Japan) and Casa Curutchet (Argentina) are included.

The Cathedral and Churches of Echmiatsin and the Archaeological Site of Zvartnots are two prime examples of Armenian church design.

Echmiatsin is the center of the Armenian Church. It locates the Echmiatsin Cathedral, which was built in 480 (making it the most ancient church in Armenia).

Zvartnots dates from the 7th century, and was built to surpress the Echmiatsin Cathedral in grandeur. This complex consists of a temple and the palace of Catholicos Nerses III. Presumably, the architect if Zvartnots knew of Syrian and Byzantine structures.

The Monasteries of Haghpat and Sanahin represent a fusion of vernacular and Byzantine ecclesiastical architecture.

Both monasteries are located in the Debed Canyon, in the Lori-region of North Armenia. Their oldest structures date back to the 10th century. Haghpat also has a number of splendid khachkars (cross-stones) of the 11th-13th centuries standing on the territory of the monastery.

In 1996, only Haghpat was inscribed. The site was extended to Haghpat and Sanahin in 2000 after the ownership of the latter monastery became clear.

The Monastery of Geghard and the Upper Azat Valley has been named a WHS for the influence it had on Armenian monastic architecture.

While the main chapel was built in 1215, the monastery complex was founded in the 4th century by Gregory the Illuminator at the site of a sacred spring inside a cave. The complex is carved into the side of the mountain. It consists of several churches, tombs, a defensive wall and carved crosses (khatckars).

Geghard is the Armenian word for lance or spear, reflecting the legend that it housed one of the lances that was associated with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

The Australian Convict Sites consists of a series of 11 sites that, in combination, express the key aspects of the Australian convict experience that are of outstanding universal value from the point of view of global history.

The sites are:

• First Government House Site, New South Wales
• Hyde Park Barracks, New South Wales
• Great North Road Complex, New South Wales
• Darlington Probation Station, Maria Island National Park, Tasmania
• Port Arthur Historic Site, Tasmania
• Coal Mines Historic Site, Tasmania
• Cascades Female Factory
• Fremantle Prison, Western Australia
• Kingston and Arthur`s Vale Historic Area
• Brickendon and Woolmers Estates
• Cockatoo Island Convict Site

The Australian Fossil Mammal Sites Riversleigh and the Naracoorte are superb illustrations of the key stages of the isolated evolution of Australia's unique fauna.

Riversleigh is located in North West Queensland and has fossil remains of ancient mammals, birds, and reptiles of Oligocene and Miocene ages. Thirty-five fossil bat species have been identified at the site, which is the richest in the world. The skull and nearly complete dentition of a fifteen million-year-old monotreme, Obdurodon dicksoni, provide a window into the evolution of this characteristically Australian group.

The Naracoorte Caves are located in the southeast of South Australia. The caves are often not far below ground, and holes open up creating traps for the unwary mammals and other land creatures. The fossil record has been preserved in strata formed from eroded topsoil washed and blown in. In some places, the fossil-bearing silt is up to 20 metres thick.

The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape covers an ancient aquaculture system developed by the Gunditjmara Aboriginal people.

They manipulated the water flow through volcanic rock and trapped fish there (especially kooyang). The associated practices are still part of the Gunditjmara living cultural tradition.

Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world.

It has over 100 clean freshwater dune lakes, spectacular coastal dune formations, sand cliffs and sandy beaches. Tall rainforest grows on the dunes.

Birds are the most abundant form of animal life on the island with over 230 species being recorded. It is a particularly important site for migratory wading birds which use the area as a resting place during their long flights between southern Australia and their breeding grounds in Siberia. Few mammal species occur. Dingoes were once common on the island, but are now decreasing.

The Gondwana Rainforests of Australia are renowned for their geological features and unique record of the evolutionary history of Australian rainforests.

The site consists of 41 different parks in Queensland and New South Wales. The Queensland areas include Lamington National Park, Mount Chinghee National Park, Springbrook National Park, Mount Barney National Park and Main Range National Park. Those in New South Wales are Barrington Tops National Park, Dorrigo National Park, Mount Warning National Park, New England National Park, Oxley Wild Rivers National Park, Washpool National Park, Willi Willi National Park and Werrikimbe National Park.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of roughly 3,000 individual reefs and 900 islands, that stretch for 2,600 kilometres covering an area of approximately 344,400 km².

The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland in northeast Australia. A large part of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

The coral reefs hold a huge biodiversity, with dugong, whales, Dolphins and turtles among the most notable marine species.

The Greater Blue Mountains Area is a sandstone plateau that holds a high diversity of eucalypts, representing all four existing groups. It is an area of rugged tablelands, sheer cliffs, deep, inaccessible valleys and swamps.

The Area also contains ancient, relict species of global significance. The most famous of these is the recently discovered Wollemi pine, a 'living fossil' dating back to the age of the dinosaurs.

The site includes 8 protected areas:

• Blue Mountains National Park
• Wollemi National Park
• Yengo National Park
• Nattai National Park
• Kanangra-Boyd National Park
• Gardens of Stone National Park
• Thirlmere Lakes National Park
• Jenolan Caves Karst Conservation Reserve

Heard Island and McDonald Islands are uninhabited, barren islands located in the Southern Ocean, with a complete absence of alien plants and animals, as well as human impact.

The islands have been territories of Australia since 1947, and contain the only two active volcanoes in Australian territory, one of which, Mawson Peak, is the highest Australian mountain.

Kakadu National Park is one of the larger national parks in the world, consisting of four major river systems and various landforms.

It is the breeding habitat of the endangered saltwater crocodile and the pig-nosed turtle. Its flora is very diverse and includes 46 rare or threatened species.

The park is also renowned for the richness of its Aboriginal cultural sites. There are more than 5000 recorded art sites illustrating Aboriginal culture over thousands of years. The archaeological sites demonstrate Aboriginal occupation for at least 20 000 and possibly 50 000 years.

The Lord Howe Island Group consists of islands and rocks of volcanic origin that are home to many species of nesting seabirds and other endemic or rare animals. 

It is an island system developed from submarine volcanic activity. It also features the most southerly coral reef in the world.

Besides Lord Howe Island, the designated area includes the Admiralty Group, Mutton Bird and Sail Rock, Blackburn (Rabbit) Island, Gower Island and Ball's Pyramid.

Macquarie Island is the only place on earth where rocks from the earth's mantle (6 km below the ocean floor) are being actively exposed above sea-level. This makes it an important focus of geological study.

The island lies in the southwest corner of the Pacific Ocean, about half-way between Australia and Antarctica. Fauna found on the island include: Subantarctic Fur Seals, Antarctic Fur Seals, New Zealand Fur Seals and Southern Elephant Seals - over 80,000 individuals of this species. Royal Penguins breed only on this island; King Penguins, Southern Rockhopper Penguins and Gentoo penguins also breed here.

The Ningaloo Coast holds a fringing coral reef known for its seasonal feeding concentrations of the whale shark.

It is located off the west coast of Australia, approximately 1200 km north of Perth. The reef is 260 km long and is Australia's largest fringing coral reef and the only large reef positioned very close to a landmass.

Adjacent to Ningaloo Reef, the limestone karst landscape of Cape Range has a remarkable density of more than 500 caves and other karst features, supporting globally outstanding fauna.

Purnululu National Park is famous for the sandstone domes, unusual and visually striking with their striping in alternating orange and grey bands.

The banding of the domes is due to differences in clay content and porosity of the sandstone layers: the orange bands consist of oxidised iron compounds in layers that dry out too quickly for cyanobacteria to multiply; the grey bands are composed of cyanobacteria growing on the surface of layers of sandstone where moisture accumulates.

The Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens represent the 19th century international exhibition movement, showcasing technological innovation and change that was made possible by the industrialisation.

The Exhibition Building was designed by the architect Joseph Reed. It was completed in 1880, in preparation for the Melbourne International Exhibition. The building consisted of a Great Hall of Industry of over 12,000 square metres and many temporary annexes in the Gardens.

The Melbourne Centennial Exhibition was held at the same Exhibition Building in 1888 to celebrate a century of European settlement in Australia.

Shark Bay, covering 23,000 square kilometers, is an area of major zoological importance and home to about 10,000 dugongs (sea cows) and many dolphins.

The area supports 26 threatened Australian mammal species, over 230 species of bird, and nearly 150 species of reptile. It is an important breeding and nursery ground for fishes, crustaceans, and coelenterates. There are 323 fish species, with many sharks and rays.

Shark Bay also has the largest known area of seagrass, including the 1030 km² Wooramel Seagrass Bank, the largest seagrass bank in the world. It also contains the largest number (12) of seagrass species ever recorded in one place. At Hamelin Pool in the south of the bay, living microbes are building stromatolites that are over 3000 years old. The Hamelin Pool contains the most diverse and abundant examples of stromatolite forms in the world.

The Sydney Opera House is one of the most distinctive and famous 20th century buildings.

It is situated on Bennelong Point in Sydney Harbour. The building and its surroundings (like the Harbour Bridge) form an iconic Australian image.

In 1955 a competiton for a design of a large, dedicated opera house and concert hall was started. It was won by the Danish architect Jorn Utzon. It was later finished by Arup & Partners and Australian architects Hall, Todd & Littlemore and Ted Fmer.

The Opera House was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II, in her capacity as Queen of Australia, on October 20, 1973.

The Tasmanian Wilderness area constitutes one of the last expanses of temperate wilderness in the world, including the renowned South West Wilderness. Also, important prehistoric aboriginal sites were discovered here.

The following National Parks and reserves make up the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area:

• Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park
• Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park
• Hartz Mountains National Park
• Mole Creek Karst National Park
• Southwest National Park
• Walls of Jerusalem National Park
• Central Plateau Conservation and Protected Areas
• Devils Gullet State Reserve

Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is a striking physical landscape that contains two rock formations which contrast sharply with the surrounding sand plains and desert.

Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (Mount Olga) are isolated remnants left after the slow erosion of an original mountain range.

In 1994 Uluru-Kata Tjuta was renominated under cultural criteria, to be recognized as a cultural landscape. It illustrates the combined works of nature & man by making use of the physical constraints and opportunities of the landscape. It also is an associative landscape via the spiritual relationship the Aboriginal owners have with the land. The area holds numerous sites sacred to the local Aboriginal people, the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara.

The Wet Tropics of Queensland is an area mainly consisting of wet tropical rainforest with a great variety in animal and plant species.

Its area extends along the north-east coast of Queensland for a distance of ca. 45Okm. It comprises 41 national parks and dozens of other forests and reserves, including Barron Gorge National Park, Cedar Bay National Park, Daintree National Park, Girringun National Park and Wooroonooran National Park.

The Willandra Lakes Region is a geologically unique area of dry lakebeds rich in fossils. Globally it is important for its very early homo sapiens findings.

They include the world's oldest cremation site (26,000 years old) and remains of a settlement up to 40,000 years ago (agricultural use, stone tools). It is the most important site in Australia to observe the period when the giant marsupials became extinct and the human race became dominant.

The WHS covers 7 former lakes in 2,400 square kilometers. The lakes dried out about 15,000 years ago. High winds on the exposed lake floors formed large clay dunes, lunettes, which are rare in the world.

Frontiers of the Roman Empire – The Danube Limes (Western Segment) is a serial transnational site that comprises the remains of the Roman border along the Danube river.

• The German part consists of 24 locations between Eining near Regensburg and Passau near the Austrian border. The eastern end of the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes is directly adjacent to the Danube Limes. The majority of the structures are preserved below ground, original remains are visible at Bad Gögging (thermal baths), Regensburg (Porta Praetoria, included in the WHS Old Town of Regensburg), and at the Roman Museum Boiotro in Passau.
• The Austrian part consists of 47 locations between the German border close to Passau (Bavaria) and the Slovakian border near Bratislava. The majority of the structures are preserved below ground, visible remains can be found at Mautern, Traismauer, Tulln, Zeiselmauer, and Petronell-Carnutum.
• The Limes Romanus in Slovakia comprises 6 locations, centered around the remains of the Roman military camp Gerulata in Rusovce (Bratislava) and the military fortress Kelemantia in Iza. They date from the 1st and 2nd century respectively.

Fertö/Neusiedlersee Cultural Landscape is the result of the symbiotic process of human interaction with second largest steppe lake in Central Europe.

Traces of human settlement around Lake Neusiedl go back to the neolithic period. The area became densely populated from the 7th century BC onward, initially by people of the Hallstatt culture and remained so throughout Roman times.

The designated area comprises of the settlements of Podersdorf, Illmitz and Apetion, parts of Rust and Fertörákos, the Palace of Nagycenk and Fertöd Palace.

Most of the lake is surrounded by reeds which serve as a habitat for wildlife (making the lake an important resting place for migratory birds) and are harvested in winter as soon as the ice is solid enough.

The City of Graz - Historic Centre and Schloss Eggenberg is recognized due to the harmonious co-existence of typical buildings from different epochs and in different architectural styles.

Being situated in a cultural borderland between Central Europe, Italy and the Balkan States, Graz absorbed various influences from the neighbouring regions and thus received its exceptional townscape. Today the old town consists of over 1000 buildings, their age ranging from Gothic to Contemporary.

The baroque Eggenberg Castle and its gardens, at the western edge of the city, were added to the included area in 2010.

The Great Spa Towns of Europe are a group of eleven spa towns from seven countries.

They represent the development of European spa tradition from its roots in the antiquity to the peak in the 19th and early 20th century.

The included towns are:  Baden bei Wien (Austria), Vichy (France), Spa (Belgium), Bath (UK), Montecatini Terme (Italy), Baden-Baden, Bad Kissingen, Bad Ems (all Germany) and Karlovy Vary, Mariánské Lázně, Františkovy Lázně (all Czechia).

The Hallstatt-Dachstein Salzkammergut Cultural Landscape is an area of great prosperity originating from salt production, which is "reflected in the fine architecture of the town of Hallstatt".

Its name is forever linked to European prehistory for a discovery of early Iron Age remains, which became the type site for the Halstatt culture.

The designated area covers over 280 square km. In addition to the town of Halstatt it also includes the Halstätter Lake, the Dachstein massif, the town of Obertraun and the surrounding areas. The Dachstein mountains are renowned for their caves, among them a large ice cave.

The Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps are the remains of prehistoric stilt houses at the edges of lakes and rivers.

The site consists of 111 locations, spread out over 6 countries. They date from 5,000 to 500 BC, and represent the life of early agrarian communities in Europe.

Rising water levels since prehistory led to the abandonment of settlements which were then covered by lake and river sediments. About 30 different cultural groups were responsible for creating these pile dwellings.

The Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe cover forests of the European beech in 18 countries.

They comprise the largest remaining 'virgin' forests of the European beech ('Fagus sylvatica'). They also hold the largest and tallest beech specimens in the world.

The European beech is a very adaptable species and it is spread across areas of different altitudinal zones, with different climatic and geological conditions. 

The Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg with its world famous baroque architecture is one of the best-preserved examples of an European ecclesiastical city-state.

Its monuments date from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. Notable monuments are:

• Burgher houses
• Cathedral of St. Rupert and St. Virgil
• Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter
• Nonnberg Benedictine Nunnery
• Hohensalzburg Fortress
• Archbishop's Residence

Furthermore, Salzburg is historically associated with music and festivals. Its most famous son was the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn comprise an 18th century Baroque Gesamtkunstwerk and symbol of Habsburg power.

Schönbrunn Palace is the former Habsburg summer residence. Empress Maria Theresia choose Schönbrunn as her main residence. She added the theatre and the garden to make her stay more enjoyable. And inside, she refurbished the rooms in baroque and rococo style.

In the palace garden there are several other interesting buildings. One of those is the green steel Palm House, constructed in 1882 in the tradition of Eiffel. Or the Neptune-fountain, with its group of Greek-Roman statues. It also includes the first zoo in the world.

The Semmering Railway is the first mountain railway which crossed a high-mountains area and counts therefore as the prototype of railway lines mastering very difficult terrain and considerable altitude difference.

The railway was constructed between 1848 and 1854 by some 20,000 workers under the project's designer and director Carl Ritter von Ghega. He had to develop new surveying methods and instruments to mark out the terrain.

The construction features 14 tunnels (among them the 1,431 m vertex tunnel), 16 viaducts (several two-story) and over 100 curved stone bridges as well as 11 small iron bridges. Travel time was cut in half, and it opened up the Semmering region as an early Alpine resort.

The Historic Centre of Vienna holds significant architecture from three periods (Middle Ages, the Baroque period, and the Gründerzeit), and is a capital of music.

It still is a living tribute to Habsburg times, which ruled most of Central Europe between 1273 and 1918. Its emperor Frederick III transformed Vienna from a medieval market town into an imperial residence. This attracted other nobility and a lot of artists. The Hofburg was its center of power - an evergrowing palace with over 2500 rooms. The giant Stephansdom features an 137 m. high church tower, and is adorned with coloured tiles.

The former canal Graben now is a luxurious shopping street. Here you can find the exuberant baroque Plague statue (1679). In this area there are also many baroque and Jugendstil buildings.

Along the Ring, fine examples of 19th century architecture can be seen. Examples are the Rathaus and the Burgtheater.

Wachau Cultural Landscape comprises a Danube valley with a long historical evolution. There has been human occupation in the Wachau from Palaeolithic times.

The valley is well-known for its production of apricots and grapes, both of which are used to produce specialty liquors and wines. It also has impressive buildings and picturesque historic towns.

The Wachau is located along the Danube between Melk and Krems, together with the slopes and the adjoining Dunkelsteiner Wald and the southern Waldviertel. The abbeys of Melk, Dürnstein and Göttweig are among the finest Baroque buildings in Austria.

Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape has an outstanding collection of more then 6,000 rock paintings.

They depict primitive men, animals, battle-pieces, ritual dances, bullfights, boats with armed oarsmen, warriors with lances in their hands, camel caravans, pictures of sun and stars, on the average dating back to 5,000-20,000 years.

The Historic centre of Sheki with the Khan’s Palace is an 18th-century trade town known for its sericulture.

Sheki was the capital of the short-lived Shaki Khanate. The Palace of Shaki Khans was a summer residence of the Khans, and it still remains one of the most visible landmarks of Shaki. It was designed by a Persian architect in 1797.

The traditional residential houses were built with spacious attics to accommodate silkworm breeding. They also feature gardens with mulberry trees.

The ‘Walled City of Baku with the Shirvanshah's Palace and Maiden Tower’ comprises the remains of a medieval town, that has been the capital of Azerbaijan since 1191.

The Old City within the walls is a maze of narrow alleys, with ancient residences, stores and mosques. It also harbours the Maiden Tower, a cylindrical eight story structure 29.5 meter high.

The Shirvanshah’s Palace, also located within the medieval area, is the most prominent example of Azerbaijan architecture from the Shirvanshah dynasty. It seems to have been developed mainly as a memorial complex rather than a residential palace. It holds mausolea, pavillions, a mosque and a bath-house.

The Dilmun Burial Mounds represent the architecture and sepulchral traditions of Early Dilmun culture.

The site comprises 21 components with in total thousands of burial mounds. Each of the mounds - usually meant for 1 deceased person - is composed of a central stone chamber that is enclosed by a low ring-wall and covered by earth and gravel. The graves are not all of the same era, or of exactly the same styles, and can vary considerably in size in different areas of the moundfield. 

Pearling, testimony of an island economy, is a group of historic sites related to the harvest and trade of natural pearls.

It centers around the island city of Muharraq, the main pearl trading city in the Gulf and prominent in the world until the introduction of cultured pearls by Japan in the 1930s. A pearl industry already existed here in Roman times.

The inscribed area is a serial nomination of 15 sites, comprising:

• Three Oyster beds in the territorial waters of Bahrain
• Bû Mâhir Seashore & Qal‘at Bû Mâhir fortress
• Muharraq city (remaining 19th/20th century buildings of the merchant quarter)

Qal'at al-Bahrain is the archaeological site of a port that was once the capital of the Dilmun civilization and served more recently as a Portuguese fort.

It is a typical tell - an artificial mound created by many successive layers of human occupation. The hill shows almost continuous remains from ca. 2300 BC to the 16th century BC. They span the Dilmun, Tylos, later Islamic societies, and the Portuguese period. This makes it a rare archeological and historical reference site in Eastern Arabia and the Gulf region.

The site gets its name from Qal`at al-Burtughal (Portuguese fort). In the early 1500s, the Portuguese saw Bahrain as a key point to protect their trade routes between India, Africa, and Europe. They invaded the island and set up a military base at the Bahrain Fort. They strengthened the already existing fortress and erected new stone towers.

The Historic Mosque City of Bagerhat is a 15th century city with a high density in Islamic religious monuments.

Bagerhat, the historical Khalifatabad, was founded by Khan Jahan, an Islamic preacher probably of Turkic origin. This Khan Jahan, about whom not much is known, adorned the city with mosques, roads, bridges, palaces and reservoirs. He established all of this within a short time span, while introducing a distinct architectural style.

Only the mosques and Khan Jahan's shrine remain today.

The Ruins of the Buddhist Vihara at Paharpur comprise a Buddhist Monastery dating from the late 8th century.

It is said to be the second-largest single Buddhist monastery south of the Himalayas. It is the remains of the Pala dynasty, that ruled Bengal and Bihar for 3,5 centuries from the middle of the 8th century. From the 12th century on, after numerous attacks by invaders, the monks left and the monastery buildings suffered decline and disintegration.

The monastery is built as a quadrangle, measuring 281 meters on each side. All outer four wings contain monastic cells, 177 in total. In the center of the vast open courtyard is the shrine. Its remains are still 21 meters high and have three gradually diminishing terraces. The walls were built of burnt bricks, some ornamented with motifs of flowers and seated Buddhas. There were also bands of terracotta plaques in rows all around the terraces.

The Sundarbans ('Forest of Sundari trees') are one of the largest remaining areas of mangroves in the world.

The site also has exceptional biodiversity, notably about 400 Bengali tigers. Its ever changing landscape is shaped by tidal shifts, rivers and creeks.

The Indian part of the Sundarbans area is a separate WHS, under the name of Sundarbans National Park.

Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison is a 17th century British colonial city.

The site comprises the old town, the port and the former garrison. The latter served as the headquarters of the British Navy in the region.

Bridgetown was an entrepot for goods and slaves, linked to the island's sugar industry and the rest of the Caribbean.

Belovezhskaya Pushcha / Bialowieza Forest is an ancient woodland straddling the border between Belarus and Poland.

This is the only remaining part of the immense forest which once spread across the European Plain. Pine, beech, oak, alder and spruce are found in the forest.

The forest contains a number of large, ancient pedunculate oaks, some of which are individually named. It is also the habitat of several rare mammals, including the European Bison, wolf, lynx and otter. The European Bison or Wisent was reintroduced here in 1929.

The Mir Castle Complex is a piece of military architecture which reflects the long confrontational history of the region. Its harmonious design shows Gothic, Baroque and Renaissance cultural influences.

The 16th century castle has five towers made of alternating brick and large boulders. 3 meter thick walls link the towers. The castle was built by the Ilinich family to withstand attacks of the Crimean Tatars. The family died out in the same century, and the castle fell into the hands of a member of the Radziwill family. They had it converted into a Renaissance-style residential palace.

In addition to the castle, the grounds also hold a chapel with the burial vault of the Svyatopolk-Mirsky Princes, a landscape garden with artificial lake and a Mir ghetto memorial.

The Architectural, Residential and Cultural Complex of the Radziwill Family at Nesvizh consists of a residential castle and the Corpus Christi Church, which had their influence on architecture all over Central and Eastern Europe.

The Radziwill dynasty acted as politicians and patrons of art from the 16th to 19th centuries. They incorporated influences from Southern and Western Europe, leading to the Renaissance and Baroque design of this complex.

An Italian architect was responsible for creating the church with its dome. It became one of the earliest Jesuit churches in the world. The crypt of the church contains the coffins of 72 member of the family.

The Struve Geodetic Arc is a chain of survey triangulations stretching from Hammerfest in Norway to the Black Sea.

The chain was established and used by the German-born Russian scientist Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve in the years 1816 to 1855 to establish the exact size and shape of the earth.

The area of the Arc designated as a WHS consists of 34 stations, spanning 10 countries and over 2,820 km. Originally there were 265 stations, in only 2 countries (the Russian Empire and the Union between Sweden & Norway).

The Belfries of Belgium and France are 56 bell-towers, built between the 11th and 20th centuries.

They are mostly found in town centers, and connected to the local town hall or church. At their time, the Belfries represented the growing importance of cities instead of the feudal system in the Middle Ages.

After several fires, stone began to be used as building material instead of wood. Mainly square, robust towers were built in this period. Later, from the 14th to the 17th century when most of the still remaining belfries were built, the towers lose their defensive character. They become narrower, and the styles are influenced by Baroque. In the 19th and 20th centuries, newly created belfries had a more symbolic value of independence and prosperity.

The Historic Centre of Brugge represents a medieval town built in mostly brick Gothic, which also has been the birthplace of the Flemish Primitives painting school.

From the 13th century onwards, Brugge became an international trading center. The produce of cloth and the role of Hansean wharehouse brought the city its wealth. The heydays resulted in the construction of numerous Gothic buildings and churches.

Also, the Flemish Primitive painting school could flourish here. Notable artists from here include Jan van Eyck and Hans Memling.

Already in the 16th century, Brugge's wealth had vanished. But this sorry state is the main reason that the whole town has preserved its medieval character so well.

The Colonies of Benevolence is a relict cultural landscape of isolated peat and heath wastelands that were colonized in the 19th century in a model for pauper relief.

The included components in the Netherlands are Frederiksoord-Wilhelminaoord and Veenhuizen. The first was a free colony (founded by The Society of Humanitarianism to help poor citizens), the latter an unfree colony (where people were sent by the State and had to live under a more strict regime). In Belgium, the Colonies of Benevolence comprises the 19th century agricultural pauper colony of Wortel.

The Flemish Béguinages are secluded compounds made by a religious movement.

The Beguines were women who entered into a life dedicated to God without retiring from the world. In the 13th century they founded the béguinages, enclosed communities designed to meet their spiritual and material needs.

The béguinages hold houses, churches, public buildings and gardens make up a secluded town.

In Belgium, the 13 world heritage béguinages consist of the ones in Gent, Leuven, Kortrijk, Mechelen, Brugge, Dendermonde, Turnhout, Sint-Amandsberg, Sint-Truiden, Lier, Diest, Tongeren and Hoogstraten.

Grand Place, Brussels comprises a central square and harmonious ensemble of surrounding buildings that represent the culture of this mercantile city from the late 17th century.

The square is 110 x 70 m, and is in use as a marketplace since the 15th century. It is now surrounded with buildings dating from the late 17th century. Most of them used to be guild-halls. Their facades are decorated with statues, symbols and the name of the house. The City Hall is the most remarkable of them, and is still used for marriages.

The Great Spa Towns of Europe are a group of eleven spa towns from seven countries.

They represent the development of European spa tradition from its roots in the antiquity to the peak in the 19th and early 20th century.

The included towns are:  Baden bei Wien (Austria), Vichy (France), Spa (Belgium), Bath (UK), Montecatini Terme (Italy), Baden-Baden, Bad Kissingen, Bad Ems (all Germany) and Karlovy Vary, Mariánské Lázně, Františkovy Lázně (all Czechia).

The Major Town Houses of the Architect Victor Horta (Brussels) are pioneering works of architecture in the Art Nouveau-style.

The site consists of four houses: Hôtel Tassel, Hôtel Solvay, Hôtel van Eetvelde, and Maison & Atelier Horta.

Victor Horta was born in Ghent and lived between 1861 and 1947. He was one of the most prominent men in the Art Nouveau-movement, a new decorative style that developed in the late 19th century. Characteristics are for example the use of industrial materials like steel and iron in the visible parts of houses, new decorations inspired by nature, decorative façades of houses.

Most of these principles can be seen in the house that Victor Horta built for himself in the late 1890's. This house now is a museum.

The Major Mining Sites of Wallonia are the best-preserved coal mining sites in Belgium.

Developed in the 19th century, the Walloon mining basin became an exemplary centre of the Industrial Revolution outside England.

The four inscribed mining complexes are:

• Grand-Hornu
• Bois-du-Luc
• Bois du Cazier
• Blegny

The Neolithic flint mines at Spiennes, covering more than 100 ha, are the largest and earliest concentration of ancient mines in Europe.

They were actively used from 4400 - 2000 years B.C. The extraction was carried out in open quarries and in pits. Flint is found in chalkland, there it forms layers within beds of chalk. It's an easy-to-shape material, with sharp edges. From the early beginnings, humans used flint tools for personal use. For example to make robust axes (to be used by hand or with a wooden grip).

Probably there are thousands of pits in this area. There is no horizontal network that joins them. When a new pit was hewn out, the older pit was used to dump the rocks. It all was done on quite a small scale: no residential area was found near the mines, and the flintknappers came from kilometers away. The site was used for excavations by numerous generations.

The Notre-Dame Cathedral in Tournai is seen as a precursor of the vast Gothic cathedrals, constructed in the school that developed north of the Seine.

The building of the Cathedral of Tournai lasted from 1146 until 1325. At first, a Romanesque cathedral was built because Tournai had become seat of a bishopry. The main nave of the present cathedral was constructed during that period.

Later on, the architects became more influenced by the then fashionable Gothic style. This can be seen in the 5 towers and the choir.

The Plantin-Moretus Museum is linked with the spreading of ideas of European humanism via its printing business Officina Plantiniana.

The museum is housed in the former residence and printing establishment of famous printers Christoffel Plantijn and Jan Moretus. Plantijn (Plantin) set himself up as a printer in 1555, founding his publishing house 'De Gulden Passer' (The Golden Compasses). In 1576 he moved his printing business to the Vrijdagmarkt square. That building is now the oldest part of the Plantin-Moretus Museum.

Plantin's business instinct turned his company into a thriving enterprise. In six years' time, the number of presses tripled from five to sixteen. By 1575 he was running a printing empire with seventy employees.

His son-in-law, Jan Moretus, inherited the business after Plantin's death in 1589. He and his successors printed far fewer humanist and scientific publications. They were mainly oriented toward religious documents (promoting the catholic Counter-Reformation).

The Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe cover forests of the European beech in 18 countries.

They comprise the largest remaining 'virgin' forests of the European beech ('Fagus sylvatica'). They also hold the largest and tallest beech specimens in the world.

The European beech is a very adaptable species and it is spread across areas of different altitudinal zones, with different climatic and geological conditions. 

The Stoclet House is a private mansion designed by architect Josef Hoffmann and the Wiener Werkstätte between 1905 and 1911.

It was built for banker and art lover Adolphe Stoclet. He gave them an unlimited budget and an artistic freehand. The integration of architects, artists, and artisans of the Wiener Werkstätte makes it an example of Gesamtkunstwerk, one of the defining characteristics of Jugendstil.

Although the marble-clad facade is radically simplified, it contains commissioned works by Gustav Klimt in the dining room, four copper figures at the top by sculptor Franz Metzner, and other craftwork inside and outside the building. Expensive materials were used all over, like Norwegian marble, gilded material and leather.

The mansion is still owned by the Stoclet family and is not open to visitors. Since 2002 it is occupied by 2 caretakers.

The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier comprises 17 locations designed by the renowned French-Swiss architect, who is seen as one of the pioneers of modern architecture.

The series shows the dissemination of his ideas over the world during a period of 50 years.

The locations span seven countries on three continents. 10 are situated in France and 2 in Switzerland, the homelands of Le Corbusier (born in Switzerland, became a French citizen). But also Chandigarh (India), National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo (Japan) and Casa Curutchet (Argentina) are included.

The four hydraulic boat lifts on this short stretch of the historic Canal du Centre are industrial monuments of the highest quality. Together with the Canal itself and its associated structures, they constitute a remarkably well preserved and complete example of a late 19th-century industrial landscape.

The lifts were necessary because of the differences in height of the Canal. There is a rise of some 90 metres from Mons to the summit level of 121 metres above sea level. Most of this rise is concentrated in a few kilometres - hence the artificial help. The first of the lifts was built here in 1888 by the John Cockerill company, after an English design.

Of the eight hydraulic boat lifts built at the end of the last and the beginning of this century, the only ones which still exist in their original working condition are the four lifts on the Canal du Centre. 

The Belize Barrier-Reef Reserve System is a series of coral reefs straddling the coast of Belize, roughly 300 m (0.2 mile) offshore in the north and 40 km (25 mile) in the south.

It extends for about 300 km (185 miles), making it the second largest coral reef system in the world after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

The designated area consists of 7 locations:

• Bacalar Chico national park and marine reserve
• Blue Hole
• Half Moon Caye Natural Monument
• South Wather Caye Marine Reserve
• Glovers Reef Marine Reserve
• Laughing Bird Caye National Park
• Sapodilla Cayes Marine Reserve

The Royal Palaces of Abomey consist of 12 former palaces within the same enclosure in the center of Abomey.

The site is a testimony to one of the most powerful kingdoms in Africa, Dahomey. It was built by the Fon people between 1625 and 1900.

In 1985 it was inscribed simultaneously on the World Heritage List and on the List of the World Heritage in Danger, after a tornado struck Abomey in 1984 and damaged the royal structures and museum severely.

The W-Arly-Pendjari Complex is recognized for its biodiversity of birds, fish and plants.

The park is located at a transition zone between savannah and woodlands, around a meander in the River Niger shaped like a "W".

Its 1,714,831 ha is largely uninhabited by humans. It includes contiguous parks in Niger, Burkina Faso and Benin.

El Fuerte de Samaipata is a form of gigantic rock art full of religious symbolism, made by prehispanic cultures.

The site consists of a rock shaped with ceremonial carvings. The natural sandstone hill measures 200x600m, and is completely sculpted with felines, snakes, birds and geometrical motifs with a magical and religious character.

Below it lies a former provincial capital of the Inca, including a central plaza, public buildings, houses and agricultural terraces. The site dates mainly from the 14th -16th centuries when the Inca gave it its monumental character, though the location was already used by other (Amazonic) cultures. Only a link with the Mojocoya (ca. 300 AD) has been established so far.

The Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos are a group of six churches that represent the living heritage of the reductions: ideal, theocratic settlements.

The churches have a unique architecture: they are large constructions, mostly made out of wood, with a double-sloping roof and a large porch roof.

The Jesuit Fathers were sent by the Spanish Crown to the Americas to bring Christianity to the indigenous communities. These missions or reductions were theocracies, the word of the Jesuit Fathers was transmitted through the local chief. Only the Chiquito language was authorized.

The Jesuits were inspired by the “ideal cities” of the humanists. They developed an urban model consisting of a rectangular square, with the church, school and workshops on one side and the houses of the indigenous peoples on the three other sides.

The Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, located in the Amazon Basin, is one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world. Ranging in altitude from 200 to 1000m, the park has Cerrado savannah, wetlands and evergreen rainforests.

An estimated 4,000 species of flora as well as over 600 bird species and viable populations of many globally endangered or threatened vertebrate species live in the park. Among these are the giant otter, giant anteater, hyacinth macaw, giant armadillo, pink river dolphin, maned wolf, marsh and pampas deer.

The park was founded on June 28, 1979. Its original name was "Parque Nacional Huanchaca", but was then changed to "Parque Nacional Noel Kempff Mercado" in honor of the late Prof. Noel Kempff Mercado, for his research and discoveries in the Park.

The City of Potosí was founded in 1546 as a silver mining town, which soon produced fabulous wealth, becoming one of the largest cities in the Americas and the world.

It is from Potosí that most of the silver shipped through the Spanish Main came. According to official records, 45,000 tons of pure silver were mined from Cerro Rico from 1556 to 1783. Of this total, 7,000 tons went to the Spanish monarchy.

After 1800 the silver mines became depleted, making tin the main product. This eventually led to a slow economic decline.

The site includes the colonial city center and the industrial heritage more close to the mountain, among which are dams, smelters and ore-grinding mills.

Qhapaq Nan is the Andean road system created by the Inca civilization.

They used it for the purposes of communication, trade and defence. It reached its maximum expansion in the 15th century. The central square of Cusco, known as Hanan Hauk'aypata, is the origin of the four main roads that allowed the Incas to easily travel by foot to every corner of their territory.

This is a serial nomination of over 720km of stretches of road and 291 archaeological sites, stretching across Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

The Historic City of Sucre is a well-preserved example of the blending of European and local Latin American tradions and styles. Its typical Spanish-colonial checkerboard street pattern is still intact.

Sucre was founded in 1538 by the Spanish, and then named La Plata. It was later renamed after Antonio José de Sucre (Bolivar's right-hand man). It became a cultural center and the seat of the Supreme Court that reigned over large parts of South America.

For much of its colonial history, Sucre's temperate climate was prefered by the Spanish royalty and wealthy families involved in silver trade coming from Potosí. As most of the colonial buildings in the city centre are whitewashed, the city also enjoys the nickname of "the white city" or "la ciudad blanca."

“Tiwanaku: Spiritual and Political Centre of the Tiwanaku Culture” comprises the ruins of the capital of an important and distinct pre-Hispanic empire in the Andes.

It reached its apogee between 500 and 900 A.D. The empire covered what now is southern Peru, Bolivia, northern Chile and parts of Argentina.

The city lies in a valley on the alitiplano, 3,885 meter above sea level. Its inhabitants had an unchallenged mastery of agriculture, including the farming of potatoes and quinoa, and the construction of terraced fields.

The ancient city was mostly built of adobe, especially the residential buildings that have now faded away. For the ceremonial and administrative architecture lithic material was used. The capital once had between 70,000 and 125,000 inhabitants.

The remaining monuments include:

• Akapana – the major temple, a stepped pyramid
• Semi underground temple – with monolithic stelae and heads (clavas) built-in the walls
• Kalasasaya – open temple built on a platform, possibly an astronomic observatory; it includes stelae and the Gate of the Sun frieze

The Mehmed Paša Sokolovic Bridge in Višegrad is one of the best remaining examples of Ottoman architecture and civil engineering.

It is almost 180m long and has 11 arches. It spans the Drina River in the Republic of Srpska.

The bridge was built at the end of the 16th century by the Ottoman court architect Sinan. He was one of the greatest architects and engineers of the classical Ottoman period and a contemporary of the Italian Renaissance, with which his work can be compared.

The Grand Vizier Mehmed Paša Sokolovic, who was born in this area, ordered the construction.

The Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar is a place of memory to its multicultural background.

The town developed mainly during the Ottoman period, from the 16th century on. The (Old) Bridge is its major landmark, and the town even was named after the bridge keepers (mostari). The Bridge was built in 1566 upon the design of the great Ottoman architect Kodja Mimar Sinan and constructed by his pupil architect Hayruddin.

Other Ottoman constructions include the Kriva Cuprija (“Crooked”) bridge, the Cejvan Cehaja Mosque, the Koski Mehmed Pasa mosque complex, the Vucjakovic Mosque, the Neziraga Mosque, a Hamam and Tabhana. Also there were many common buildings such as shops, inns, and houses. During the Austro-Hungarian period of the 19th century, a number of administrative and Christian religious buildings were added to Mostar’s cityscape. These were mainly located on the right bank of the river, across from the old Ottoman (Muslim) town.

Between 1992 and 1995 the town and bridge have been badly damaged during the Bosnian war. Its excellent reconstruction based on in-depth research has been compared to that of Warsaw. The completely rebuilt bridge opened on July 23, 2004.

The Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe cover forests of the European beech in 18 countries.

They comprise the largest remaining 'virgin' forests of the European beech ('Fagus sylvatica'). They also hold the largest and tallest beech specimens in the world.

The European beech is a very adaptable species and it is spread across areas of different altitudinal zones, with different climatic and geological conditions. 

The 'Stećci Medieval Tombstones Graveyards' are 28 medieval cemeteries in south-eastern Europe.

The decoration and inscriptions on the mostly limestone monolithic tombstones represent a specific tradition of the area. They include Christian religious symbols, dancing and hunting scenes, geometric shapes and Cyrillic inscriptions.

The inscribed tombstones have been selected from the surviving 70,000 or so still standing in the region and date from the 12th to the 16th centuries. The singular ‘Stećak’ (plural: Stećci) means ‘tall, standing thing'.

The Okavango Delta is a vast area of swamps and flooded grasslands that seasonally attracts large numbers of wildlife.

It is an inland delta without an outlet to the sea. It is formed where the Okavango River reaches a tectonic trough in the central part of the endorheic basin of the Kalahari.

The annual flood peaks between June and August, during Botswana's dry winter months. Then the delta swells to three times its permanent size, attracting animals from kilometres around and creating one of Africa's greatest concentrations of wildlife. The area is home to some 130 mammal species, such as white and black rhinoceros, elephant, cheetah, lion, leopard and lechwe antelope. The size of the populations is especially noteworthy. It is also an Important Bird Area.

Tsodilo comprises a group of rocky hills that hold over 4,500 rock paintings.

1. The rock art is considered to date back from over 2,000 years ago til the 19th century.
2. The Tsodilo hills have held a unique religious and spiritual significance to the San peoples of the Kalahari desert.
3. The hills also display traces of human settlement over many millennia.
4. The core zone covers 4 inselbergs in an area of 4 x 12km.
    

The Atlantic Forest South-East Reserves comprise 25 protected areas of Atlantic forest in the southeast region of Brazil.

Atlantic forest is the richest rainforest in terms of biodiversity. It has high endemism and a large number of tree species.

Rare and threatened animals include the woolly spider monkey, Southern muriqui, Southern Brown Howling monkey, four species of tamarin, the ocelot, Jacutinga, Harpy eagle and the Brazilian red-tailed parrot.

Brasilia is one of the major examples of the 20th century´s modern movement in architecture and urban planning.

The city officially became Brazil´s capital on April, 1960. Four years before, it didn´t even exist. At that time, President Juscelino Kubitschek commisioned Lucio Costa (urban planner), Oscar Niemeyer (architect) and Burle Marx (landscape architect) to build a new city from scratch.

Lucio Costa drew the Plano Piloto, in which Brasilia is shaped like an airplane (or a bird). There´s a wide north-south axis for transportation. Around this are the residential zones, divided into blocks, each with its own churches, shops, schools etc. At the tip of the east-west axis there are formidable government buildings, like the Congress and the Itamaraty Palace.

The city was planned for 500.000 to 700.000 people. More would have to live in sattelite cities, which are abundant now because of Brasilia´s 2 million population.

Brazilian Atlantic Islands: Fernando de Noronha and Atol das Rocas Reserves comprise two groups of islands with rich marine biological diversity, 340km off Brazil's coast.

The peaks of Fernando de Noronha, of volcanic origin, are also the only known occurrence of insular Atlantic Forest - a subtype of Atlantic Rainforest.

The Atol das Rocas is the only atoll in the South Atlantic: an elliptical reef including two small islands surrounded by a marine reserve.

The marine areas of this WHS, which are considerably larger than the terrestrial core zone, hold large volumes of tuna, sharks, dolphins, turtles and tropical seabirds.

The Central Amazon Conservation Complex comprises four nature reserves in northwestern Brazil, which together represent the most important ecosystems of the Amazon. 

These include várzea forest, which is seasonally flooded by silty river water, and blackwater rivers. Consisting of some 400 islands, Anavilhanas is the second-largest river archipelago in the world. The area is also known for its fish, many plant species, and endemic birds.

The site includes the following parks:

• Jaú National Park
• Amana Sustainable Development Reserve
• Demonstration area of the Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve
• Anavilhanas Ecological Station

The Cerrado Protected Areas: Chapada dos Veadeiros and Emas National Parks represent the Cerrado Ecoregion, one of Earth's oldest tropical ecosystems.

Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park is located in the Chapada dos Veadeiros, an ancient plateau with an estimated age of 1.8 billion years. Many endangered species are found within the park's boundaries, such as the maned wolf, capybaras, rheas and others.

Emas National Park shows a typical cerrado ecosystem; a treeless savannah with tall termite houses and an interesting amount of wildlife: the giant anteater, the maned wolf, armadillos and the namesake greater rhea, among others.

The Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Congonhas is an ensemble of Catholic religous art, executed in rococo and baroque style.

The story behind this WHS is the story of two remarkable men: the Portuguese immigrant Feliciano Mendes and the sculptor Aleijadinho. Mendes as the fundraiser and Aleijadinho as the artist constructed a group of monuments in the city of Congonhas (Minas Gerais) that has been called the best of Brazilian art.

This group consists of:

• Bom Jesus Church (1772)
• the parvis with the 12 statues of the prophets (1800-1805)
• the 6 chapels containing the 7 stations of the cross (1796-1800)

After having been miracleously cured of an illness, Mendes used his own money and a succesful fundraising campaign to construct this sanctuary. He hired the best artists and craftsmen in Minas to work on the church and its decoration.

The master was Aleijadinho (Little Crippled One), the son of a Portuguese architect and a black slave. Although without being able to use his hands and legs due to (probably) lepra, he was responsible for the graceful statues and carvings that can be seen at the site.

The Historic Centre of the Town of Diamantina comprises a city landscape adapted from European models to an American context.

The city's history began in 1713 when an expedition found diamonds on the mountain slopes and along the rivers in this region. A first settlement was started, Arraial do Tijuco. In 1731 the Portuguese Crown became aware of its wealth and set up a separate body to administer the region. Mining rights were granted to private enterprises at first, but soon the Crown took back ownership.

Mining blossomed in Diamantina in the 18th and early 19th century. After that, richer and better quality deposits in South Africa were found.

Because of this, the historical center of Diamantina has been preserved very well. Some distinct features set it aside from other Portuguese colonial towns (and they can still be seen today): its pavement (large grey stones called capistranas) and the use of wood and adobe on the walls of its houses.

The Discovery Coast Atlantic Forest Reserves are 8 nature reserves that protect Brazil’s Northeastern remnants of the Atlantic rainforest, probably the most endangered forest in the world.

They contain about 20% of the world's flora, including 627 species of endangered plants. There are no longer any corridors between the areas, which has led to an "archipelago of forests" and exceptionally high endemism.

The Historic Centre of the Town of Goías covers an isolated town in Central Brazil that has preserved much of its colonial heritage. The settlement of Goías is closely linked to the discovery of gold.

Goías was founded by the famed Bandeirante explorer Bartolomeu Bueno da Silva, nicknamed Anhangüera, and was called in colonial times Vila Boa ("good village" in Portuguese). It dates from 1727, its name being a tribute to the Goyaz Indians, the inhabitants of the area before the arrival of the Europeans. Its houses, chapels and churches are testimony to the height of the gold rush era.

Iguacu National Park, with the Falls as its main feature, was added to the World Heritage List for two reasons: its exceptional natural beauty and because it's the habitat of rare and endangered species.

The Brazilian side of the park measures 170.086 ha. The adjacent Argentinian side is another World Heritage Site.

The waterfalls on both sides together span over 2700 m., and have a height of 80 m.

Iguacu is an indigenous (Tupi-Guarani) name, meaning Great Waters.

The Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis are the archeological remains of towns created by the Jesuit Order.

The towns existed between 1609 and 1818, and aimed to socially, culturally and religiously elevate the local Guarani Indians. They also provided protection and economic stability. Originally there were 30 missions, spread out over Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. The two Jesuit missions in Paraguay are now a separate WHS.

This designated site consists of five different missions:

• São Miguel das Missões (Brazil)
• San Ignacio Mini (Argentina)
• Nuestra Señora de Santa Ana (Argentina)
• Nuestra Señora de Loreto (Argentina)
• Santa María la Mayor (Argentina)

The Historic Centre of the Town of Olinda has maintained its urban fabric from the Portuguese colonial period. Among these remains are 20 Baroque churches.

The settlement of Olinda was founded in 1535 by the Portuguese. It was subsequently burned by Dutch invaders and then rebuilt in the 18th century. Its existence is strongly linked to the sugar-cane industry in this region. The townscape is dominated by rich religious and public buildings and includes lots of greenery.

Historic Town of Ouro Preto is a unique representation of baroque architecture in a homogenous cityscape.

The city's wealth has its origins in the late 17th century, in 1693 gold was discovered here. The exploration for gold was a monopoly of the Portuguese crown. They taxed 20% on the findings. A heavy system for collecting the tributes and taxes was in place. 

Small settlements of miners in search of El Dorado were joined in 1711 to create the city of Villa Rica (later renamed Ouro Preto, 'Black Gold'). The settlers were divided into two parishes and ethnic groups. Each group constructed its own church, bringing in baroque artisans.

At the height of its Golden Age, Ouro Preto had some 110.000 inhabitants (mainly slaves). The city was left to itself in 1897 when the state capital moved to Belo Horizonte.

Pampulha Modern Ensemble is a fine example of Brazilian modern architecture, built as a Garden City around an artificial lake.

This neighbourhood of Belo Horizonte was designed from 1940 on by architect Oscar Niemeyer and landscape designer Roberto Burle Marx.

The ensemble included a casino, a restaurant/dance hall, a yacht club, a golf club and a church. The buildings are among Niemeyer’s earliest works, and show his talent to adapt 20th century modernism to Brazilian surroundings.

The Pantanal Conservation Area is a freshwater wetland ecosystem that contains a huge fish variety and several globally threatened animal species.

The designated area is only a small part of the region in Western Brazil called Pantanal. It consists of Pantanal Matogrossense National Park, Dorochê Private Reserve, Acurizal Private Reserve, and Penha Private Reserve. These areas can be considered representative of the Greater Pantanal.

Wildlife here includes the jaguar, alligator, marsh deer, giant anteater, capybara, and giant otter. Between 10 and 35 million alligators are believed to live in the Pantanal as a whole. It also has 650 species of birds, including the Jabiru stork, herons, ibis, ducks, and parrots.

Pantano means swamp, but the area is in fact an alluvial plain. During the rainy season (October to March), the rivers flood their banks, inundating much of the low-lying Pantanal and creating patches of dry land where the animals cluster together.

Paraty Culture and Biodiversity comprises 5 components along the Brazilian coast: 4 parks/nature reserves and the historical centre of the town of Paraty.

The mountainous, forested area was the scene of early encounter between Europeans and natives. Most of the landscape is covered in Atlantic forest with great biological diversity.

Rio de Janeiro, Carioca Landscapes between the Mountain and the Sea, is a dramatic example how the landscape has been used and shaped. This city of great beauty reaches from the mountains to the sea.

Rio’s natural landscape started to be altered in the 17th and 18th centuries to allow sugar and coffee growing. Its parks and gardens later became protected, and as such attributed to the outdoor living culture of the city.

The designated area consists of the following parts:

• Tijuca National Park, including Corcovado peak and its Christ the Redeemer statue
• Botanic Garden
• Flamengo Park
• The mouth of the Guanabara Bay, including the Sugar Loaf
• Copacabana Beach Front

São Francisco Square in the town of São Cristovão is an open space surrounded by a monumental architectural ensemble. The quadrilateral square measures 51x73 metres.

The most prominent monuments around the square are:

• São Francisco Church and convent (begun in 1693)
• Church and Santa Casa de Misericordia (18th century)
• Provincial Palace

The structures are Spanish-colonial in appearance, as they derived from the Ordinances of King Philip II, at a time when Portugal and Spain were under the same crown. São Cristovão is a river port and a former provincial capital.

The Historic Centre of Salvador de Bahia, frequently called the Pelourinho, is extremely rich in historical monuments dating from the 17th through the 19th centuries.

Bahia was the first colonial capital of Brazil and the city is one of the oldest in the New World (founded in 1549 by Portuguese settlers). It was also the first slave market on the continent, with slaves arriving to work on the sugar plantations.

Major buildings inside the designated area are:

• Cathedral
• Convents of St. Francis, St. Dominic, Carmel and St. Anthony
• 16th century Palaces
• Baroque Palaces

The Historic Centre of São Luis has the largest and best preserved heritages of colonial Portuguese architecture of all Latin America.

The first Europeans to see it were the French, in 1612, who intended to make it a French colony. They made a fort named São Luis ("Saint Louis"), after Saint Louis IX of France as a compliment to King Louis XIII. It was conquered for Portugal by Jerónimo de Albuquerque in 1615, leaving little time for the French to build a city.

The core zone includes public buildings, sumptuous manor houses, marble multi-storey houses and small houses decorated with azulejos.

Serra da Capivara National Park holds many rock shelters in which the oldest rock art of South America has been found.

This art reveals aspects of the religious belief and practices of the earliest inhabitants of this region.

The earliest traces of rock painting here dates from between 26,000 and 22,000 BC. Most of the painted works date from 10,000 to 4,000 BC, and were made by Nordeste and Agreste cultures. The sites weren't rediscovered until the 1960's.

The park lies in the north east of Brazil.

The Sítio Roberto Burle Marx is a residence plus gardens on a large plantation estate in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.

The most important works of the artist Robert Burle Marx are stored here. He was aligned with the Brazilian Modern Movement and mostly known for his design of modern tropical gardens. He lived at this site from 1949 on and did his botany and garden landscaping experiments here.

Valongo Wharf Archaeological Site comprises the globally most significant remains of an arrival point of enslaved African persons in the Americas.

The wharf located at Rio de Janeiro’s Jornal do Comércio Square was built from 1811 onwards, and used until the construction of the Empress’ Wharf in 1843. About a quarter of all African American enslaved people to the Americas have arrived here. While its physical remains are modest (fragments of a pavement, a former road), its spiritual associations as a site of conscience for African Americans are strong.

Boyana Church is renowned for its frescoes from 1259.

They form a second layer over the paintings from the earlier centuries. In all, there are 240 depictions on the walls. Its painter is still anonymous but stands for the team that decorated the church and that was trained in the studios of the Turnove Art School.

A total of 18 scenes in the narthex depict the Life of St. Nicholas. The painter here drew certain aspects of contemporary lifestyle. In The Miracle at Sea the ship and the sailor's hats recall the Venetian fleet. Also most interesting are the full-size paintings of the donors, Kaloyan and Dessilsava, and of the Bulgarian King Konstantin Assen Tih and Queen Irina. 

The architecture of Boyana Church dates from the late 10th and early 11th centuries. It's the eastern part of the current building, which also sees additions from the mid-13th century and mid-19th century.

The Madara Rider is a large rock relief that is a highlight of pagan Bulgarian art.

The relief depicts a majestic horseman 23 m above ground level in an almost vertical 100-metre-high cliff. The horseman is thrusting a spear into a lion lying at his horse's feet. A dog runs after the horseman.

The monument, dated back to 710, is usually attributed to the ancient Bulgars, a nomadic tribe of warriors which settled in northeastern Bulgaria at the end of the 7th century and after merging with the local Slavs gave origin to the modern Bulgarians.

The Ancient City of Nessebar at a peninsula in the Black Sea holds over 3,000 years of history, with Thracian origins and later becoming an important Greek colony and Byzantine settlement.

The Greek colonists left an acropolis, a temple of Apollo and an agora. The most important monument from the Byzantine period is the Stara Mitropolia Basilica.

Pirin National Park covers a mountaine range composed of limestone rocks with a granite nucleus, which is noted for its variety in flora and high scenic beauty.

It encompasses the larger part of the Pirin Mountains in the southwest of Bulgaria.

The huge relief diversity of the park is the reason for the variety of plant species on its territory. About 1300 species of higher plant species can be observed within the park, which constitute more than 30% of all higher plants on the territory of Bulgaria. Besides this, about 300 moss species and a large amount of algae have been determined. The park is a home to 18 local endemic species, 15 Bulgarian and many Balkan endemic and a large quantity of preserved species, such as the Edelweiss, a symbol of Pirin.

Three plant belts are differentiated within the Pirin National Park, a forest one, a subalpine one and an alpine one, which is due to the relatively high location of the entire park.

The Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe cover forests of the European beech in 18 countries.

They comprise the largest remaining 'virgin' forests of the European beech ('Fagus sylvatica'). They also hold the largest and tallest beech specimens in the world.

The European beech is a very adaptable species and it is spread across areas of different altitudinal zones, with different climatic and geological conditions. 

The Rila Monastery is the largest and most famous Eastern Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria.

Rila's monastic buildings originally date from the late 10th century and were set up by the monastic community around the medieval hermit Ivan. He chose seclusion because of the moral decline during the reign of the Bulgarian Tsar Peter. He retreated to the almost inaccessible Rila Mountains.

In the 14th century, the buildings were turned into a fortress by Hrelyo Dragovol, a feudal lord. Part of the walls and the tower today still remind of that period. On January 13th 1833, a fire broke out and destroyed almost all (wooden) residential quarters. This national calamity was put right by thousands of Bulgarian craftsmen, that restored the buildings in a couple of years.

The Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo comprise a group of monolithic religious buildings, hewn out of solid rock, that are noted for their beautiful and well-preserved medieval frescoes.

The caves in the region had been inhabited by monks from the 1320s to the 17th century, where they hewed cells, churches and chapels out of solid rock. At the peak of the monastery complex, the number of churches was about 40, while the other premises were around 300, most of which are not preserved today.

Its 13th- and 14th-century frescoes, preserved in 5 of the churches, are considered wonderful examples of Bulgarian medieval art. Many century-old inscriptions have also been preserved in the monastical premises.

Srebarna Nature Reserve comprises Lake Srebarna and its surroundings and is located on the bird migration route between Europe and Africa.

Srebarna, on the west bank of the Danube River, is a wetland habitat for about 180 bird species, both breeding and migrating. Among the most interesting bird species are the Dalmatian pelican, great egret, night heron, purple heron, glossy ibis and white spoonbill.

The Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak is a vaulted brickwork "beehive" (tholos) tomb, close to the ancient Thracian capital of Seuthopolis.

The tomb is part of a large Thracian necropolis. It comprises a narrow corridor and a round burial chamber, both decorated with murals representing a Thracian couple at a ritual funeral feast. The monument dates back to the 4th century BC.

The murals are memorable for the splendid horses and especially for the gesture of farewell, in which the seated couple grasp each other's wrists in a moment of tenderness and equality. The paintings are Bulgaria's best-preserved artistic masterpieces from the Hellenistic period.

The Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari is a 3rd century BC tomb that reflects the fundamental structural principles of Thracian cult buildings.

The tomb's architectural decor is considered to be unique, with polychrome half-human, half-plant caryatids and painted murals. It was rediscovered in 1982.

It differs from the Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak as it is a hypogeum, not a construction with a cupola. With its origins in the culture of the Getae, it fits a Hellenistic model that was common in Macedonia, Asia Minor and Egypt.

The Ancient Iron Metallurgy Sites represent an early phase of iron production in Africa.

The 5 locations, spread out over Burkina Faso’s territory, comprise iron ore smelting furnaces, slag heaps and other traces of mining. The development of this technology has lead to blacksmith traditions that are still alive today.

The Ruins of Loropéni are the stone remains of a 1,000 years old fortified settlement that came to play an important role in the trans-Saharan gold trade.

Gold was mined here in the 15th/16th centuries, and probably as early as the 11th century.

The site, mainly consisting of ruined walls, has been out of use since the 19th century and is overgrown with trees.

The W-Arly-Pendjari Complex is recognized for its biodiversity of birds, fish and plants.

The park is located at a transition zone between savannah and woodlands, around a meander in the River Niger shaped like a "W".

Its 1,714,831 ha is largely uninhabited by humans. It includes contiguous parks in Niger, Burkina Faso and Benin.

Cidade Velha, Historic Centre of Ribeira Grande, was an important Portuguese colonial settlement and the first European town to be built south of the Sahara.

After the (then uninhabited) island was discovered, the city was named Ribeira Grande (Portuguese for large river) in 1462. In 1466, the settlement became an important port for trading slaves from Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone to Brazil and the Caribbean. Transcontinental slavery made Cidade Velha the second richest city in the Portuguese realm.

Cidade Velha's port was a stopping place for two great navigators: Vasco of Gama, in 1497, on his way to India, and Christopher Columbus, in 1498, while on his third voyage to the Americas. Cidade Velha also has the oldest colonial church in the world, constructed in 1495.

Angkor was the capital of the Khmer Empire that evolved from the 9th century north of the lake Tonle Sap.

The Empire encompassed much of south-east Asia, and it has had a lot of political and cultural influence on the whole region until its downfall in the 14th century. Because of this influence of the Khmer Empire and because a number of artistic masterpieces are still left, the site was placed on the World Heritage List.

The first Khmer capital erected here was Roluos. Over the next centuries, the various Khmer rulers built other capital cities for themselves in this area. It was Suryavarman II who built Angkor Wat in the early 12th century, the greatest of all Khmer monuments. Jayavarman VII was responsible for building Angkor Thom, including the Bayon (dedicated to Buddha).

The Preah Vihear Temple is a Khmer Hindu temple situated atop a 525-meter cliff in the Dângrêk Mountains.

The temple complex runs 800m along a north-south axis. It was built mainly during the 11th and 12th centuries during the reigns of the kings Suryavarman I (and Suryavarman II.

Ownership of the temple by Cambodia has been under dispute from neighbouring Thailand. In 1962 the International Court of Justice in the Hague ruled that it belonged to Cambodia.

The Temple Zone of Sambor Prei Kuk is an archaeological site of the Pre-Angkorean period.

The site correspondents with Ishanapura, the capital city of the Chenla Empire that flourished in the late 6th and early 7th centuries CE.

Located on the Eastern bank of the Tonle Sap lake, the central part of Sambor Prei Kuk is divided into three main groups. Each group has a square layout surrounded by a brick wall. The structures of the overall archaeological area were constructed at variable times. A particular feature is its octagonal-shaped temples, the oldest of their kind in South-East Asia.

The Dja Faunal Reserve covers one of the largest and best protected rainforests in Africa.

It is a wilderness barely disturbed by man, with rich and often rare fauna. This includes over 107 mammals and more than 320 bird species. It is a habitat for the vulnerable western lowland gorilla and endangered western chimpanzee.

The reserve is almost completely surrounded by the Dja River, a contributary to the Congo River. The landscape within the enclosed area consists of a fairly flat plateau.

Dja Faunal Reserve is also recognized as an Important Bird Area (IBA). The globally threatened Grey-necked Picathartes and the endemic Rachel's Malimbe and Forest Swallow are among the most notable birds found here.

Sangha Trinational is a transboundary conservation zone of mostly forest landscape. It is centered along the Sangha river, a tributary to the Congo River.

The site is home to rare and endangered fauna species, including large ape populations such as the critically endangered Western Lowland Gorilla.

It is made up of three contiguous national parks:

• Lobéké National Park in Cameroon
• Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in Congo
• Dzanga-Ndoki National Park in the Central African Republic.

The Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks form a striking mountain landscape, that includes a full range of glaciation features and harbours the renowned Burgess Shale fossil site.

The parks are aligned along the Continental Divide, separating the drainage basins of the Arctic, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Wildlife includes 56 species of mammals, 280 species of birds and 8 species of amphibians and reptiles.

The designated area consists of four national parks: Banff, Jasper, Kootenay and Yoho. And three provincial parks are included: Mount Robson, Mount Assiniboine and Hamber. The parks are all contiguous. Banff National Park was already established in 1885, then only covering a small area around the hot springs (now known as "Cave & Basin National Historic Site"). Its highest peak is Mount Robson at 3,954 m.

Dinosaur Provincial Park is renowned for its beautiful “badlands” and high number and quality of dinosaur fossils.

75 million years ago, rivers that flowed here deposited sand and mud. The conditions of the resulting landscape were excellent for the preservation of dinosaurs' bones as fossils.

The first dinosaur skeletons were recovered here in the 1880s. Over 40 dinosaur species have been found and more than 150 complete dinosaur skeletons, making it one of the richest dinosaur fossil locales in the world. The specimens represent every known group of Cretaceous dinosaurs.

The park is situated in the valley of the Red Deer River in Alberta, Canada. It covers three distinct habitats: riverine, badlands and prairie.

The Kluane/Wrangell-St. Elias/Glacier Bay/Tatshenshini-Alsek National Parks (‘a new, less cumbersome name’ is requested for) in the Yukon and Alaska has spectacular mountainous setting, ongoing geological processes in the over 100 glaciers and is a diverse and abundant habitat for wildlife.

These parks offer combined marine, coastal, wild river and high mountain scenery with minimal extent of human modification. It has the largest protected population of grizzly bears in the world and the single largest group of Dall sheep.

The Landscape of Grand Pré is a polder created for farmland by the Acadian community.

The reclamation of the land in this tidal flooded zone was carried out in stages in the 17th and 18th centuries. The polderisation used dykes as well as a community-based management system still in use today. The landscape includes the towns of Grand Pré and Hortonville, which were built by the Acadians and the British Planters respectively.

Grand Pré became the place of memory for the Acadian diaspora. These descendants of the 17th-century French colonists were deported from here in 1755 by the British colonial officers. A number of symbolic memorial buildings and monuments to commemorate this has been added to the landscape in the 20th century.

Gros Morne National Park is known for its role in evolutionary history and its scenic beauty.

It is one of the rare places on Earth where the phenomenon of continent movement becomes visible, exposing deep ocean crust and the rocks of the Earth's mantle. 

The park is located on the west coast of Newfoundland, and is named after Newfoundland's second-highest mountain peak (at 2,644 ft/806 m) located within the park. The landscape holds many rock formations, fjords and waterfalls.

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump bears witness to a communal hunting technique practiced by native people of the North American plains for nearly 6000 years.

They killed buffalo by driving them off the 11 metre high sandstone cliff, close to a natural grazing area of the buffalo. The sheer weight of the herd pressing from behind would force the buffalo over the cliff. This custom continued into the late 19th century and still forms part of the 'traditional knowledge base' of the Plains nations.

After falling off the cliff, the buffalo carcasses were processed at a nearby camp. The camp at the foot of the cliffs provided the people with everything they needed to process a buffalo carcass, including fresh water. The majority of the buffalo carcass was used for a variety of purposes, from tools made from the bone, to the hide used to make dwellings and clothing. Deep layers of bison bones are still buried below the cliff. Also, remains of marked trails and an aboriginal camp can still be found.

The Joggins Fossil Cliffs hold the most complete fossil record from the "Coal Age" of earth history, approximately 310 million years ago.

At the 14.7km stretch of cliffs, the fossilized remains of a coastal forest are exposed, including trees (over 7m high) and terrestrial fauna such as the earliest known reptile. The fossils have remained in situ, in their complete ecosystem.

The fame of Joggins dates to the mid-nineteenth century, and the visits by Sir Charles Lyell, the founder of modern geology and author of Principles of Geology. The fossil record at Joggins also figures in Darwin's "On the Origin of Species", and played a role in the Great Oxford Debate of 1860 between Bishop Wilberforce and Thomas Huxley.

L’Anse aux Meadows is the only known site of Viking settlement and the earliest European settlement in North America outside of Greenland.

It was a year-round base camp for exploration and exploitation of resources desirable in Greenland. The settlement – with space for 70 to 90 people - was established in the early 11th century and abandoned about a decade later. The site contains the remains of eight buildings, including an iron-smelting hut, in a similar style to those in Norse Greenland and Iceland. It is located on the northernmost tip of the island of Newfoundland, in an area previously and afterward inhabited by native peoples. The remains of this Viking village were discovered in 1960 and subsequently excavated.

Miguasha National Park is considered to be the world's greatest palaeontological record of fossils from the Devonian Period, known as the 'Age of Fishes'.

Five of the six main fossil fish groups from this period (dating from 370 million years) can be found here. A great quantity of some of the best-preserved fossil specimens of lobe-finned fish, ancestors to the tetrapods (believed to be the first four-legged air-breathing terrestrial vertebrates), were found here.

These coastal cliffs are made up of grey sedimentary rock (composed of alternating layers of sandstone and shale) which are 350-375 million years old. Some of the fish, fauna, and spore fossils found at Miguasha are rare and ancient species. 

Mistaken Point is a 17-kilometre-long coastal strip renowned for its fossil deposits on exposed rock surfaces.

The more than 10,000 fossil impressions date from the middle Ediacaran, 580 to 560 million years ago. They show the transition of life on earth from microbe-dominated to the ancestors of animals as we know them.

The site was first discovered in 1967, and lies in Canada’s Newfoundland and Labrador Province.

Nahanni National Park Reserve is an undisturbed river, canyon and cave landscape.

It is the breeding habitat of four endangered species: peregrine falcons, golden eagles, bald eagles and trumpeter swans. The park is located in the Northwest Territories of Canada and sees only about 5000 visitors a year.

The centrepiece of the park is the South Nahanni River. Four great canyons, called First, Second, Third and Fourth Canyon, line this spectacular whitewater river.

The name Nahanni comes from the indigenous Dene language and can be translated as 'spirit.'

Old Town Lunenburg, founded in 1753, is the best remaining example of planned British colonial settlement in North America.

It was developed as a model town, with a rigid grid and wooden houses. The town grew into an important seaport and shipbuilding centre.

Lunenburg was named in honour of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, (George August of Hanover) who was also the ruler of Brunswick-Lunenburg. During the French and Indian War, several small forts which ringed the town were garrisoned by British regulars as well as by provincial troops from Massachusetts. These forts were erected to protect the town from raids by French warships and from attacks by the local Indians.

Pimachiowin Aki is a very large ecosystem and cultural landscape, which is the most complete and largest example of the North American boreal shield.

It encompasses part of the lands of four First Nations, and three provincial parks: Woodland Caribou and Atikaki Provincial Parks along with Eagle-Snowshoe Conservation Reserve. The Anishinaabe First Nations continue to use and live in this forested area.

Pimachiowin Aki means Land that gives life in Ojibwe, an indigenous language of Canada.

The Historic District of Old Québec is the most complete fortified colonial town left in North America

Québec is one of the oldest colonial settlements in Canada (it was founded in 1608) and the first to have been founded with the explicit goal of creating a permanent settlement and not as a commercial outpost. It served as the capital of New France and became a British colony in 1759.

The Historic District covers the Upper Town (with its administrative and religious buildings) and Lower Town (the district of commerce and the navy).

Red Bay Basque Whaling Station comprises the archaeological remains of the largest pre-industrial whaling site in north-eastern Canada.

The station was founded in the 1530s by Basque sailors, who made an annual transatlantic voyage to the site for summer whale hunting. They processed the whales in situ and took the oil home to Europe.

The remains are mostly underwater or covered up. They include traces of buildings (including ovens for melting the whale blubber), whale bone deposits and shipwrecks.

The Rideau Canal is the oldest continuously operated canal system in North America.

The 19th century canal runs for 202 km from Ottawa, Canada's capital, to Kingston on Lake Ontario. The canal's initial purpose was military, later it opened up the area for settlement and commerce. The canal was completed in 1832.

The 202 kilometres (125 miles) of the Rideau Canal incorporate sections of the Rideau and Cataraqui rivers, as well as several lakes, including the Lower, Upper and Big Rideau lakes. About 19 kilometres (12 miles) of the route is man-made.

SGang Gwaay are the remains of a Haida village on the eastern side of Anthony Island, which represent an outstanding example of a traditional Northwest Coast First Nations village site, complete with standing totem poles and the remains of cedar longhouses.

It was the southernmost of traditional Haida villages, being just west of and facing Kunghit Island, the southernmost island in the archipelago. Today it features the largest collection of Haida totem poles in their original locations, many celebrated as great works of art, though they are being allowed to succumb to the natural decay of the lush coastal rainforest climate. The site is extremely remote, and access is only by sea or air from towns in the northern part of the islands.

SGang Gwaay was the location of several episodes in the early history of white contact with the isles.

Waterton Glacier International Peace Park is known for its superlative mountain scenery of glacial origin.

Located on the border between Canada and the USA, Waterton Lakes and Glacier national parks form the world's first International Peace Park since 1932.

Among its recorded plusses are a unique geological feature in the form of the Lewis overthrust. There are also superb examples of Precambrian rock formations, six species stromatolites (fossil algae) and 98% of the world's remaining stock of genetically pure Westslope Cutthroat Trout.

Wood Buffalo National Park is the largest national park in Canada, established in 1922 to protect the world's largest herd of free roaming Wood Bison.

Their population is currently estimated at more than 5,000. It is also the only known nesting site of whooping cranes.

It was designated a World Heritage Site for the biological diversity of the Peace-Athabasca Delta, the world's largest inland delta, as well as the massive population of wild bison.

Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai’pi is a living sacred landscape for Blackfoot people.

The area holds thousands of examples of indigenous rock art, carved into the sandstone. For the Blackfoot society of the past and the present there is also a spiritual connection to its impressive landforms such as hoodoos and canyons. The inscription comprises the sites of Áísínai’pi, Haffner Coulee and Poverty Rock.

The Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park was designated a WHS because of its superlative natural formations and because it's the habitat of threatened animal species.

The park is large enough to include the entire basins of three rivers, and includes grassy floodplains, a variety of wooded savanna types, and woodlands, as well as the wetlands associated with the rivers, and the rugged sandstone Massif des Bongo.

At least eight threatened species occur within the park: black rhinoceros, elephant, red-fronted gazelle, leopard, cheetah, hunting dog, hoebill and crocodile. Also there are large bird populations.

Sangha Trinational is a transboundary conservation zone of mostly forest landscape. It is centered along the Sangha river, a tributary to the Congo River.

The site is home to rare and endangered fauna species, including large ape populations such as the critically endangered Western Lowland Gorilla.

It is made up of three contiguous national parks:

• Lobéké National Park in Cameroon
• Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in Congo
• Dzanga-Ndoki National Park in the Central African Republic.

The "Ennedi Massif: Natural and Cultural Landscape" is an eroded mountain massif in the Sahara desert, containing numerous rock paintings and archaeological sites.

The sandstone plateau was sculpted by water and wind erosion, leading to scenically impressive features such as formidable rock arches.

Though lying deep in the desert, the area sees regular rain. This results in a varied flora and fauna, and notably in the surviving Nile crocodiles in the permanent pocket of water called Guelta Archei. It became a refuge also for humans, who left rock art there. Nomadic pastoralists are still visiting.

The Lakes of Ounianga are 18 connected lakes within the Sahara desert. They are unique as they mantain permanent freshwater in an arid region, being fed by a system of fossil ground water.

The lakes are divided into two groups, 40km apart. They are the remaining part of a much larger lake that existed in this basin 5,000 - 15,000 years ago. The land area in between them is also part of the designated site.

The Settlement and Artificial Mummification of the Chinchorro Culture comprises three locations along the arid Pacific coast of Chile.

The Chinchorro who lived here between 6000 and 2000 BC mainly relied on fishing. They are known for their detailed mummification technique; some 282 mummies have been recovered, spanning not only the elite but all members of society.

The Churches of Chiloé were placed on the list because of their unique form of wooden architecture and the mestizo culture they represent.

The arrival of the Jesuits (1608) to this archipelago gave it its special mark. Groups of missionaries would travel around the islands, staying for a few days here and there. In each zone they would build chapels, looked after by laymen.

Currently, in Chiloé there are sixty churches that belong to the typology called Chilota School of Religious Architecture on Wood.

Humberstone and Santa Laura works represent over 200 former saltpeter works where workers from Chile, Peru and Bolivia lived in company towns and forged a distinctive communal pampinos culture.

That culture is manifest in their rich language, creativity, and solidarity, and, above all, in their pioneering struggle for social justice, which had a profound impact on social history.

Situated in the remote desert Pampa, one of the driest deserts on earth, thousands of pampinos lived and worked in this hostile environment, for over 60 years, from 1880, to process the largest deposit of saltpeter in the world, producing the fertilizer sodium nitrate that was to transform agricultural lands in North and South America, and in Europe, and produce great wealth for Chile.

Qhapaq Nan is the Andean road system created by the Inca civilization.

They used it for the purposes of communication, trade and defence. It reached its maximum expansion in the 15th century. The central square of Cusco, known as Hanan Hauk'aypata, is the origin of the four main roads that allowed the Incas to easily travel by foot to every corner of their territory.

This is a serial nomination of over 720km of stretches of road and 291 archaeological sites, stretching across Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

Rapa Nui National Park and its stone sculptures are testimony to an isolated cultural evolution.

Rapa Nui is the indigenous name of Easter Island. It's a volcanic island, with still two large craters: Rano Kau and Rano Raraku.

The most characteristic cultural feature of Rapa Nui are the huge moai, found all over the island. These figures were created to represent the important ancestors of each clan. As time went by, their forms became more stylized and they increased in size.

Sewell Mining Town is an example of an early 20th century mining town set up by a foreign company for copper mining.

It is located in a harsh environment in central Chile on the slopes of the Andes, at an altitude between 2,000 and 2,250 metres.

The camp was founded in 1904 by the Braden Copper Company to extract the copper in the mine, and, in 1915, it was named after the company's first president, Mr. Barton Sewell. In 1918, it already housed 14,000 people.

Following many years of active life and achieving the construction and exploitation of the largest underground mine in the world, in 1977 the company started moving families to the valley and soon after the camp was being dismantled. The remains of the mining town consist of industrial, residential and social buildings.

The Historic Quarter of the Seaport City of Valparaiso testifies to Valparaiso's leading position as a merchant port in the late 19th century.

Valparaiso actually exists of two completely different cities. The lower part has narrow streets along the bay, while the upper part boasts great colourful mansions and houses. The nominated property is located between the sea and the first terrace, in the area where the city first developed.

Included areas are:

• La Matríz Church and Santo Domingo Square
• Echaurren Square and Serrano Street
• Prat Pier, Sotomayor and Justicia Squares, Sea Museum Quarter
• Prat Street and Turri Square
• Cerro Alegre and Cerro Concepción

Chengjiang Fossil Site holds marine fossils of a high diversity. They date from the early Cambrian period, 530 million years ago.

In its kind of species, it is complementary to the Burgess Shale and is 10 million years older than that Canadian fossil site. Most of the fossils are that of soft-bodied organisms.

Although fossils from the region have been known from the early part of the twentieth century, Chengjiang was first recognized for its exquisite states of preservation with the 1984 discovery of the naraoiid Misszhouia.

China Danxia refers to various landscapes of a unique type of petrographic geomorphology found in China. Danxia landform are formed from red-colored sandstones and conglomerates of largely Cretaceous age.

The Danxia landform is named after Mount Danxia, one of the most famous examples of the Danxia landform.

The other inscribed areas are:

• Mountain Langshan and Mountain Wanfoshan (Hunan Province)
• Taining and Guanzhishan (Fujian Province)
• Mountain Longhushan and Guifeng (Jiangxi Province)
• Fangyan and Mountain Jianglangshan (Zhejiang Province).

The Classical Gardens of Suzhou are the most refined representations of the art of classical Chinese garden design.

They are complex landscapes imitating natural scenery with pavilions, rocks, hills and rivers. The designs were specially adapted to the small space available in private gardens.

Suzhou's landscape garden design flourished in the 16th-18th centuries, resulting in as many as 200 private gardens. The four gardens originally included in the World Heritage List were: the Humble Administrator's Garden, the Lingering Garden, the Garden of the Master of Nets and the Mountain Villa with Embracing Beauty. 

In 2000, the site was extended to also include five gardens dating from different periods than the original ones (from the 11th - 19th centuries), but have been well-preserved too and show Chinese landscape gardening in their own right.

The Rock Carvings in Dazu are highly authentic, have high aesthetic qualities and show the coming together of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism.

They date from the 9th to 13th centuries, and are considered to be the best representatives of the latest phase of rock art in China. They clearly demonstrate the ingenuity and craftsmanship of their artists with respect to carving techniques and subject matter. In that way, they differ from the other, earlier, Chinese rock art world heritage sites Yungang, Longmen and Mogao.

The designated area consists of five separate sites of cliffside carvings: Beishan, Baodingshan, Nanshan, Shizhuanshan and Shimenshan. Baodingshan is the most prominent site of these.

The Historic Monuments of Dengfeng in "The Centre of Heaven and Earth" are 8 groups of sites located at the foot of the sacred Mount Songshan.

These sites are:

• Taishi Que Gates, Zhongue Temple
• Shaoshi Que Gates
• Qimu Que Gates
• Songye Temple Pagoda
• Architectural Complex of Shaolin Temple (Kernel Compound, Chuzu Temple, Pagoda Forest)
• Huishan Temple
• Songyang Academy of Classical Learning
• Observatory

Fanjingshan is an isolated mountain landscape with a high degree of endemism.

It is a rugged terrain of primary forest. It includes endangered floral and fauna species, such as the Guizhou snub-nosed monkey. Due to Fanjingshan’s wet climatological circumstances it also shows an extraordinary richness in bryophytes (mosses).

The Fujian Tulou are unique communal residential buildings constructed by the Hakka people from Fujian Province.

The Tulou are several stories high and are enclosed by a thick earth wall. Some are circular in form while others are rectangular or square. They were built around a central, open courtyard with only one entrance and few windows. This building style was chosen because it made the houses well defensible. Each tulou was occupied by one family clan. The largest ones provided space up to 800 people. The tulou were built between the 14th and 20th century.

The Grand Canal is the longest and oldest artifical waterway system in the world.

The canal comprises 10 main sections, containing 31 groups of inscribed buildings and passing through 8 provinces. It runs along a north-south axis originating in Beijing and ending at the sea port of Ningbo. The oldest parts of the canal date back to the 5th century BC, although the various sections were finally combined during the Sui Dynasty (581-618 AD).

It is considered the world's largest civil engineering project prior to the Industrial Revolution. The Chinese government used it for the unified administration of its territory and the transport of raw materials, rice to feed the people and troops.

The Great Wall is a masterpiece of construction of ancient China that has also high symbolic value.

The stone and earthen fortifications in northern China were built originally to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire against intrusions by various nomadic groups. The wall stretches for 8,800km and spans 17 Chinese provinces.

As it is "virtually impossible" to guarantee the perfect preservation of the whole length of the wall, the conservation is focused on the following parts:

• Badaling section, a 7 km popular stretch
• Jiayuguan Pass, the starting point of the western section of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty
• Shanhaiguan, 26km of the northern wall until it meets the sea

The Cultural Landscape of Honghe Hani Rice Terraces consists of irrigated rice paddies, forested mountain tops and 82 farming villages.

This landscape has been developed over the past 1300 years by the Hani people, one of China's official ethnic minority groups.

The site comprises 3 different valleys: Bada, Duoyishu and Laohuzui. Together they form the most concentrated area of steep rice terraces in China. They produce red rice. The terraces are irrigated via a complex system of channels that transport water from the surrounding mountain tops.

Huanglong has been acknowledged for its karst features such as travertine pools and limestone shoals.

Calcite deposition has lead to the pools being rich in algae and minerals, which results in orange, yellow, blue and green coloured waters. The site is located in the North-West of China's Sichuan Province.

At its inscription in 1992, it was recommended that Huanglong and nearby Jiuzhaigou (also in the Min Shan mountain range) would be inscribed as one site.

Huang Shan (meaning Yellow Mountain) is a mountain range that has played a leading role in the cultural, literary and artistic history of China because of its scenic beauty.

It has attracted a large number of poets, painters and other artists. Its attraction lies in the peculiar shapes of the granite peaks, in the weather-shaped Huangshan Pine trees, and in views of the clouds from above. The area also has hot springs and natural pools.

The mountain range comprises 77 larger peaks. The mountains were formed in the Mesozoic, about 100 million years ago, when an ancient sea disappeared. Later, in the Quaternary, the landscape was shaped by the influence of glaciers. Because the mountain tops are often above cloud level, they offer views of the clouds from above and interesting light effects.

Hubei Shennongjia is a forested mountain massif mostly known for its floral diversity.

It has been a place of significant scientific interest particularly for botanists. It lies within the Daba Mountains evergreen forests ecoregion, in Central-eastern China. The site consists of two locations, Shennongding/Badong and Laojunshan, separated by a 10km wide corridor.

The Imperial Palaces of the Ming and Qing Dynasties in Beijing and Shenyang with their grand palatial architecture represent the Chinese civilisation at the time of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The Imperial Palace of the Ming Dynasty lies in Beijing, and is now commonly known as the Forbidden City because the general public had no access to it. When the capital of the Ming Empire was moved to Beijing in 1421, the emperors took up residence in the Imperial Palace. It was not meant to be a home for a mortal king but for the Son of Heaven. The exact, grid-like geometric pattern of the complex reflects the strongly hierarchical structural of imperial Chinese society.

The Imperial Palace of the Qing Dynasty in Shenyang is a smaller complex dating from the 17th century. Its architecture shows Manchurian influences.

The Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties are examples of funerary architecture built on the principles of feng shui.

The Ming Tombs comprise two distinct burial sites: Xiaoling Tomb of the First Emperor and the tombs of 13 other emperors of the Ming Dynasty. Xiaoling Tomb lies in Nanjing, the others at the foot of Tianshou Mountain, north of Beijing.

Furthermore: the Xianling mausoleum of the Ming dynasty (near Zhongxiang), the western Qing tombs, and the eastern Qing tombs (120km east of Beijing).

The Qing Tombs are located in northeastern China. They comprise three tombs in Shengjing: Yongling Tomb, Fuling Tomb, and Zhaoling Tomb.

Jiuzhaigou Valley is a mountainous area with series of lakes and waterfalls containing clear, mineral-rich water.

The natural beauty of the site lies in the over 100 strange-coloured lakes and terraces. They are the result of karst erosion and deposits. Some of the lakes are swamps. Others contain large quantities of grass, underground rivers or a wealth of algae.

The Valley is located in China's Northern Sichuan Province, in the Min Shan mountain range.

The diaolou of Kaiping are fortified multi-story towers, built by returning Chinese immigrants from America, Canada, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

They display a fusion of Chinese and Western decorative forms. The towers were constructed in the 1920s and 1930s when there were more than 3,000 of these structures. The diaolou served as housing and as protection against forays by bandits (and later the Japanese). Three separate forms can be distinguished: communal towers, residential towers and watchtowers.

Of the approximately 1,800 diaolou still standing today, 20 of them in the following areas make up the designated site:

• Sanmenli Village
• Zili Village & the Fang Clan Watch Tower
• Majianlong Village Cluster
• Jinjiangli Village

The "Capital Cities and Tombs of the Ancient Koguryo Kingdom" consists of three former capitals and 40 tombs.

These archaeological sites represent the extinct Koguryu civilization that existed from the 1st century BC until the 7th century AD in what is now Northeast China and North Korea.

The cities are the first capitals of the Koguryo Kingdom, Wunu Mountain City and Guonei City, and Wandu Mountain City. Of the thousands known Koguryo tombs, the designated area includes 14 Imperial Tombs and 26 tombs of Nobles. The latter are decorated with wall paintings, describing daily life scenes.

This WHS is closely related to Koguryu Tombs in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The tombs there belong to a later period of the Koguryu Kingdom. 

Kulangsu: A historic international settlement covers an island where interchange of Chinese, South East Asian and European architectural and cultural values occurred since the opening of a commercial port at Xiamen in 1843.

Foreign missionairies, diplomats and workers lived on Kulangsu while working in the larger city Xiamen across the strait. They were instrumental in introducing modern western culture and technology to China. The historic urban settlement consists of 931 structures (residences, schools, hospitals, gardens). The fusion of cultures resulted in a new architectural style: the Amoy Deco Style, which originated on Kulangsu and this is where the best representations of it can be found such as the Hongning Hospital and the Yanping Complex.

The Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City show the accomplishments of the urban civilization in the Yangtze River Basin from the late 4rd and 3rd millennium BC.

The city was the centre of power and belief of the Liangzhu culture, an early regional state. The culture possessed advanced agriculture, including irrigation, paddy rice cultivation and aquaculture.

The Longmen Grottoes are caves with Buddhist carving, dating from the end of the 5th century to the mid 8th century. The grottoes are dotted on either side of the river Yi.

The carvings were developed when Emperor Xianwen moved the Northern Wei capital to Luoyang in 493.

Cave temples like this, which are replicas of temples on the ground, originate in India. Its most prominent examples there are the Ajanta and Ellora Caves. The concept came to China together with the spread of Buddhism via the Silk Route.

Lushan National Park is a cultural landscape known for its natural beauty. It has inspired many Chinese artists, writers, philosophers and scientists.

The Lushan world heritage site contains four kinds of cultural relics:

• archaeological sites.
• inscriptions.
• historic buildings.
• Chinese and foreign villas.

The Historic Monuments of Macao represent the early and long encounter between Chinese and European civilizations.

Macao was the first European enclave in Asia. Its colonial history started with the arrival of Portuguese tradesmen in 1557. Over the years they developed Macao into one of the major trade ports in Asia - as a stopover on the route to Japan or as part of the Silk Route by sea. Macao is also the longest-lasting and finest example of interchange between Chinese and Western civilizations.

The monuments that make up this WHS are divided into two zones:

• The central area can be found along the Rua Direita, leading from the ancient Chinese harbour in the south to the old Christian city in the north. Major monuments here are the A-Ma temple, the Leal Senado Square and the Ruins of St. Paul's Church.
• The second zone, a bit more to the northeast, is centered around Guia Hill. Here the Chapel and the Lighthouse are protected.

The Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor is known for its life-size terracotta statues of warriors.

They are seen as major works in the history of Chinese sculpture and valuable for the insight they provide into the social and military history of the period. This monumental archeological site was discovered by chance in 1974 by farmers. Three pits have been uncovered so far, containing over 8000 figures of warriors and horses.

Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China and a man fond of grand projects (the Great Wall of China also was his idea), arranged for this burial site himself. The Terracotta Army that was to be buried with him was to help him rule another empire in the afterlife. 700.000 men reportedly worked on the construction of the mausoleum for 38 years. The statues were made factory-like at the construction site. After completion, the terracotta figures were placed in the pits in precise military formation according to rank and duty.

The Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of Yellow Sea - Bohai Gulf of China cover a mudflat system serving as bird foraging and resting areas.

The inscribed area with 2 components is the first part of a much broader future one.

The Mogao Caves are a system of 492 rock-cut cells and sanctuaries near Dunhuang, in the desert landscape of Gansu Province. They are known for their artistic achievement (statues and wall paintings), the cultural exchange they represent, and the Buddhist monastic history.

Because of its strategic position along the Silk Route, the caves attracted many pilgrims and a variety of cultural influences from the 4th until the 14th century.

The complex once held over 1000 caves with rock art. About 40 of them date from the Northern Wei-dynasty (385-557). More were added during the Sui-dynasty (581-618). Most of the caves were made during the Tang-dynasty (until ca. 750), when Buddhism and the Silk Route were in their prime.

Mount Emei Scenic Area, including Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area, comprises the place where Buddhism was first established in China. It is also outstanding for its plant species diversity.

The Giant Buddha of Leshan measures 71 m high overall, which makes it the largest statue of the Buddha in the world.

Emei became a sacred Buddhist site following the sixth-century visit of Bodhisattva Puxian and his six-tusked elephant. Here Buddhism first became established on Chinese territory and from where it spread widely throughout the east. Covering Emei Shan is a sub-tropical forest with many endemic and endangered plants. They include orchids, primulas, rhododendrons, camellias, ginkgos, cycads and tree ferns. The mountain is frequently covered in a dense cloud, with associated high rainfall and humidity.

Mount Qingcheng and the Dujiang Irrigation System comprise the intellectual and spiritual centre of Taoism and an ancient water management system that has survived up to the present day.

As early as the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE), Mount Qingcheng was recognized as one of the eighteen sacred mountains and rivers used for sacrificial purposes. The eleven Qingcheng Taoist temples can be compared to the Ancient Building Complex in the Wudang Mountains, but the former have a simpler style using the traditional architecture of western Sichuan and are considerably older.

The origins of the Dujiangyan Irrigation System date back to 256 BC, when the provincial governor Li Bing set up an irrigation scheme to counter the devastating flooding caused by the Min River. His system makes subtle use of the local topography. The original system has been preserved, but modern building materials and technology have been utilized to enable this ancient system to conform to the requirements of the present day.

The Mount Sanqingshan National Park holds an outstanding scenery of granite peaks and pillars.

The area also has numerous waterfalls, valleys, lakes and springs. The massif is covered with temperate forest, home to rare and endangered plant species.

Its visual impact is enhanced by the ocurrence of meteorological effects like bright halos on clouds and white rainbows.

Sanqingshan (San Qing Mountain) is made up of three main summits: the Yujing Mountain, Yushui Mountain and Yuhua Mountain. The park is located in Jiangxi Province, southwest of Shanghai.

Mount Tai (Chinese: Tai Shan) is a mountain of historical and cultural significance located north of the city of Tai'an, in Shandong Province. Its tallest peak is Jade Emperor Peak.

Mount Tai is one of the "Five Sacred Mountains of Taoism". It is associated with sunrise, birth, and renewal, and is often regarded the foremost of the five. The temples on its slopes have been a destination for pilgrims for 3,000 years.

Mount Wutai is a sacred mountain, one of the Four Sacred Mountains in Chinese Buddhism.

It takes its name from its unusual topography, consisting of five rounded peaks (North, South, East, West, Central).

Mount Wutai is home to some of the oldest existent wooden buildings in China that have survived since the era of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). This includes the main hall of Nanchan Monastery and the East Hall of Fuguang Monastery, built in 782 and 857, respectively.

Mount Wuyi, located at Fuijan province, is the most outstanding biodiversity conservation zone of Southeast China.

It's the largest and most representative example of Chinese subtropical forests and South Chinese rainforests' biodiversity.

The designated area also contains a series of exceptional archaeological sites, including the Han City established in the 1st century BC and a number of temples and study centres associated with the birth of Neo-Confucianism in the 11th century AD.

The Mountain Resort and its Outlying Temples, Chengde, is a piece of landscape design that served as the summer resort of the Qing emperors.

By the end of the 17th century, the Qing emperors began to look around for a cooler retreat than Beijing. In Chengde they created a summer residence, exploiting mountains, woods and other existing natural features to which they added contrived landscapes to make settings for innumerable pavillions, palaces and temples.

Outside the palace walls, to the north and west, a total of 11 temples were built. Many of them were built in Tibetan style. Divided into eight groups, they became known as the Eight Outer Temples. The main gates of these buildings pointed towards the palace, symbolising the unity of China's various ethnic groups under the central rule of the Qing emperors.

The Old Town of Lijiang represents a fusion of indigenous Naxi architecture and culture with external influences.

The Naxi-minority descends from Tibetan nomads. They have a matriarchal family tradition and an over 1000 years old script. This script consists of pictograms, and is kept alive by some individuals. 

Lijiang has an ingenious ancient network of waterways, that is supplied by the mountain springs. Via canals the houses in town are connected to this network. The cobbled streets, bridges and houses add to the picturesque picture of this ancient town.

The Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian is an important finding place of early Asian hominids such as one of the first specimens of Homo erectus, dubbed Peking Man.

Over 500.000 years ago, the caves in this limestone area were inhabited by early hominids. They stayed for the next 300.000 years. When this hominid race disappeared, the caves became naturally filled in, and the tools, food scraps and bones in them remained covered by deposits until modern times. The site was discovered in 1921 by the Swede John Gunnar Andersson. Intensive excavation began in 1927. The site yielded nearly 200 pieces of Peking Man fossil (representing around 40 individuals), over 10.000 stone artifacts, several layers of ash as evidence of fire use, and more than 100 specimen of fossil animal.

In the Upper Cave, discovered in 1930, the remains of 20.000 to 10.000 years old homo sapiens have been found.

Ping Yao is an integral and well-preserved ancient Chinese city from the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911). Its urban plan and defensive line have not significantly changed since.

It is now renowned for its well-preserved ancient city wall and the imposing buildings associated with banking, for which Ping Yao was the major centre for the whole of China in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Among its monuments are:

• Ten Thousand Buddha Hall of Zhen Guo Temple
• Main Hall of the Confucian Temple
• Qing Xu Daoist Temple
• Temple of the Town God
• County Administrative Building

The Historic Ensemble of the Potala Palace, Lhasa, represents the apogee of Tibetan architecture and the combination of religious and secular authority. It has been extended to include Jokhang Temple and Norbulingka Summer Palace.

The Potala was the administrative, religious and symbolic center of Tibet's theocratic government for many centuries. It served as the winter palace of the Dalai Lama. The Potala has 13-stories and stands over 117 meters high. Within the palace, there are many outstanding wall paintings and tangkas.

The Jokhang is Tibet's most sacred Buddhist temple, located in the centre of the old town of Lhasa. The Norbulingka ('Jewelled Garden') was the Summer Palace of the Dalai Lamas since its construction in the 18th century. It had the same functions as the Potala, and thus those two are inseparably linked. It holds among others the residence of the 14th Dalai Lama before he fled to India.

Qinghai Hoh Xil covers two protected areas on the high altitude Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau: Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve and the Soja-Qumar River sub-zone of Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve.

Temperatures average sub-zero year-round. Glacial meltwater supplies the many rivers, lakes and marshlands in these reserves. The site is also important as calving area and place of seasonal migration of large numbers of Tibetan antelope.

'Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song–Yuan China' is a serial nomination of the representative monuments and sites of Quanzhou - an important port city in China in the prosperous period of the Maritime Silk Roads.

It testifies to the development of the ocean civilization and the unique ocean culture in China’s southeast coastal area in the prosperous period of the Maritime Silk Roads from the 10th century to the 14th century and contribution to the interchange of the Chinese people and foreigners on religious beliefs and their representation in the urban culture, architectural design and sculpture art.

The Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries, located in southwest Sichuan province, are home to more than 30% of the world's highly endangered Giant Pandas and are among the most important sites for captive breeding of these pandas.

It covers 9245 km² with seven nature reserves and nine scenic parks in the Qionglai and Jiajin Mountains. Along with the Giant Panda, the sanctuary is a refuge for other endangered species such as the red panda, the snow leopard, and the clouded leopard. Outside of the tropical rainforests, it is among the botanically richest sites of the world and is home to between 5,000 and 6,000 species of flora.

Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor comprise a heritage route of some 5,000 km. The Tian-shan Corridor linked Chang'an in central China with the heartland of Central Asia.

This is part of the major trade corridor that connected China with Europe. It took shape between the 2nd century BC and 1st century AD. It flourished between the 6th and 14th century AD.

It is a serial nomination of 35 sites, spread out over China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Some of the most well-known included sites are:

• Great Wild Goose Pagoda and Small Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an
• Longmen grottoes
• Maijishan cave temple complex
• Mogao caves
• Yumen Pass
• Bashbaliq City

The Site of Xanadu encompasses the remains of Kublai Khan's legendary summer capital of the Yuan Dynasty.

Located on the route between the former Mongolian capital Karakorum and the Han center Dadu (Beijing), it shows a unique mix between Mongolian and Han Chinese traditions. It is located in the current Chinese autonomous region of Inner Mongolia. The city was built in 1256, and became the summer capital in 1274. The city became an important stopping place on the silk route. In 1368 it was conquered by the Ming and destroyed.

The site at the edge of the Mongolian plateau includes the former city with temples and palaces, water control works, tombs, natural features (grassland, wetland) and traditional oboo (stone cairn) shrines of the Mongolian nomads.

South China Karst can be considered as one of the two great karst regions of the world.

Within this 97,125 area spread out over 4 provinces, Shilin is regarded as the world’s best example of stone forests. Guilin Karst is widely acknowledged as having the world’s best expression of a tower karst landscape and has been internationally recognized as the type-site of continental tower karst. The site consists of 12 parts.

The Summer Palace, an Imperial Garden in Beijing, is a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design that is noted for its harmony and large scale.

It is also known as the "New Summer Palace", to distinguish it from the remains of an older one. The palace is mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (60 meters high) and the Kunming Lake. It covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometers, three quarters of which is water. The front of the hill is rich in splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty.

The imperial gardens date from 1750. The complex suffered two major attacks during the Anglo-French allied invasion of 1860, and during the Boxer Rebellion, in an attack by the eight allied powers in 1900. The garden survived and was rebuilt in 1886 and 1902.

The Temple of Heaven was the place where the Emperor of the Ming and Qing dynasties would worship heaven and pray for good harvests.

Built first in 1420, and then expanded and reconstructed, the Temple of Heaven is a precious example of China's ancient architectural art and the largest architectural group for worshipping heaven in the world.

The most prominent building in the temple's complex is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. 38.2 metres in height and 24.2 metres in diameter, it is supported by immense pillars. The painted roof has 50.000 blue glazed tiles and a golden point.

The Temple and Cemetery of Confucius, and the Kong Family Mansion are three important sites in Confucianism.

They are located in Qufu, Shandong Province. Together with the Summer Palace in Beijing and the Mountain Resort of Chengde, the Temple of Confucius in Qufu is one of the three largest ancient architectural complexes in China. East of the Temple of Confucius, is the Kong Family Mansion. Kong is the family surname of Confucius and his descendants.

Confucianism has had the most enduring and profound effect over Chinese culture. As time went on, Confucius became respected as a sage, and the temples to Confucius were built as a landmark for all of China. Among them, the Temple in Qufu, the hometown of Confucius, is the most famous and the largest.

The Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas represent a landscape of river gorges and high mountains.

The areas are situated in Yunnan Province, south-west China. The site consists of 15 protected areas (in eight geographic clusters) in the mountainous northwest of the Province. It extends over a total area of 1.698.400 ha, encompassing the watershed areas of the Yangtse (Jinsha), Mekong (Lacang) and Salween (Nujiang) rivers.

The Tusi Sites are three examples of the Tusi system in which inheritance of official positions was granted to tribal leaders in ethnic minority regions.

The practice was used in China’s feudal period between the 13th and 20th century. Laosicheng Site, Hailongtun Site and Tang Ya Tusi Site are located in mountainous regions in southwest China. They are also testimony to the traditional cultures and cultural practices of the Tujia, Gelao and Miao Ethnic Peoples. Originally the Tentative Site included a fourth location, Rongmei Tusi Site, but it was left out of the final nomination.

The system was abolished in 1953, when the People's Republic of China established the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Region.

The West Lake Cultural Landscape of Hangzhou is an implementation of the classical Chinese landscape ideal by improving the natural landscape with bridges, causeways, pavillions etc.

The 'improved' landscape had a profound impact on the design of gardens not only in China but also further afield.

The Ancient Building Complex in the Wudang Mountains is renowned for its many Taoist monasteries and secular buildings which have had a profound influence on Chinese art and architecture.

The Wudang Mountains are a small mountain range in Hubei province. The site includes palaces, monasteries, nunneries and temples. Most date from the 14th to 16th centuries. It is an important destination for Taoist pilgrimages. 

Wulingyuan Scenic and Historic Interest Area is famous for its approximately 3,100 tall quartzite sandstone pillars, some over 200 meters in height. They are a kind of karst formation.

Between the peaks lie ravines and gorges with streams, pools and waterfalls, and some 40 caves, as well as two large natural bridges. Remote from the outside world, the site is 85% covered with trees, and 99% covered with vegetation.

The Ancient Villages in Southern Anhui - Xidi and Hongcun are two exceptionally well preserved traditional Chinese villages from the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Their townscapes are developed in harmony with the natural environment, using the geomantic principles of Feng Shui.

The Huizhou style is the predominant architecture in the villages: white walls, dark tiles, horse-head gables, stone drums or mirrors and open interior courtyards are common features. It was the style favoured by the local merchant class.

Xinjiang Tianshan is a mountain range that holds glaciers, snowcapped peaks, alpine meadows, lakes and canyons.

These mountains are in stark contrast with the surrounding six deserts, of which part of the Taklamakan Desert is within the WH area borders.

This site covers the Chinese part of the Tianshan mountains, which extend into Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Tomur is its highest peak at 7,443m.

The site has 4 components:

• Tomur
• Kalajun-Kuerderning
• Bayinbuluke
• Bogda

Yin Xu is an archaeological site containing the remains of Yin, the last capital of China's Shang Dynasty (1766 BC - 1050 BC).

It represents the golden age of early Chinese culture, crafts and sciences in a time of great prosperity.

Yinxu is also famous for the discovery of 'oracle bones', inscriptions on animal bones and tortoise shells which are thought to be the beginnings of Chinese characters and writing. They bear invaluable testimony to the development of one of the world's oldest writing systems, ancient beliefs and social systems.

The Yungang Grottoes are excellent examples of Buddhist cave art, dating from the 5th and 6th centuries.

The site stretches about 1 kilometer from east to west, and holds 53 caves with 51,000 statues. Yungang is a relic of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534) of the nomadic Toba people. They recruited 3,000 monks from along the Silk Route to turn Buddhism into their state religion.

The caves can be divided into 3 phases:

1. Caves 16-20 (Five Caves of Tan Yao, where the Wei-rulers were depicted as living Buddhas).
2. Caves 1, 2, 3, 5-13 (more varied and Chinese in concept).
3. Caves 4, 14, 15, 20 and the rest (smaller caves).

During these phases, the 'foreign' Indian Buddhism turned into a Chinese folk religion.

In 494, the Wei moved their capital from Datong to Luoyang and the Yungang Grottoes slowly fell into decay. The caves used to be protected by wooden temple buildings, but most of them burnt down. Many of the artwork was stolen in the early 20th century and now resides in museums and private collections around the world.

The Zuojiang Huashan Rock Art Cultural Landscape comprises three locations with thousands of pictographs, painted on steep cliff faces along the river in a karst landscape.

The paintings were made by between the 5th century BCE to the 2nd century AD by the Luoyue people. The site is a cultural landscape and also includes hamlets and villages where people still perform rituals connected to the rock art.

The pictographs can be seen from boats and wooden platforms. They cover four distinct phases of painting, and include depictions of bronze drums, ferry boats and human figures.

The Port, Fortresses and Group of Monuments, Cartagena, comprise the surviving remains of military constructions and an important way station for exploration and trade developed by the Spanish in the New World.

Cartagena, formally known as Cartagena of the Indies is a large city seaport on the northern coast of Colombia. Founded in 1533 by Don Pedro de Heredia, and named after the port of Cartagena in Spain's Murcia region, it was a major center of early Spanish settlement in the Americas.

A few years after it had been founded, the Spaniards designed a defense plan in which the main strategy was the construction of a walled military fortress to protect the city against the plundering of English, Dutch and French pirates.

Chiribiquete National Park - "Maloca of the Jaguar" is a very large and remote national park, known for its tepuis and painted rock shelters.

The tepui or table top-setting has let to a high level of endemism. The park in the Amazon rainforest is also home to a healthy population of jaguar and other vulnerable mammal species. 60 rock shelters with ca. 75,000 paintings are present at the foot of the tepuis. Their ceremonial use extends into the present day by isolated indigenous communities, some of which have no contact with the outside world.

The Coffee Culture Landscape of Colombia is a system of collectively cultivated coffee plantations in a mountainous landscape.

The area comprises 6 regions with a total of 18 villages and 24,000 small coffee farms. Together they account for around 35% of Colombian coffee production. The plantations and associated villages were founded in the 19th century and are still in use.

Los Katíos National Park is known for its high biodiversity and high regional endemism.

It lies in northwest Colombia and is contiguous to Darién National Park in Panama. Because of its location on the Darien isthmus, it filtered the interchange of flora and fauna between North and South America.

The park comprises two main regions:

• the mountains of the Serranía del Darién
• the floodplain of the Atrato river, with lowland swamp forests

Notable fauna species found in Los Katios include the giant anteater, tapir, jaguar, spectacled caiman and American manatee. More than 450 species of birds have been recorded.

Malpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuary is a protected area for sharks, turtles and other sea animals.

The designated zone includes Malpelo Island and its surrounding marine environment. The island is located in the Pacific Ocean 500km off the Colombian coast.

The site is a fishing-free area, turning it into an "oasis in an oceanic desert". Malpelo holds a unique shark population; swarms of 500 hammerhead sharks and hundreds of silky sharks are frequently seen by diving expeditions. It is also the habitat of the critically endangered hawksbill and leatherback turtles.

Qhapaq Nan is the Andean road system created by the Inca civilization.

They used it for the purposes of communication, trade and defence. It reached its maximum expansion in the 15th century. The central square of Cusco, known as Hanan Hauk'aypata, is the origin of the four main roads that allowed the Incas to easily travel by foot to every corner of their territory.

This is a serial nomination of over 720km of stretches of road and 291 archaeological sites, stretching across Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

San Agustín Archaeological Park is a pre-Columbian archaeological site containing the largest collection of megalithic sculptures on the continent.

The sculptures, carved from volcanic rock, vary from abstract forms to realistic images of gods and animals. They were constructed during the Agustinian Culture, which flowered from the 1st century AD.

The site consists of 3 separate locations:

• San Agustín
• Alto de los Idolos
• Alto de las Piedras

The Historic centre of Santa Cruz de Mompox represents a river port town from the Spanish colonial era.

The town connected the seaport of Cartagena with the interior. In the nineteenth century, Mompox lost much of its economic importance: due to the lack of modern influences, the original Spanish elements such as churches, private houses and the street plan have been preserved in their authentic state.

The National Archaeological Park of Tierradentro is well known for its pre-Columbian hypogea, which were found in several excavations and in various archeological locations.

The typical hypogeum has an entry oriented towards the west, a spiral staircase and a main chamber, usually 5 to 8 meters below the surface, with several lesser chambers around, each one containing a corpse. The walls are painted with geometric, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic patterns in red, black and white. Some statues and remains of pottery and fabrics can be seen scarcely due to grave robbery before the hypogea were constituted as protected areas.

Tierradentro Archaeological park features hypogea dating from 6th to 9th centuries AD. The details in the sculptures and pictoric patterns are similar to the San Agustín culture.

Garamba National Park aims to protect the world's last known wild population of the critically endangered northern white rhinoceros.

It comprises an area of savannah, marshland and forests in the far northeast of the DR of Congo, on the border with South Sudan. The park was established in 1938, making it one of Africa's oldest national parks.

Since inscription in 1980, the park has been declared ‘In Danger’ twice. The northern white rhino population dwindled as a result of poaching from 1,000 in 1960 to 21 at the moment of WH inscription. It suffered further from 1996 on, due to the influx of South Sudanese refugees and rebels. In 2005 there were only four remaining northern white rhinos in Garamba National Park. However, they have not been seen since 2006 and it is feared they have been killed and the species has become extinct in the wild.

Kahuzi-Biéga National Park encompasses a montane and a lowland area, covered by primary tropical forest that is one of the last refuges of the endangered Eastern Lowland Gorilla.

The Eastern Lowland Gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri) is the largest subspecies of the Gorilla and the largest living primate. Prior to the conflicts in Congo and Rwanda in the 1990s, an estimated 600 gorillas remained throughout the range. The ongoing fighting in the Congo has moved within the boundaries of the park causing looting, burning of the forest, and poaching of the animals. Consequently, the park was added to the list of World Heritage Sites in Danger in 1997.

The park is located in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, near the western side of Lake Kivu and the Rwandan border. It is named after two extinct volcanoes, Mount Kahuzi and Mount Biéga.

The Okapi Wildlife Reserve is home to about 5,000 of the estimated 30,000 okapi surviving in the wild.

The Reserve, created in 1992, is located in the north-east of the DR of Congo.

This Wildlife Reserve is part of the Ituri rainforest. The reserve also contains other many endemic and threatened species of primates and birds. It shares the same geographical region and many features with two other WHS, Dja Faunal Reserve and Salonga National Park.

Some 4,000 people live inside the reserve, mostly Mbuti pygmies.

Salonga National Park is Africa's biggest tropical rainforest reserve. It consists of two locations: a northern and a southern sector, separated by a 40km wide settlement zone.

It is a very isolated park, located at the central basin of the Congo river and crossected by many rivers. The park can only be reached via water transport, and in parts is considered to be completely virgin and never accessed by man. It covers an area of 3,656,000 ha.

The park is also home to many endangered fauna species notably the bonobo. The bonobo or pygmy chimpanzee is only found in the wild here and in surrounding reserves. The bonobo diverges about 0.4 % from the common chimpanzee genome. It is possible that the formation of the Congo river led to the speciation of this particular chimpanzee species (they're not great swimmers). They're now an endangered species, with 29,500 - 50,000 individuals left.

Virunga National Park covers an area of 7 active volcanoes with a high diversity of plants and animals. Vulnerable or endangered species that live here include the hippopotamus, the mountain gorilla, the lowland gorilla, and the eastern chimpanzee.

Covering 7,800 km2, it was established in 1925 as Africa's first national park (then called Albert National Park), in order to protect the mountain gorillas. From the mid-1980s poaching and the Congo Civil War have seriously damaged the park’s forests and its wildlife population.

Varying in altitude from 680 m to 5,109 m, Virunga has a wide range of habitats: from savannah and marshlands to permanent glaciers and snow. It covers the western shores of Lake Edward, known for its 20,000 hippopotamuses. The Rwenzori Mountains lie on the Ugandan border and rise to alpine meadows and a glacier, while Nyiragongo and Nyamuragira are the most active African volcanoes with substantial associated lava plains.

Sangha Trinational is a transboundary conservation zone of mostly forest landscape. It is centered along the Sangha river, a tributary to the Congo River.

The site is home to rare and endangered fauna species, including large ape populations such as the critically endangered Western Lowland Gorilla.

It is made up of three contiguous national parks:

• Lobéké National Park in Cameroon
• Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in Congo
• Dzanga-Ndoki National Park in the Central African Republic.

Cocos Island National Park covers primarily a marine ecosystem, globally significant for sharks.

The park consists of Cocos Island and its surrounding marine zone. It is located in the Pacific Ocean 550km off the coast of Costa Rica. It is the point of land nearest to the Galapagos Islands, which lie 630km to the south-west.

The marine area is considered a safe haven because commercial fishing is not allowed. 300 species of fish are found, including large species such as sharks, rays, tuna and dolphins. This also makes it one of the best scuba diving spots in the world.

Cocos Island is uninhabited except for park rangers. It differs from neighbouring islands because it is not dry and barren, but covered with a humid tropical forest. It is also mountainous and there are many waterfalls. Although its ecosystem has been severely damaged by introduced species like pigs and rats, it still contains many endemic species (for example three species of endemic land birds).

The 'Area de Conservación Guanacaste' is a habitat for threatened or rare fauna species like the Saltwater Crocodile, False Vampire Bat, Olive Ridley Sea Turtle, Leatherback Sea Turtle, Jaguar, Jabiru Stork, Mangrove Vireo and Mangrove Hummingbird.

The ecosystem ranges from 12 miles into the Pacific Ocean, with its upwelling and coral reefs, to the coastal dry tropical forest and the montane humid forest - cloud forest - lowland Caribbean rain forest it interacts with.

The site comprises Santa Rosa (including its marine area), Guanacaste, Rincón de la Vieja National Parks, Horizontes Forestry Experiment Station, the Junquillal Bay Wildlife Refuge and the Sector Santa Elena.

The Precolumbian chiefdom settlements with stone spheres of the Diquís are four archaeological sites containing mysterious stone balls.

The settlements date from the Chiriqui Period (800-1500 CE), during which a hierarchical society developed in southern Costa Rica. The area contains artificial mounds, paved areas and burial sites.

Stone spheres or petrospheres are spherical man-made objects composed of stone. These are rare in their perfection and large size (up to 2.57m diameter). They were sculpted from a material called gabbro. The meaning and use of the stone spheres remain largely unknown.

The Diquí sites had been abandoned following the Spanish Conquest, and were covered by thick layers of sediments and vegetation. They were rediscovered, and often damaged in the process, in the 1930s as the United Fruit Company was clearing the jungle for banana plantations

This is a serial nomination of 4 archaeological sites: Finca 6, Batambal, El Silencio and Grijalba-2.

Talamanca Range-La Amistad Reserves/La Amistad National Park comprises a large mountain range covered with dense forests.

It runs uninterruptedly between Panama and Costa Rica. The mountain range was created by glacial activity. Both the high mountains and the natural forests are unique to Central America. It is also a land bridge connecting animal and plant species from North and South America. The size of the area, the good protection and the terrain that is impenetrable to humans ensure that nature can take its course here undisturbed.

The Cathedral of Saint James in Sibenik is a Gothic-Renaissance construction built entirely from stone.

It was built in three phases, by three architects, between 1431 and 1535. Its style started out as Venetian Gothic, but was turned to Renaissance by the two latter architects (Georgius Mathei Dalmaticus and Niccolá di Giovanni Fiorentino). These were also responsible for the characteristic sculptures. Slabs of stone from the island of Brac were used, even for the dome where stone wedges held the tiles in place.

The cathedral suffered damage during both World War II and the fighting in 1991. The reconstructions that have been carried out since have been true to the original model and techniques.

The Old City of Dubrovnik is a late-medieval walled city known for its Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque monuments.

It developed under the name of “Ragusa” from the 14th century on as a maritime city-state. In its heydays during the 15th and 16th centuries it was a rival of Venice. A devastating earthquake in 1667 destroyed most of its public buildings and ended the city’s prosperity.

Dubrovnik’s city walls, which were mainly during the 12th-17th centuries, are fully intact. They encircle most of the Old City, and are almost 2km long.

The Episcopal Complex of the Euphrasian Basilica in the Historic Centre of Porec is one of the best examples of early Byzantine architecture and art (mosaics).

The basilica was rebuilt in the year 553 under the Byzantine Empire and bishop Euphrasius on the site of the older basilica that had become dilapidated. For the construction, parts of the former church were used and the marble blocks were imported from the coast of the Sea of Marmara. The wall mosaics were executed by Byzantian masters and the floor mosaics by local experts. 

The complex is composed of:

• A 6th-century octagonal baptistery - Built in the 5th century together with the pre-Euphrasian basilica, and underwent considerable alterations.
• A 16th-century bell tower - Built in the 16th century from top of which there is a view over Porec, the surrounding countryside and the sea.
• A colonnaded atrium - Built after the basilica, it is covered on all four sides by a portico that houses a rich collection of stone monuments.
• An Episcopal 6th-century residence (The Bishop's Palace) - Also built in the 6th century, but very little remains of the original building.
• A trefil-shaped memorial chapel - Built in the 17th and 19th centuries.

Plitvice Lakes National Park comprises 16 lakes that are known for their scenic beauty and distinctive colours, ranging from azure to green, grey or blue.

The Plitvice Lakes lie in a basin of karstic rock, mainly dolomite and limestone, which has given rise to their most distinctive feature. The lakes are separated by natural dams of travertine, which is deposited by the action of moss, algae and bacteria. The colours change constantly depending on the quantity of minerals or organisms in the water and the angle of sunlight.

The site has been on the World Heritage List in Danger from 1992-1997, as a result of the so-called 'Plitvice Lakes Incident' and its consequences, which in March 1991 was the start of bloody Croatian War of Independence and Freedom.

The Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe cover forests of the European beech in 18 countries.

They comprise the largest remaining 'virgin' forests of the European beech ('Fagus sylvatica'). They also hold the largest and tallest beech specimens in the world.

The European beech is a very adaptable species and it is spread across areas of different altitudinal zones, with different climatic and geological conditions. 

The Historic Complex of Split with the Palace of Diocletian is both an archeological and an urbanistic monument that has been in use from Roman times.

At the end of the third century AD, the Roman Emperor Diocletian (from local Illyrian origin) built his palace here. He spent the last years of his life in it, after abdicating in 305.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, his palace was divided into small houses for the local population. Diocletian's mausoleum was turned into a cathedral. Romanesque churches from the 12th and 13th centuries, medieval fortifications, Gothic palaces of the 15th century, and other palaces in Renaissance and Baroque style make up the rest of the protected area.

The Stari Grad Plain is an agricultural landscape of vineyards and olive trees that has been in continuous use since Greek Antiquity.

The farming land on the island of Hvar is divided into regular-sized parcels, which are called chora. Their authentic dry stone walls mark the boundaries between the individual parcels. Also, little beehive-shaped sheds (for storage of tooling) and cisterns were constructed. These methods were introduced to Hvar by Greeks from the island of Pharos, who colonized the area in the 4th century BCE.

The Greeks also founded a town, Paros (now Stari Grad). The historic part of the city of Stari Grad is part of the core world heritage area too, although the remaining evidence of the Greek period is limited here.

The 'Stećci Medieval Tombstones Graveyards' are 28 medieval cemeteries in south-eastern Europe.

The decoration and inscriptions on the mostly limestone monolithic tombstones represent a specific tradition of the area. They include Christian religious symbols, dancing and hunting scenes, geometric shapes and Cyrillic inscriptions.

The inscribed tombstones have been selected from the surviving 70,000 or so still standing in the region and date from the 12th to the 16th centuries. The singular ‘Stećak’ (plural: Stećci) means ‘tall, standing thing'.

The historic city of Trogir shows a medieval townscape on classical foundations that has survived almost intact into the 21st century.

Trogir was founded by Greek colonists in the 3rd century BCE on a little island. It flourished under the Romans and expanded its power significantly under Venetian rule (13th 15th centuries).

Venetian Works of Defence Between 16th and 17th centuries: Stato da Terra – Western Stato da Mar are 6 fortifications along the Adriatic Sea that date from the historic Republic of Venice.

They represent the evolution of Venetian military solutions and their innovations in architecture and methods. In the whole, they created a defensive line that guarded the Venetian commercial network.

Alejandro de Humboldt National Park covers a range of ecosystems unparalleled in the insular Caribbean.

The karst landscape is crossected by many rivers. The park has a high biodiversity, with high numbers of endemic flora, and vertebrates and invertebrates.

The park lies in the eastern Cuban provinces of Holguín and Guantánamo. It was named after the German scientist Alexander von Humboldt who visited the island in 1800 and 1801.

The Historic Centre of Camagüey has an unusual radius-concentric urban model.

The nucleus is the Plaza Mayor, from where numerous churches and convents can be found in equidistant positions to the four winds. Most of Camagüey’s churches are the result of the city’s prosperity in the 18th century, when so many new ones were built that it got the nickname “City of Churches”.

The city’s domestic architecture is reminiscent of Andalusia. Clay is used as the main construction product, both in buildings and in the large earthenware jars that were used for storing water. Houses are generally low, having one floor only. The streets are narrow, opened up by 7 large squares and 13 smaller ones.

The Urban Historic Centre of Cienfuegos is the best extant example of 19th-century urban planning principles in the Americas.

The city was founded in 1819. Its homogenic architecture and streetplan was influenced by the Spanish Enlightenment and French colonists. The latter were invited here by request of the Spanish crown, which wanted to attract white settlers after the Haitian rebellion of 1791.

The main public square Parque José Marti (former Square of Arms) contains a band shell, the Worker’s Arch and fountains, and is surrounded by monumental buildings like the Cathedral, City Hall and Theatre. The streets are of a neo-classic straight and symmetric design, with use of porches and arcades.

Cienfuegos, situated on a Bay, is one of the prime seaports of Cuba.

Desembarco del Granma National Park has been recognized for its marine terraces and pristine sea cliffs.

Its terrestrial area has several karst features and rich endemic flora, while coral reefs can be found in the sea. The submarine terraces of Cabo Cruz and Maisí are like gigantic stepping stones.

This national park lies in south-eastern Cuba. It was named after the yacht in which Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Raúl Castro, and 79 of their supporters sailed from Mexico to Cuba in 1956 and incited the Cuban Revolution.

The Archaeological Landscape of the First Coffee Plantations in the Southeast of Cuba forms a unique testimony of agricultural exploitation for coffee production.

The plantations are located in the mountain valleys of the Sierra Maestra.

The designated zone contains the remains of 171 historic coffee plantations. They were established in the 19th and early 20th century, by French colonial plantation owners who had fled Haiti after independence.

Old Havana and its Fortification System represents a historically important colonial city.

Havana was founded by the Spanish in 1519 in the natural harbor of the Bay of Havana. It became a stopping point for the treasure laden Spanish Galleons on the crossing between the New World and the Old World.

The designated area consists of a set of 18 fortifications along the coast and the harbour, the old city center (Habana Vieja) and 19th century extensions. The Castillo de la Real Fuerza is the the oldest extant colonial fortress in the Americas. Other important remaining castles include Castillo del Morro, La Cabaña fortress and San Salvador de la Punta Fortress.

The pattern of the early urban setting has survived in the historic centre.

San Pedro de la Roca Castle, Santiago de Cuba, is a 17th century fortress which is considered the best preserved and most complete example of Spanish-American military architecture.

The castle and associated batteries protected the canal that leads up to the harbour of Santiago.

The castle was designed by the Italian Giovanni Battista Antonelli in Renaissance style. It was built on a promontory (morro in Spanish) with steep cliffs. Series of stairways connect the various levels, with constructions dating from various ages.

The fortress has been damaged and rebuilt several times after earthquakes and piracy attacks.

Trinidad and the Valley de los Ingenios are linked because of the sugar trade, which resulted in Trinidad's prosperity in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Trinidad was founded in 1514, and became a bridgehead of the conquest of the American continent. Nowadays it is one of the best-preserved cities in the Caribbean from the time when the sugar trade was the main industry in the region. Many stone buildings from that period survive, including impressive public buildings and single-storey domestic houses with verandas and multi-coloured walls.

In the Valley de los Ingenios (Valley of the Sugarmills), the San Luis, Santa Rosa and Meyer valleys were a centre for sugar production from the late 18th century until the late 19th century. A large number of slaves were employed at the sugar plantations. Sugar mills such as Manacas-Iznaga, San Isidro and Palmarito remain, as well as a few villages of craftsmen, plantation houses and slave quarters.

Viñales Valley is a living cultural landscape where traditional agriculture is practiced.

Due to its fertile soil and favourable climate, farming started here in the 17th century. It got a boost in the 1860s because of the rise in tobacco cultivation, which still is the main crop.

The valley lies in the western Cuban province of Pinar del Rio. This is a karstic depression, a plain surrounded by cliffs up to 400m high rising like islands from the bottom of the valley (the mogotes). The cliffs hold numerous caves such as Cueva del Indio, Cueva de San Miguel and Caverna de Santo Tomás. Inside there is dripstone and rock art. The natural flora and fauna is characterized by many local endemic species.

Choirokoitia (also known as Khirokitia) is one of the most important prehistorical sites in the eastern Mediterranean area.

The site is only partially recovered, and archaeological work is still going on. Human life in Choirokoitia started around 7000 BC, in the Neolithic. Where the people came from is not known for sure. It is possible that the neolithic villages in Cyprus were a result of colonization from the Middle East.

The village probably had about 300 inhabitants. They practiced agriculture and animal husbandry and didn't usually live longer than 35 years. One of their most remarkable customs was to bury their dead under the floors of the houses of their living relatives. In this way the dead remained close to the living.

The Painted Churches in the Troödos Region are 9 Byzantine churches and monasteries in the Troödos Mountains.

What they have in common is that they all are covered with old and colorful frescoes. Some of them date from as early as the 11th century.

Another feature of some of these churches is that they are two buildings in one: on the inside there's the classical form of a Byzantine church, on the outside it often looks like a stable or a farm. The extra layer on the outside was constructed to be able to cope with the heavy snowfall that can occur in the Troödos Mountains.

Paphos is an archeological site from Antiquity.

It has been inhabited since the Neolithic Age. In ancient times it was known for its Aphrodite-cult: the Myceneans - the rulers of Cyprus at the time - erected temples for this fertility goddess.

The site consists of numerous places of architectural and historical meaning: villas, palaces, theatres, forts, tombs and mosaics.

The Historic Centre of Cesky Krumlov is best known for the fine architecture and art of the old town and Krumlov Castle.

Construction of the town and castle began in the late 13th century at a ford in the Vltava River, which was important in trade routes in Bohemia. The town became the seat of the Duchy of Krumlov.

Between 1938 and 1945 it was annexed by Nazi Germany as part of the so-called Sudetenland. The town's German-speaking population was expelled after liberation by the American Army during World War II and it was restored to Czechoslovakia.

The Gardens and Castle at Kromeríz are a Baroque aristocratic ensemble of residence and pleasure garden.

The Pleasure Garden is a rare and complete example of a Baroque garden. It was the creative design of Filiberto Lucchese and the execution of his design by Giovanni Pietro Tencalla. Count Karel Liechtenstein-Castelcorn acted as their patron, renovating the palace in a Baroque style in 1664.

The castle used to be the principal residence of the bishops and (since 1777) archbishops of Olomouc. It houses a splendid art collection, with works by Dutch, Flemish, and Italian masters, many of them acquired by Bishop Karel in 1673. The Kromeríz musical archive is outstanding too, as is the Library.

The Great Spa Towns of Europe are a group of eleven spa towns from seven countries.

They represent the development of European spa tradition from its roots in the antiquity to the peak in the 19th and early 20th century.

The included towns are:  Baden bei Wien (Austria), Vichy (France), Spa (Belgium), Bath (UK), Montecatini Terme (Italy), Baden-Baden, Bad Kissingen, Bad Ems (all Germany) and Karlovy Vary, Mariánské Lázně, Františkovy Lázně (all Czechia).

Holašovice Historic Village is a historic rural village which has preserved its typical vernacular architecture from the 18th and 19th centuries.

From the 16th century on, settlers from Bavaria and Austria arrived. They brought with them the tradition of masonry building for domestic structures.

The village was deserted after the Second World War, allowing its medieval plan and vernacular buildings in the South Bohemian Folk or Rural Baroque style to remain intact. It was restored and repopulated from 1990.

The Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc is a work of art celebrating the power and glory of the Roman Catholic Church.

Its construction started in 1717. The total height is 35 meters.

The column is the work of the master stonemason Václav Render, who designed it and mostly paid for it himself. After his death in 1733 he left his fortune to the city of Olomouc. The artist Ondrej Zahner finished his work between 1745 and 1752.

The column is the most splendid example of a Baroque column construction craze all over Central Europe, which started out with Plague columns decorating many town centres in the 17th century and later turned to Trinity columns.

The Landscape for Breeding and Training of Ceremonial Carriage Horses at Kladruby nad Labem is a site designed exclusively for the breeding and training of Kladruber horses, which were used in ceremonies by the Habsburg imperial court.

It is one of the most significant horse-breeding institutions in Europe and continues to function to this day. The extensive terrain consists of three farms and a landscape park.

Kutna Hora: Historical Town Centre with the Church of Saint Barbara and the Cathedral of our Lady at Sedlec symbolize the wealth this city derived from silver mining.

The earliest traces of silver have been found dating back to the 10th century. The silver boom started in the 13th century.

The town of Kutná Hora has several interesting late medieval buildings, built in Gothic style. They include the Italian Court (location of the Mint) and the Little Castle. The late Gothic Saint Barbara Church dates from the 1380s. Saint Barbara is the patron saint of miners.

The Cathedral of Our Lady at Sedlec was rebuilt by Jan Blazej Santini in the Gothicizing Baroque style (early 18th century). It lies 1.5km outside of Kutna Hora, and was part of a Cistercian monastery.

Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape is an artificial landscape that evolved during the Enlightenment under the guidance of the House of Liechtenstein.

The design started in the 17th century with the creation of avenues connecting Valtice with other parts of the estate. During the 18th century, a framework of avenues and paths providing vistas and rides was developed, imposing order on nature in the manner of the Renaissance artists and architects. In the 19th century, the landscape became fashioned according to English romantic principles of landscape architecture.

The landscape park has two centres: Valtice Castle and town, and Lednice Castle and village. These two localities are connected by Bezruè Avenue. There is also one more village in the park - Hlohovec. The surrounding area is covered with pines, ponds and holds numerous bigger or smaller pavilions scattered throughout the whole complex, often serving as hunting lodges. Baroque and Romantic elements are mingled.

Litomysl Castle is a monumental Renaissance castle dating from the years 1568-1581.

It is an outstanding and immaculately preserved example of the arcade castle, a type of building first developed in Italy and modified in the Czech lands to create an evolved form of special architectural quality.

The noble family of Pernstejn's rebuilt the original Mediaeval castle into a Renaissance castle in the second half of the 16th century. Despite of later reconstructions of interiors especially at the end of the 18th century the appearance of the castle remained almost intact including the unique scoring decoration of facades and fronton.

Erzgebirge / Krušnohoří Mining Region is a mining region that has been used from the Middle Ages onwards.

The 95x45 km area is located in southeastern Germany (Saxony) and northwestern Czechia. Amongst the raw materials mined over the course of centuries were ores of the metals silver, tin, zinc, cobalt, nickel, copper and lead; but anthracite and uranium were also extracted into the 20th century. 

The Pilgrimage Church at Zelena Hora was designed by the Czech-Italian architect Jan Blazej Santini Aichl, who delivered a masterpiece out of a combination of gothic and baroque styles.

The church was the first major shrine to St. John (Jan) of Nepomuk, a local martyr who had died in 1393. Abbot Vaclav Vejmiuva of the nearby Cistercian Abbey was a great follower of St. John, and had the church constructed in close collaboration with the architect Santini.

Already from its beginnings (1721) the church was meant as a place of pilgrimage. The cloister, which encircles the chapel and is based on a ten-point-star groundplan, was completed later (in 1769).

The Historic Centre of Prague played a prominent role in medieval Central Europe. It has seen continuous urban development from the Middle Ages to the present, resulting in an architectural ensemble of outstanding quality.

The WHS area consists of the following parts:

1. Old Town (Stare Mesto), with the Old Town Square, Astronomical Clock and Charles Bridge
2. Lesser Town (Male Strana) on the left (west) bank of the river Vltava and below the Prague Castle
3. New Town (Nove Mesto), including the Wenceslas Square

Additionally to the Historic Centre there is a second location 15km away: Průhonice Park.

The Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe cover forests of the European beech in 18 countries.

They comprise the largest remaining 'virgin' forests of the European beech ('Fagus sylvatica'). They also hold the largest and tallest beech specimens in the world.

The European beech is a very adaptable species and it is spread across areas of different altitudinal zones, with different climatic and geological conditions. 

The Historic Centre of Telc is a medieval planned town that has preserved its original layout and the castle-settlement relationship very clearly.

The quality of its architecture is high, particularly the Renaissance market place and chateau.

The triangular market place possesses great beauty and harmony as well as great cultural importance, surrounded as it is by intact and well preserved Renaissance buildings with a dazzling variety of facades.

The Jewish Quarter and St. Procopius Basilica of Trebic bear witness to the coexistence of and interchange of values between the Jewish and Christian cultures from the Middle Ages until the Second World War.

The St. Procopius Basilica originally was constructed in the 13th century as part of a Benedictine Abbey. It is made of granite and sandstone and has both Romanesque and early Gothic features. The existence of the Abbey at this site stimulated the development of a marketplace, which attracted among others also Jewish merchants.

Trebic's Jewish Quarter is the most representative of its kind in Central Europe, It is considered the most complete, including synagogues, Jewish schools, a hospital and a factory. The quarter has a characteristic condominium structure: there were often several owners in one house and buildings were internally subdivided. Above the Jewish Quarter is the Jewish Cemetery, consisting of about 4000 tombstones. All Jewish inhabitants were deported in WWII, and nobody returned.

The Tugendhat Villa is a masterpiece of the Modern Movement in architecture. It was created by the German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

The building in Brno was built in 1930 for Fritz Tugendhat, owner of a Brno textile factory.

Exquisite materials and modern technologies were used in the construction of this house. Its main structure is made of reinforced concrete with steel frames. The exterior of the house is painted white. The back wall of the living area is made of onyx panels from the Atlas Mountains.

The original furniture was also designed by Mies van der Rohe, such as the so-called Tugendhat chair.

Comoé National Park around the Comoé River has a high diversity of plant life.

It also is a habitat for internationally protected bird species (partly migratory), and other animals like the chimpanzee and dwarf crocodile. At 1,149,450 ha, the park covers a very large area.

In 2003 it was added to the list of World Heritage Sites in Danger due to poaching, over-grazing of the park by cattle, and absence of management.

The historic town of Grand-Bassam was a colonial town and seaport. Built in the 19th century, it was the French colonial capital of Cote d'Ivoire.

Europeans and Africans lived here together, divided into separate quarters. It also had important commercial and administrative zones, in which historic buildings in a sober and functional colonial style have been preserved.

Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve includes significant portions of Mount Nimba, a geographically unique area with a high number of endemic plant and animal species.

These species include multiple types of duikers, big cats, civets, and several types of viviparous toads. It also has a population of chimpanzees using stones as tools.

Mount Nimba is shared between Guinea, Ivory Coast and Liberia. The part of the latter country is excluded from the protected areas. The Nature Reserve consists of high-altitude grassland, plains savannah and primary forest including rain forest.

The site has been in danger since 1992, since Guinea allowed mining for iron ore and because of the massive arrival of Liberian refugees. The area suffers also from a lack of management, poaching and uncontrolled fires.

The Sudanese style mosques in northern Côte d’Ivoire is a group of eight mosques erected since the 17th century.

The mosques are built in mud brick masonry, with façades reinforced with buttresses and strands. They are mainly composed of a prayer room, to which is added the mihrab located in the minaret tower. Men and women each have their own assigned prayer space and a separate entrance.

Taï National Park contains one of the last areas of primary tropical forest in West Africa.

It was inscribed as a World Heritage Site due to the breadth of its flora and fauna - especially those which are endangered such as the pygmy hippopotamus. The park holds about 150 endemic flora species. The region's isolation between two major rivers has added to its particular character.

Three mammal species of the Taï National Park are on IUCN's red list of endangered species:

• Pygmy Hippopotamus
• Chimpanzees
• Jentink's Duiker

The Tai Forest reserve was created in 1926 and promoted to National Park status in 1972. It was recognised as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1978.

Aasivissuit-Nipisat, Inuit Hunting Ground between Ice and Sea, is a cultural landscape in West Greenland.

The inscribed area includes 7 key locations along annual migration routes from coast to inland in summer and then back again in late autumn. They show the interdependence between humans and their natural environment over time. The sites consist of both archaeological sites and settlements that are still in use. This landscape was settled about 4,200 years ago, with (Paleo-)Inuit sustaining themselves by marine and terrestrial hunting.

Christiansfeld a Moravian Settlement was founded in 1773 by the Moravian Church, following a strict city plan.

From the German village of Herrnhut, the first Moravian missions were directed to the Dano-Norwegian Empire. Christiansfeld is the best-preserved example of such settlements in Europe.

The town was named after the Danish king Christian VI.

The Ilulissat Icefjord has been inscribed because of its unique glaciological characteristics and its scenic beauty. It is situated in western Greenland, north of the Arctic Circle.

The site consists of Sermeq Kujalleq, the most productive glacier draining the inland icecap op Greenland, and the iceberg-filled fjord named Kangia. It also takes in part of the inland ice itself and some of the surrounding land.

Ilulissat Icefjord is the pre-eminent glacier in the northern hemisphere. Although there are many more glacier-related sites on the World Heritage List, this site is only surpassed by Antarctica in terms of size and calving.

Jelling Mounds, Runic Stones and Church are outstanding examples of the pagan Nordic culture and its transition into Christianity.

They were created as royal monuments in the 10th century. The site symbolizes the creation of a unified Denmark and the introduction of Christianity there.

The burial mounds are said to have been those of King Gorm of Denmark and his wife Thyra, the parents of King Harald of Denmark. Yet archaeological excavations and research show that only the North mound contains a burial chamber. It is plausible that this chamber once held the bones of Gorm the Old, bones that later have been found underneath what is now Jelling Church.

The small Jelling stone is erected by Gorm in the memory of his wife Thyra around the year 950. Harald Bluetooth erected the larger of the two Jelling stones around 965 - bearing the words: "King Haraldr ordered this monument made in memory of Gormr, his father, and in memory of Thyrvé, his mother; that Haraldr who won for himself all of Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christian."

Kronborg Castle is a Renaissance castle, built in 1574-1585 by Danish King Frederik II.

It has played a significant role in the history of this part of northern Europe, because of its strategic position between the North Sea and the Baltic.

Another claim to fame is that Kronborg ('Elsinore') was the setting for Shakespeare's play Hamlet.

Kujataa Greenland: Norse and Inuit Farming at the Edge of the Ice Cap is a cultural landscape that represents the local farming and hunting cultures adapted to life in the Arctic.

The site has 5 components with features such as archaeological sites, agricultural lands and sheep farms. They include both elements belonging to the Norse Greenlandic culture, the first emigrants from Europe to settle here and introduced farming, and to the Thule Inuit culture.

The par force hunting landscape in northern Zealand is an intentionally designed landscape used for hunting by the Danish kings in the 17th and 18th centuries.

‘Par force’ stands for ‘by force (of dogs)’, the noblest form of hunting where a specific animal was run down and exhausted by mounted hunters and dogs before the kill was made. This technique was developed in France and adopted widely across Europe by the royalty and nobility to display their power.

The landscape consists of man-made forests and ride systems in a rigid grid pattern. It covers 3 main components: Store Dyrehave, Gribskov and Jægersborg Hegn/Jægersborg Dyrehave. Also, 6 paths formerly connecting Store Dyrehave and Gribskov are included.

Roskilde Cathedral is made of red brick in the Gothic style, and it is the mausoleum of the Danish Royal Family.

It dates from about 1280. Since then, each century has added its own extensions in various styles. The interior of the cathedral has changed in the course of time too. Before 1536 the cathedral was Catholic. After the Reformation, the side altars were removed and new furniture was installed for the new Protestant service.

Stevns Klint is a geological site that illustrates the impact of an asteroid that created the global mass extinction of species some 65 million years ago, known as the Chicxulub event.

These cliffs show high-quality exposure of the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K/T) boundary section: the border is visible as a reddish layer in the strata. In 1980, a scientific team started to study the fish clay at Stevns Klint and found large traces of iridium, commonly found in cosmic material. This gave rise to a new theory that mass extinction wasn’t caused by extensive volcanism in India, but was due to the impact of a giant asteroid.

The cliffs of Stevns Klint are also rich in fossils. There is a significant fossil record before and after the K/T boundary layer.

The Wadden Sea is a shallow body of water with tidal flats and wetlands, rich in biological diversity

The word wad is Dutch for "mud flat". The area is typified by extensive tidal mud flats, deeper tidal trenches (tidal creeks) and the islands that are contained within this, a region continually contested by land and sea. The landscape has been formed for a great part by storm tides in the 10th to 14th centuries, overflowing and carrying away former peat land behind the coastal dunes. The present islands are a remnant of the former coastal dunes.

Morne Trois Pitons National Park is a significant area of volcanic activity and has one of the rare largely intact forest areas remaining in the Insular Caribbean.

Main point is the 1,342m high volcano Morne Trois Pitons ("mountain of three peaks"). Other sights include the Valley of Desolation, a region of boiling mud ponds and small geysers; the Boiling Lake, Titou Gorge, and Emerald Pool. The forests are home to many endemic vascular plant species and endemic bird species.

The Colonial City of Santo Domingo has high symbolic value as an early colonial settlement in the New World: it was founded in 1498.

It boasts the Western Hemisphere's first cathedral, its first monastery, its first hospital, its first university, and its first court of law.

The historic enclave of Santo Domingo, known as the Colonial City, covers three sq km. Inside the walls are dozens of historical buildings and sites, including palaces, forts, museums, and churches.

The Galápagos Islands are famed for their vast number of endemic species and the studies by Charles Darwin that led to his theory of evolution by natural selection.

It is an archipelago made up of 13 main volcanic islands, 6 smaller islands, and 107 rocks and islets. The oldest island is thought to have formed between 5 and 10 million years ago, a result of tectonic activity. The youngest islands, Isabela and Fernandina, are still being formed, with the most recent volcanic eruption in 2005.

The islands are distributed around the equator, 965 kilometres (about 600 miles) west of Ecuador.

Qhapaq Nan is the Andean road system created by the Inca civilization.

They used it for the purposes of communication, trade and defence. It reached its maximum expansion in the 15th century. The central square of Cusco, known as Hanan Hauk'aypata, is the origin of the four main roads that allowed the Incas to easily travel by foot to every corner of their territory.

This is a serial nomination of over 720km of stretches of road and 291 archaeological sites, stretching across Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

The City of Quito has a well-preserved historic centre dating from colonial times, and its streets are still dotted with churches, convents and public buildings from that period.

The historic centre has conserved its original configuration, built to fit the topographical challenges being spread along the slopes of the Pichincha Volcano. Its religious buildings show the architecture, sculpture and painting of the so-called ‘Quito School’, a product of cultural syncretism between indigenous and European features.

Sangay National Park contains two active volcanoes (Tungurahua and Sangay) and ecosystems ranging from tropical rainforests to glaciers.

Over 400 bird species inhabit the Park, and it has been recognized as an Important Bird Area. It is also home to the endangered spectacled bear and mountain tapir (both only found in the Northern Andes). The park is located in the Morona Santiago, Chimborazo and Tungurahua provinces of Ecuador.

The Historic Centre of Santa Ana de los Ríos de Cuenca is an example of an inland colonial town, founded by the Spanish in 1557 on a green-field site.

The town was established to support the agricultural development of the area. It is located in the Andean highlands at about 2500m above sea level, on a strategic position between Quito and Lima.

Cuenca was laid out according to a strict grid. Notable monuments include:

• New Cathedral
• Old Cathedral
• Carmelite Monastery
• Church of Santo Domingo.

Abu Mena was a town, monastery complex and Christian pilgrimage center in Late Antique Egypt.

It was built in remembrance of the martyr Menas of Alexandria, who died in 296 A.D. This archeological site is important for the knowledge of Early Christianity. A large basilica church, an adjacent church that had probably housed the saint's remains, a large dormitory for poor pilgrims, and Roman baths have been uncovered, but there a very few standing remains.

Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis is an archaeological site that represents Egyptian civilization at its height during the New Kingdom (1570-1069 BC).

Thebes was its capital and the religious center. Successive pharaohs created temples, monuments, public buildings and tombs – to worship the god Amun and to glorify themselves.

The inscribed area includes the two great temples of Karnak and Luxor on the east bank of the Nile, and the Necropolis on the west bank.

Historic Cairo encompasses the historic centre on the eastern bank of the Nile, which includes no less than 600 classified monuments dating from the 7th to 20th centuries.

Cairo was the dominant political, cultural and religious center of the Islamic world from the 7th to the 14th century. Its monuments include necropolises, the Citadel, bazaars, mosques, and palaces. Coptic Cairo and its many old churches, and ruins of Roman fortifications, are also part of this site.

The Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae cover a string of ancient archaeological sites in southern Egypt.

They were built by various pharaohs from the 2nd millennium BC onwards in their attempt to gain or retain dominance over the Nubian kingdom and its natural assets such as gold, copper and ivory.

In the 1960s, the two masterpieces of this set (the temples of Abu Simbel and the sanctuary at Philae) were moved in their entirety to a nearby location due to the creation of the Aswan High Dam and Lake Nasser.

'Memphis and its Necropolis - the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur' recognizes the universal admiration for the Pyramids, their antiquity and the exceptional civilization they represent.

Memphis was the capital of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, from its foundation (ca. 3100 BC) until 2200 BC. The ruins of Memphis hold some extraordinary funerary monuments, including rock tombs, ornate mastabas, temples and pyramids.

Giza is a complex of ancient monuments including the three pyramid complexes known as the Great Pyramids, the massive sculpture known as the Great Sphinx, several cemeteries, a workers' village and an industrial complex. 

Dahshur is a royal necropolis located in the desert on the west bank of the Nile approximately 40 kilometers south of Cairo. It is known chiefly for having two of the oldest, largest and best-preserved pyramids in Egypt: the Bent Pyramid and the Red Pyramid.

Saint Catherine's Monastery at the mouth of an inaccessible gorge at the foot of Mount Sinai is one of the oldest continuously functioning Christian monasteries.

The monastery was built by order of Emperor Justinian I between 527 and 565, enclosing the Chapel of the Burning Bush ordered built by Helena, the mother of Constantine I, at the site where Moses is supposed to have seen the burning bush; the living bush on the grounds is purportedly the original. The site is sacred to three major world religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Wadi Al-Hitan (Whale Valley) is the largest and most important site in the world for whale fossils.

The fossils belong to a now extinct subspecies of whales, which shows their transition from land animals to marine mammals: they still have hind legs. The fossils have been found on the surface in a now completely dry desert landscape, which was part of the enormous Tethys Ocean 40 million years ago.

The fossil whales were first discovered during the winter of 1902-03.

Joya de Ceren Archaeological Site is a pre-Columbian Maya farming village that has been preserved remarkably intact after it was destroyed by volcanic ash around 600 AD.

Loma Caldera, a nearby volcano, erupted and buried the village under 14 layers of ash. The villagers were apparently able to flee in time - no bodies have been found - although they left behind utensils, ceramics, furniture, and even half-eaten food in their haste to escape. The site was rediscovered in 1976.

Even more important than the buildings, however, are the paleoethnobotanical remains. The low temperature of the wet ash from Loma Caldera, as well as its rapid fall, ensured the preservation of much of the plant material. Of great importance is the discovery of manioc fields, the first time manioc cultivation had been found at a New World archaeological site.

Asmara: A Modernist African City is an Italian planned colonial city based on early modernist architecture.

The urban ensemble was designed during several stages of development on an orthogonal grid plan with diagonal axes. The city was divided into quarters following the principles of racial segregation. During the short fascist period of 1935-1941 the city received its distinct modernist and rationalist public buildings, which mostly have survived intact since then.

The Struve Geodetic Arc is a chain of survey triangulations stretching from Hammerfest in Norway to the Black Sea.

The chain was established and used by the German-born Russian scientist Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve in the years 1816 to 1855 to establish the exact size and shape of the earth.

The area of the Arc designated as a WHS consists of 34 stations, spanning 10 countries and over 2,820 km. Originally there were 265 stations, in only 2 countries (the Russian Empire and the Union between Sweden & Norway).

The Historic Centre (Old Town) of Tallinn was one of the best fortified cities in Europe, with 66 towers adorning the city wall.

Only about 20 of them remain today. Its history as a trading town can still be seen in the wealth of its buildings.

Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is named after taani linnus, which means Danish castle. The Castle in question was built by King Waldemar of Denmark in the 13th century. The settlement quickly developed itself into a busy port. In 1248 Tallinn became a member of the Hanseatic League, a chain of European trading cities.

Aksum is an archeological site that covers the remains of an influential city of ancient Ethiopia. The ruins include stelae, tombs, castles and obelisks.

The city was the original capital of the eponymous kingdom of Axum. The kingdom had its own written language called Ge'ez, and also developed a distinctive architecture exemplified by giant obelisks, the oldest of which date from 5000-2000 BC. 

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church claims that the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Aksum houses the Biblical Ark of the Covenant in which lie the Tablets of Law upon which the Ten Commandments are inscribed. This same church was the site Ethiopian emperors were crowned for centuries until the reign of Fasilides, then again beginning with Yohannes IV until the end of the empire. 

Fasil Ghebbi, Gondar Region, covers the remains of a fortress-city that was the residence of the Ethiopian emperor Fasilides and his successors in the 17th century.

The site comprises the buildings within the fortress and also 7 further monasteries and palaces around the city of Gondar. Fasil Ghebbi's building style became influential in Ethiopian architecture. 

Harar is a fortified historic town in southeastern Ethiopia. It has been a major commercial center, linking African and Islamic trade routes.

It has been recognized by Unesco as 'an inland urban settlement with a distinct architectural character and social organization, which cannot be compared to any other town in East Africa.'

It is considered "the fourth holiest city of Islam" with 82 mosques and 102 shrines. The Islamic is town characterized by a maze of narrow alleyways and forbidding facades.

Konso Cultural Landscape represents a living cultural tradition that has existed for over 400 years in a dry environment.

The Konso people migrated to these highlands, where they constructed terraces to support agricultural fields.

The area has 12 stone-walled settlements. They hold thatch-roofed public structures and domestic buildings. Within the area are also associated sacred forests and shrines. The Konso are noted for their erection of wakas: memorial statues to a dead man.

The rock-hewn churches of Lalibela are exceptionally fine examples of a long-established Ethiopian building tradition.

After the decline of the Axumite state, a new Christian dynasty emerged in the 12th century. King Lalibela created this new Christian pilgrimage center, which became a substitute for the holy places of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. It held 11 rock-hewn churches.

The Lower Valley of the Awash is one of the most important palaeontological sites on the African continent.

It is here that in 1974 the skeleton fragments of 'Lucy' were found, who is estimated to have lived 3.2 million years ago. 'Lucy' stands for several hundred pieces of bone representing about 40% of the skeleton of an individual Australopithecus afarensis.

In this valley of the Awash river in Ethiopia's Afar Depression also numerous other pre-human hominid remains have been found.

The Lower Valley of the Omo River is a prehistoric site where many hominid fossils have been found.

They are of fundamental importance in the study of human evolution.

Several hominid fossils and archaeological localities, dating to the Pliocene and Pleistocene, have been excavated by French and American teams. Fossils belonging to the genera Australopithecine and Homo have been found at several archaeological sites, as well as tools made from quartzite, the oldest of which date back to about 2.4 million years ago.

Simien National Park covers a spectacular landscape of cliffs and gorges, created by erosion, which is also recognized for its high biodiversity.

The park comprises one of the principal mountain massifs of Africa. A number of peaks rise above 4000m, including Ras Dashen which is the highest point in Ethiopia.

Its Afromontane and Afroalpine ecosystems are home to three of Ethiopia's larger endemic mammals: the Walia ibex, the more common Gelada baboons, and the very rarely seen Ethiopian wolves. It is also an important bird area.

At its inscription, some 80% of the park was in use by humans for agricultural and pastoral activities.

Tiya in southern Ethiopia is an archeological site, which is distinguished by 36 decorated standing stones or stelae.

The megaliths are marking a large, prehistoric burial complex of an ancient Ethiopian culture. They date from between the 10th and 15th centuries AD.

Levuka Historical Port Town is an urban landscape in the Pacific that represents 19th-century British colonisation.

Local warlord Cakobau set up the first administration of the Kingdom of Fiji here in 1852, supported by foreign settlers. In 1874 the land became part of the British Empire.

The site includes residential and commercial buildings, churches, schools and constructions related to port activities.

The Fortress of Suomenlinna comprises military fortifications built on six islands to guard the entrance to Helsinki's harbour.

The old name for Suomenlinna (which means Finnish castle) is Sveaborg (Swedish castle). It was built at a time when Finland was part of Sweden. The Fortress was meant to be a stronghold for the Swedes against the Russians. The task was so enormous that large parts of the army were dedicated to helping build the site. They transformed a few little islands off the coast of Helsinki into a city with more inhabitants than Helsinki itself.

All the effort didn't hinder the Russians from taking over in 1808. They also used it as a fortress and added their own constructions. Finally, in 1918 the Fortress became Finnish. Nowadays it is a popular park with museums, interesting flora and beaches.

The High Coast and the Kvarken Archipelago are outstanding examples of glaciation processes.

Both sites, on either side of the Gulf of Bothnia, hold numerous islands and islets. The High Coast is important for research on isostacy, in which the land rises as the weight of the glaciers melts off of it. This phenomenon was first recognised and studied here.

Kvarken features unusual ridged washboard moraines, "De Greer moraines", formed by the melting of the continental ice sheet, 10,000 to 24,000 years ago.

Old Rauma is an outstanding example of a traditional Nordic city constructed in wood.

The town was built in the 15th century around a Franciscan monastery. It is a harbour town at the Gulf of Bothnia. There are about 600 original wooden houses left. The oldest date from the 18th century when Rauma was rebuilt after a ravaging fire. Most of them though are from the 1890s, as a result of prosperity brought on by seafaring.

Petäjävesi Old Church is an 18th-century wooden church that exemplifies Scandinavian Lutheran church architecture and the long tradition of log building in Scandinavia.

The design was influenced by European architectural trends such as Renaissance and Gothic, which were combined with the vernacular technique of log jointing.

The church was constructed between 1763 and 1765 as a small village church because the trip to the parish church in Jämsä took too long. Petäjävesi church was built on a peninsula, where two lakes meet: so the congregation would reach it by boat (or over the ice in the winter). The bell tower was added in 1821.

The Bronze Age Burial Site of Sammallahdenmäki consists of 33 stone cairns, dating mainly from the Bronze Age (1500-500 B.C.).

It is an extraordinary example of Finland's Bronze Age culture because it presents the ancient monuments in a well-preserved natural environment.

Two of the most spectacular cairns are the quadrangular "Chuch Floor" and the dike-like "Long Ruin of Huilu". In 2002, eight cairns were excavated, revealing burnt human bone. This indicates that the cairns contained cremation burials.

The Struve Geodetic Arc is a chain of survey triangulations stretching from Hammerfest in Norway to the Black Sea.

The chain was established and used by the German-born Russian scientist Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve in the years 1816 to 1855 to establish the exact size and shape of the earth.

The area of the Arc designated as a WHS consists of 34 stations, spanning 10 countries and over 2,820 km. Originally there were 265 stations, in only 2 countries (the Russian Empire and the Union between Sweden & Norway).

The Verla Groundwood and Board Mill is a well preserved 19th century mill village.

It consists of a number of buildings in a rural setting, including the mill, board-drying plant, storehouses and the owner's residence. The mill produced mainly (paper)board for export to Russia, Europe and the USA.

The first groundwood mill at Verla was founded in 1872 by Hugo Nauman but was destroyed by fire in 1876. A larger groundwood and board mill, founded in 1882 by Gottlieb Kreidl and Louis Haenel, continued to operate until 1964. Wood-processing mills were common in the Nordic countries, but Verla represents the best-preserved example that remains from the 19th century.

The Episcopal City of Albi was built around the original cathedral and episcopal group of buildings. Redbrick and tiles are the main features of most of the edifices.

The Sainte Cécile cathedral, a masterpiece of the Southern Gothic style, was built between the 13th and 15th centuries. It was a statement of the Christian faith after the upheavals of the Cathar heresy. The Palais de la Berbie, formerly the Bishops' Palace of Albi, is one of the oldest and best-preserved castles in France. This imposing fortress was completed at the end of the 13th century.

The Old Bridge (Pont Vieux) is still in use today after almost a millennium of existence. Originally built in stone (in 1035), then clad with brick, it rests on 8 arches and is 151m long. In the 14th century, it was fortified, reinforced with a drawbridge and houses were built on the piers.

Amiens Cathedral has played an important role in the development of gothic architecture. It dates from the 13th century.

Work was started in 1220, under Bishop Evrard de Fouilloy. The architects involved were Robert de Luzarches (until 1228), Thomas de Cormont (until 1258), and his son Renaud de Cormont (until 1288).

Arles, Roman and Romanesque Monuments, represent the evolution of a classical Roman settlement into an important medieval city.

Notable monuments include:

• Roman theater
• Arena or amphitheater
• Alyscamps (Roman necropolis)
• Thermae of Constantine
• Cryptoporticus
• Ramparts of the Roman Castrum
• Small parts belonging to the Roman Forum, at the Muséon Arlaten
• The Church of St. Trophime, formerly a cathedral, is a major work of Romanesque architecture, and the representation of the Last Judgment on its portal is considered one of the finest examples of Romanesque sculpture, as are the columns in the adjacent cloister.

The Historic Centre of Avignon: Papal Palace, Episcopal Ensemble and Avignon Bridge comprise a group of late medieval buildings linked to the Papacy.

Here the popes and antipopes lived from 1309 to 1432 during the Catholic schism. The historic centre of Avignon lies in the north of the walled city. It includes the following monuments:

• Place du Palais
• Palais des Papes
• Cathedral of Notre-Dame des Doms
• the Petit Palais
• the Tour des Chiens
• the Ramparts
• Saint-Benezet Bridge

The Belfries of Belgium and France are 56 bell-towers, built between the 11th and 20th centuries.

They are mostly found in town centers, and connected to the local town hall or church. At their time, the Belfries represented the growing importance of cities instead of the feudal system in the Middle Ages.

After several fires, stone began to be used as building material instead of wood. Mainly square, robust towers were built in this period. Later, from the 14th to the 17th century when most of the still remaining belfries were built, the towers lose their defensive character. They become narrower, and the styles are influenced by Baroque. In the 19th and 20th centuries, newly created belfries had a more symbolic value of independence and prosperity.

Bordeaux, Port of the Moon, encompasses the historic centre of Bordeaux as an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble created in the Age of Enlightenment.

A bend in the river Garonne has created a natural harbour here, and because of its shape, it's called Port of the Moon.

The most prominent examples of the period of Enlightenment, created from the 1730s onwards, are:

• Place Royale (today Place de la Bourse)
• Allées de Tourny
• Place Dauphine (Gambetta nowadays), Place d'Aquitaine, Place de Bourgogne and Place Tourny
• public garden
• Grand Theatre
• Palais Rohan
• Place des Quinconces

Bourges Cathedral is considered a masterpiece of Gothic architecture, with beautiful decoration.

Its construction began at the end of the 12th century, following the plan of the ambitious archbishop Henri de Sully who had brought "modern" ideas from Paris. He wanted to create a large and tall building, with three rows of stained-glass windows above each other so that there was a lot of light. The cathedral is also a symbol of the power of Christianity in medieval France.

The Climats, terroirs of Burgundy comprise 1,247 vineyard parcels and the commercial towns of Beaune and Dijon.

The vineyards are distinct from one another due to their specific natural conditions such as soil and microclimate. They cover the Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune south of Dijon.

The Canal du Midi is a 240 km long canal that in its time (late 17th century) was a great engineering achievement.

It is one of the technologically most significant canals in the world: it uses lock staircases, reservoirs, aqueducts, dams, bridges, and tunnels. The largest work on the canal is the dam of Saint-Ferréol.

The canal is located in the south of France, connecting the Garonne River at Toulouse to the Étang de Thau on the Mediterranean. Four adjoining channels are also included.

The original purpose of the Canal du Midi was to be a shortcut between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, avoiding the long sea voyage around hostile Spain, Barbary pirates, and a trip that in the 17th century required a full month of sailing.

The Causses and the Cévennes, Mediterranean agro-pastoral Cultural Landscape is a landscape that has evolved over three millennia.

It is located in the higher regions of the Massif Central, in an area of granite and limestone slopes and deep valleys.

Its distinct features include:

• chestnut farming
• low stone sheep housing
• mulberry cultivation (for silk)
• drove roads (used by cattle and sheep moving to and from the pastures)
• military architecture (like the Tour du Viala-du-Pas-de-Jaux)
• farm complexes (like those of Les Monziols)

Chaîne des Puys - Limagne fault tectonic arena shows a number of geological features caused by a continental break-up.

It is a ca. 40km long part of the West European Rift. The site was also important in the study of classical geological processes.

The name of the range comes from a French term, puy, that refers to a volcanic mountain with a rounded profile.

'Champagne Hillsides, Houses and Cellars' is a cultural landscape shaped by the production of sparkling wines since the 17th century.

The area is divided into 3 clusters:

• Saint-Nicaise Hill in Reims
• Avenue of Champagne in Epernay
• hillsides of Hautvillers, Aÿ and Mareuil-sur-Aÿ

Chartres Cathedral is considered the finest example in France of the Gothic style of architecture.

The current cathedral was mostly constructed between 1193 and 1250. It is in an exceptional state of preservation. The majority of the original stained glass windows survive intact, while the architecture has seen only minor changes since the early 13th century.

The building's exterior is dominated by heavy flying buttresses. The west end holds two contrasting spires - one, a 105 metre plain pyramid dating from the 1140s, and the other a 113 metre tall early 16th century Flamboyant spire on top of an older tower. Equally notable are the three great facades, each adorned with hundreds of sculpted figures illustrating key theological themes and narratives.

The Cistercian Abbey of Fontenay is an early Cistercian monastery based on the ideal of self-sufficiency.

The Abbey of Fontenay was founded by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in 1118. Located in a small forested valley 60 kilometers northwest of Dijon, it achieved great prosperity in the 12th and 13th centuries. 

The church of the abbey was built from 1139 to 1147 in the prevalent Romanesque style, and marked by the austerity typical of Cistercian architecture. It has a cruciform plan.

Apart from the demolished refectory, the abbey retains almost all of its original buildings: church, dormitory, cloister, chapter house, caldarium or "warming room", dovecote and forge, all in Romanesque style, with later abbot's lodgings and infirmary.

The Cordouan Lighthouse is considered an architectural and engineering masterpiece.

It stands on a rocky plateau in the Gironde estuary on the French Atlantic coast, about seven kilometres from the mainland. The 68-metre-high tower has been in operation since 1611 and is the oldest lighthouse in France. It is considered a Renaissance masterpiece, the architect was Louis de Foix.

The Decorated cave of Pont d'Arc is an underground cave covered with the oldest known pictorial drawings in the world.

They date back to as early as the Aurignacian period (30,000 to 32,000 BP). Over 1,000 drawings have been found, which often are of high artistic and aesthetic quality. They display anthropomorphic and zoomorphic motifs. In contrast to other Paleolithic cave art, the walls of cave feature many predatory animals such as cave lions, panthers, bears, and cave hyenas. In addition to the paintings and other human evidence, fossilized remains, prints, and markings from a variety of animals, some of which are now extinct, were discovered.

The cave was closed off by a rockfall of approximately 23,000 years BP and remained sealed until its rediscovery on December 18, 1994, by a group of speleologists. The site has been closed to the public since then.

The Palace and Park of Fontainebleau has been influential for its architecture and interior decor made by Italian artists.

King Francis I, who reigned from 1515-1547, brought in painters, sculptors and architects from Italy to ornate this palace with its many frescoes and sculptures.

The chateau introduced to France the Italian Mannerist style in interior decoration and in gardens.

The castle as it is today is the work of many French monarchs, building on the structure of Francis I: from Henri IV to Louis XVI and Napoleon. At Fontainebleau Napoleon bade farewell and went into exile to Elba in 1814.

The Fortifications of Vauban are twelve groups of fortified buildings that form a defensive ring around France.

They were constructed by Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban (1633-1707), military engineer of King Louis XIV and influential far beyond the French borders. The remaining sites include both fortifications and various kinds of military buildings.

The 12 sites selected to be part of the World Heritage are:

• Arras: citadel
• Besançon: citadel, city walls and Fort Griffon
• Blaye-Cussac-Fort-Médoc: citadel of Blaye, city walls, Fort Paté and Fort Médoc
• Briançon: city walls, Redoute des Salettes, Fort des Trois-Têtes, Fort du Randouillet, ouvrage de la communication Y and the Asfeld Bridge
• Camaret-sur-Mer: Tour dorée (lit. "Golden Tower") aka. Tour Vauban
• Longwy: ville neuve
• Mont-Dauphin: place forte
• Mont-Louis: citadel and city walls
• Neuf-Brisach: ville neuve/Breisach (Germany): gateway of the Rhine
• Saint-Martin-de-Ré: city walls and citadel
• Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue/Tatihou: watchtowers
• Villefranche-de-Conflent: city walls, Fort Libéria and Cova Bastera

The Historic Fortified City of Carcassonne is a medieval town which structure has evolved since the Late Roman period.

The site consists of 3km long fortifications, which enclose the castle, medieval town cathedral.

The fortress was thoroughly restored from 1853 by the theorist and architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. This restoration has been strongly criticized, as it was not overly authentic (for example in the use of slates, where local practice was traditionally of tile roofing).

The French Austral Lands and Seas is a group of extremely isolated volcanic islands in the sub-Antarctic region.

It covers the Crozet Archipelago, Kerguelen Islands and Amsterdam and St Paul Islands. They are known for their marine birds (especially the world’s largest colony of King Penguins) and mammals such as seals and dolphins.

The Great Spa Towns of Europe are a group of eleven spa towns from seven countries.

They represent the development of European spa tradition from its roots in the antiquity to the peak in the 19th and early 20th century.

The included towns are:  Baden bei Wien (Austria), Vichy (France), Spa (Belgium), Bath (UK), Montecatini Terme (Italy), Baden-Baden, Bad Kissingen, Bad Ems (all Germany) and Karlovy Vary, Mariánské Lázně, Františkovy Lázně (all Czechia).

Gulf of Porto: Calanche of Piana, Gulf of Girolata, Scandola Reserve is a natural area with dramatic geological landforms and wealthy undersea life.

It also is the habitat of the rare osprey, peregrine falcons and bearded vultures. The Gulf is situated on the western coast of Corsica, between Punta Muchillina and Punta Nera.

The sheer cliffs of the Gulf contain many grottos and are flanked by numerous stacks and almost inaccessible islets and coves. The coastline is also noted for its red cliffs, some 900 metres high, sand beaches, and headlands.

The Lagoons of New Caledonia: Reef Diversity and Associated Ecosystems comprise a group of six lagoons that contain coral reef ecosystems with great species diversity and a high level of endemism.

It is home to endangered dugongs and an important nesting site for the Green Sea Turtle. New Caledonia is an Endemic Bird Area with 23 species being found only in New Caledonia.

This reef system is one of the largest in the world. It covers 23,400 km2. The six designated lagoons are:

• Grand Lagon Sud
• Zone Côtière Ouest
• Zone Côtière Nord-Est
• Grand Lagon Nord
• Atolls d’Entrecasteaux
• Atoll d’Ouvéa et Beautemps-Beaupré

Le Havre, the city rebuilt by Auguste Perret, is an outstanding post-war example of urban planning and architecture.

As a result of numerous air-raids during World War Two, the port of Le Havre lost its administrative and cultural center as well as much of its housing in the center of the city. 5000 people died and more than 80,000 people were left homeless.

Reconstruction planning began in 1945 with Auguste Perret as chief architect and city planner. It lasted until 1964. Historical patterns like streets and squares were preserved, as well as the 16th-century cathedral and 19th-century law courts that survived the bombings. Modernist buildings based on reinforced concrete were added.

The Loire Valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes is a cultural landscape symbolic of human interaction with the river Loire. It comprises historic towns and villages, great castles and cultivated lands, mainly tracing back to the Renaissance and the Age of the Enlightenment.

The designated area covers a 200km long, thin stretch of land along the river. It includes the towns of Blois, Chinon, Orléans, Saumur and Tours.

The site is an extension to the Castle of Chambord, which was already a separate WHS since 1981. This is one of the most recognizable châteaux in the world because of its very distinct French Renaissance architecture.

Lyon has been a flourishing trading city since Roman times.

It owes that continuous prosperity to its strategic location at the confluence of the Rhône and Saône rivers. The city was known especially for the silk trade, but it also held important financial institutions and an early printing industry.

Lyon was founded as Lugdunum in 43 BC. Under Roman rule it was connected by a network of roads, and it even held the headquarters of the Imperial government. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Lyon subsequently became part of Lotharingia, Burgundy, the Holy Roman Empire and (the Kingdom of) France respectively. From the 16th century onwards the city expanded beyond its traditional quarters at the Croix-Rousse and Fourvière hills.

Mont-Saint-Michel and its Bay is characterized by the rocky tidal island that holds a 11th-century Benedictine abbey and a fortified medieval village. The complex was built at a unique natural location, resulting in an unforgettable silhouette.

The tides in the Bay can vary greatly, at roughly 14 metres (46 ft) between high and low watermarks. The coastal flats have been polderised to create pastureland.

The monastery was an important place in medieval Christianity. It was dedicated to the archangel St Michael. The first monastic establishment here dates from the 8th century.

The core zone also includes the Old Windmill of Moidrey, which is located on the top of a hill adjacent to the Bay. The Mill was built in 1806 to produce flour.

Place Stanislas, Place de la Carrière, and Place d'Alliance in Nancy are 18th-century works of urban planning. The three squares and the surrounding monuments sprouted from the brain of the Polish king and duke of Lorraine, Stanislaw Leszczynsk.

The responsible architect was Emmanuel Héré. The project was carried out from 1752 to 1756. The squares are embellished with statues, fountains and a triumphal arch. Characteristic are the gilded gates and ornaments.

The squares hold a public function as well: the Opera, the Town Hall, Courts of Law, a library and a botanical garden can be accessed from here. The monuments link the medieval old town of Nancy and the new town built under Charles III in the 17th century.

Nice is a city on the Côte d'Azur, also known as the French Riviera, whose urban development over two centuries was almost entirely the product of the tourist industry.

In the 18th century Nice became a popular winter destination for English aristocrats. At the end of the 19th century, tourism expanded to all wealthy classes and finally became a mass phenomenon in the 20th century. The earliest architectural evidence of this evolution to a tourist hotspot is the Vila Nova, including the Promenade de Anglais. Then, the city expanded westwards and onto the hills to the north, where villa quarters and luxury hotels were built in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin is a mining and industrial cultural landscape along a 120km long coal seam in the far north of France.

It was created from the 18th to the 20th centuries, mostly after France lost its access to Belgian mines in 1815. It reached its peak in the 1930s, when it became one the leading coal-production regions in Europe. It then attracted 75,000 foreign workers. The last mine in the area closed in 1990.

This is a serial site consisting of 109 parts, spread out over 13 mining company complexes. Elements include pits, slag heaps, railway stations and mining villages with schools, religious and community buildings.

The Roman Theatre and its Surroundings and the "Triumphal Arch" of Orange comprise two of the best remaining examples of Roman theatres and arches.

The Theatre was built between 10 and 25 A.D., as one of the first Roman public buildings in this region. It owes its fame mainly because of its imposing façade or stage wall, which is 103 meters long, 1.80 meters thick and 37 meters high.

The Triumphal Arch was a commemorative urban arch acting as the gateway to the town and celebrating its Roman founders.

Roman Orange was founded in 35 BC by veterans of the Second Gallica Roman legion as Arausio. It was the capital of a wide area of northern Provence, which was parcelled up into lots for the Roman colonists.

Paris on the banks of the Seine stretches from Saint-Chapelle and the Notre Dame in the east to the Eiffel Tower in the west. Along this kilometers long route one can find many of the main treasures of the French capital.

The Notre Dame is one of the eldest monuments: it's construction dates from the 12th century. Nearby Saint-Chapelle has the same age. Both are on the Ile de la Cité. This little island is linked with the rest of the city via many bridges, of which the Pont Neuf is the most famous.

In the middle of the route there are the two major museums: the Louvre and the Gare d'Orsay (a former train station). This is also the part where the spacious Place de la Concorde and the Egyptian Obelisk are situated.

The Eiffel Tower is at the end of the route. Built for the 1897 world fair, it still stands strong as the number one symbol for Paris.

The 'Pitons, cirques and remparts' of Reunion Island are renowned for their visually striking landscape and remaining high numbers of endemic plant species.

The site consists of two adjoining volcanic massifs, with remparts (steep rock walls) and cirques (imposing natural amphitheaters) that evolved due to erosion and volcanism.

The site corresponds with the core zone of La Réunion national park, which protects the middle and upper slopes of the two peaks. The park covers more than 40% of Reunion Island. The volcanos are the dormant Piton de Neiges (3,071m) and the highly active Piton de la Fournaise (2,632m).  The Pitons are covered with subtropical rainforests and cloud forests. It is a global centre of plant diversity with a high degree of endemism within the Mascarene archipelago.

Pont du Gard (Roman Aqueduct) is one of the oldest and most remarkable Roman hydraulic works.

The bridge is 48.77m high, has three levels and was built in ca. 20 BC (newer excavations, however, suggest the construction may have taken place between 40 and 60 AD). It crosses the river Gardon near Nimes (south of France).

The aqueduct originally carried water from a source at the Fontaine d'Eure near Ucetia (Uzès) to a delivery tank or castellum divisorum in Nemausus (Nîmes), from where it was distributed to fountains, baths and private homes around the city. Although the straight-line distance between the two is only about 20 km, the aqueduct takes a winding route measuring around 50 km to avoid the Garrigue hills above Nîmes.

The Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps are the remains of prehistoric stilt houses at the edges of lakes and rivers.

The site consists of 111 locations, spread out over 6 countries. They date from 5,000 to 500 BC, and represent the life of early agrarian communities in Europe.

Rising water levels since prehistory led to the abandonment of settlements which were then covered by lake and river sediments. About 30 different cultural groups were responsible for creating these pile dwellings.

The Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe cover forests of the European beech in 18 countries.

They comprise the largest remaining 'virgin' forests of the European beech ('Fagus sylvatica'). They also hold the largest and tallest beech specimens in the world.

The European beech is a very adaptable species and it is spread across areas of different altitudinal zones, with different climatic and geological conditions. 

Provins, Town of Medieval Fairs, is the best-preserved example of a town developed for fairs in the Champagne region.

It was home to fairs from 1120, and served as a model for later fair traditions in for example Brugge and the Hanseatic cities. The Counts of Champagne reduced tolls to encourage merchants to use their roads and also implemented a "safe-conduct" escort system for those attending the fairs to protect people and goods en route.

The area consists of the Upper Town and the Lower Town. Provins originated from the Castle, which was fortified in the 11th and 12th centuries. Remains in the Upper Town include small houses built in stone and timber-framed construction and the Tour de César with its remarkable donjon. In the Lower Town there are several churches, storage areas for use during the fairs, mills, washbasins, tanneries related to the textile handicraft and a sophisticated water management system of canals.

Pyrénées - Mont Perdu is a visually dramatic mountain landscape centered around the peak of Mont Perdu.

The protected area lies at the tectonic collision point of the Iberian and west European plates, and on the border between Spain and France. The Mont Perdu mountain range is the centerpiece of the Pyrénées and has several important geological, scenic and botanical values. It features many lakes, canyons, cirques and distinctive alpine flora. The most magnificent of the fauna species found here is the Lammergeier (Bearded Vulture). 

The site also is a cultural landscape, where the centuries-old transhumant system of grazing continues within the area with frequent movement of herds across the French-Spanish border.

The Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Former Abbey of Saint-Remi and Palace of Tau, Reims are renowned for their Gothic art and - as part of the coronation ceremony - are directly linked to the history of the French monarchy.

The cathedral is one of the great French cathedrals of the 13th century and one of the masterpieces of the classical Gothic style (along with the ones in Chartres and Amiens). The facade of the Reims cathedral is said to have the best sculptures.

The old archiepiscopal Palace of Tau also played an important step role in the coronation ceremony of the French monarchy (the banquet was held there). The Former Abbey of Saint-Remi has conserved the relics of Saint Remi (died 553), the Bishop of Reims who converted Clovis, King of the Franks, to Christianity. The abbey church is a magnificent example of medieval architecture.

The Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France represent several sites related to the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

They comprise churches, bridges, hospitals and other wayside constructions along the four main and a number of subsidiary pilgrimage routes to Santiago.

Major monuments included are:

• The Romanesque church of Sainte-Foy at Conques
• The church of Saint-Pierre at Moissac
• The basilical church of Saint-Sernin in Toulouse
• The collegiate church of Neuvy-Saint-Sépulchre
• Village of Rocamadour

"From the Great Saltworks of Salins-les-Bains to the Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans, the production of open-pan salt" represent the extraction and production of salt from the middle ages to the 20th century.

Salins-les-Bains and Arc-et-Senans were connected by a brine pipeline.

Arc-et-Senans is also notable as an early Enlightenment architectural project to rationalize industrial buildings and processes according to a philosophical order. The saltworks' buildings were designed by architect Claude-Nicolas Ledoux. Construction began in 1775 during the reign of Louis XVI. The semicircular complex was planned to reflect a hierarchical organization of work. It was to have been enlarged with the building of an ideal city, but that project was never constructed.

The Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion is a cultural landscape dedicated to winemaking.

The Romans planted vineyards in what was to become Saint-Émilion as early as the 2nd century AD. Saint-Émilion is one of the four principal red wine areas of Bordeaux. Most of the vine-related monuments date from the 18th and 19th centuries.

The towns in this region hold a number of historic monuments. They include:

• the Pierrefitte menhir
• the Monolithic Church and the Collegiate Church of Saint-Emillion
• various wine chateaus

The area is also on the Pilgrimage Route to Santiago de Compostela, from which it derived great prosperity.

The Abbey Church of Saint-Savin sur Gartempe is an 11th century Romanesque church noted for its well-preserved mural paintings.

These painted biblical scenes date from the late 11th, early 12th centuries, and have given the church the nickname of "Romanesque Sistine Chapel".

Below the church is the Crypt of the legendary martyr brothers St Savin and St Cyprian, also frescoed with the lives of these two saints.

Strasbourg, Grande-île and Neustadt comprises the medieval historic centre of Strasbourg including its Cathedral and its German-built New Town.

The Grand Ile started out as the Roman camp of Argentoratum, and developed itself into the free city of Strasbourg. It was an important commercial centre in the Middle Ages. 

The gothic Cathedral was started in the late 12th century. A team coming from Chartres suggested a high gothic design. Pink sandstone from the Vosges was used for the construction. It has one 142m high filigree spire. The height of this spire was unequaled until the 19th century: it was the world's tallest building from 1647 to 1874. The design of the cathedral became very influential in Germany.

The ensemble on the island Grand Ile also consists of several old churches and a network of (post-)medieval streets. Their names reflect the guild movement, from the tonneliers to the tanners. Black and white timber-framed buildings adorn the streets. 

Taputapuātea is a sacral site and cultural landscape on Ra’iatea Island (part of the Society Islands) in French Polynesia.

It consists of several archaeological sites and marae (temples). Its main feature is the Taputapuātea marae complex, constructed from the 14th -18th centuries which is considered the central temple of Eastern Polynesia and which has a strong oral tradition connected with it. It is of continuing importance to a living culture: the sites fell into disrepair after the Europeans settled in this area, but were restored in 1968 and as recent as the 1990s.

The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier comprises 17 locations designed by the renowned French-Swiss architect, who is seen as one of the pioneers of modern architecture.

The series shows the dissemination of his ideas over the world during a period of 50 years.

The locations span seven countries on three continents. 10 are situated in France and 2 in Switzerland, the homelands of Le Corbusier (born in Switzerland, became a French citizen). But also Chandigarh (India), National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo (Japan) and Casa Curutchet (Argentina) are included.

The Palace and Park of Versailles have had a large influence on the artistic form of other palaces and gardens in Europe. It is a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy and its court life of the Ancien Régime.

The Palace started out as a small royal hunting lodge. From 1661, King Louis XIV expanded into one of the largest palaces in the world, and moved his court and government to Versailles. Versailles became the unofficial capital where government affairs were conducted during the reigns of the Kings Louis XIV, XV en XVI. It was used intermittently between 1682 and 1789.

After the First World War, Versailles hosted the opening of the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. Germany was blamed for causing the First World War in the Treaty of Versailles which had to be signed in the same room on 28 June 1919.

Vézelay, Church and Hill comprise the Benedictine Vézelay Abbey and the surrounding hill town.

A monastery has existed here since the 9th century: the buildings have been rebuilt several times since. The last major refurbishement started in 1840 and was executed by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. He restored the Romanesque church to its former glory after centuries of neglect had left it to ruins.

Vézelay Abbey was a major starting point for pilgrims on the Way of St. James to Santiago de Compostela. The church was an important place of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages as it kept relics of Mary Magdalene. It also is strongly connected to the Crusades: St Bernard preached the Second Crusade there in 1146 and Richard the Lion-Hearted and Philip II Augustus met there to leave for the Third Crusade in 1190.

The Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley comprise a complex of 15 caves and other archaeological sites, which lie in an area of ​​30 by 40 kilometers along the Vézère river in the Dordogne.

The sites include the finding places of skeletons of early modern people such as the Cro-Magnon man and of their utensils. Most characteristic, however, are the caves, such as those of Lascaux, which were painted during the Upper Paleolithic (around 17,000 years ago). They consist mostly of realistic images of large animals, including aurochs, most of which are known from fossil evidence to have lived in the area at the time.

Ivindo National Park is a national park encompassing forests and wetland clearings.

Its old-growth forests are home to an exceptional biodiversity (birds, monkeys, other mammals) and constitute a laboratory for the study of speciation processes, particularly concerning insects and fish. They are home to the largest concentration of elephants and gorillas in Gabon. There are also spectacular waterfalls.

The Ecosystem and Relict Cultural Landscape of Lopé-Okanda has seen over 400.000 years of almost continuous human settlement.

Its setting can be characterized by the co-existence of tropical rainforest and savannah ecosystems.

The area holds evidence of ironworking and some 1,800 petroglyphs.

Kunta Kinteh Island (James Island) and Related sites represent the first African-European trade route to the inland of Africa and the beginning and the conclusion of the West African slave trade.

The designated area consists of 7 separate locations:

• James Island
• Six-Gun Battery
• Fort Bullen
• Ruins of San Domingo
• Remains of Portuguese Chapel
• CFAO Building
• Maurel Frères Building

They are located along the Gambia River.

The Stone Circles of Senegambia are the largest group of megalithic complexes yet recorded in any region of the world.

There are 1,053 Stone circles and a total of 28,931 monoliths. Their quality suggests sophisticated stone working traditions. All circles are found near burial mounds. Their date and purpose are still a matter of debate. The 8 to 14 stones in each circle vary in size up to ten-ton stones, from 1 to 2.5 metres high and are generally of laterite.

The stone circles lie in Gambia north of Janjanbureh and in central Senegal. Four separate locations were chosen to represent the complex:

• Kerbatch Central River Division (Gambia)
• Wassu Central River Division (Gambia)
• Sine Ngayène Kaolack (Senegal)
• Wanar Kaolack (Senegal)

The Colchic Wetlands and Forests is a serial nomination with seven components of two warm-temperate humid ecosystems.

It consists of low altitude wetlands of bogs and mire, close to the Black Sea on one side, and on the other side, higher altitude ancient deciduous rainforests.

Gelati Monastery is the distinctive expression of the flowering of feudal monarchy in medieval Georgia.

The Gelati Monastery (near Kutaisi) was founded in 1106. It remained for a long time one of the main cultural and enlightening centers in old Georgia. It had an Academy which employed the most celebrated Georgian scientists, theologians and philosophers. The Gelati Monastery has preserved a great number of murals and manuscripts dating back to the 12th-17th centuries.

The Historical Monuments of Mtskheta are three medieval religious buildings in the former capital of the East Georgian Kingdom of Kartli.

Here Georgians accepted Christianity in 317 and Mtskheta still remains the headquarters of the Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church.

The included monuments are:

• Jvari Monastery: a sixth-century Georgian Orthodox monastery, standing on the rocky mountaintop at the confluence of the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers
• Svetitstkhoveli Cathedral: since long the principal Georgian church and presently functions as the seat of the archbishop of Mtskheta and Tbilisi; the current cathedral was built in the eleventh century
• Samtavro Monastery: includes a church and nunnery, dating from the 11th century

Upper Svaneti is a mountainous region known for its unique 3- to 5-storeyed tower houses dating from the Middle Ages.

The region is inhabited by the Svans, an ethnographic group of the Georgian people. Their villages have retained their medieval appearance and traditional land-use. The villages also hold small Georgian Orthodox churches and various fortified buildings. The core zone is limited to the village of Chazhashi in Ushguli community.

The Aachen Cathedral with its Palatine Chapel is the oldest in Northern Europe and has high symbolic value. It dates from about 800 AD.

The Emperor Charlemagne himself had overseen the construction work, until it finally complied with his wishes. What they actually had built was a palace for him, of which now only the church remains.

During the 14th and 15th centuries new features as the choir were added to the church, in the then fashionable Gothic style. More additions followed in the following centuries, the 74 meters high tower as recent as 1884. Obviously this permanent (re)construction of the Cathedral lead to a mixture of styles.

Charlemagne died in 814, and was buried in his own Cathedral. His bones are still preserved in the Shrine of Charles.

The Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch are rare surviving monuments of the era of Charlemagne.

The abbey was founded in 764 by the Frankish Count Cancor as a proprietary church and monastery on his estate. It became a place of pilgrimage after obtaining the body of Saint Nazarius. Popes and emperors repeatedly favoured the abbey with privileges and estates ranging from the Alps to the North Sea, so that in a short time it became not only immensely rich, but also a seat of political influence.

Its chronicle, entered in the Lorscher Codex compiled in the 1170s (now in the state archive at Würzburg) is a fundamental document for early medieval German history. Another famous document from the monastic library is the Codex Aureus of Lorsch.

The Town of Bamberg is listed as a World Heritage Site primarily because of its authentic medieval appearance. From the 10th century onwards, its town layout and architecture has been a great influence in Central Europe.

Some of the main monuments are:

• Cathedral (1237), with the tombs of emperor Henry II and Pope Clement II
• Alte Hofhaltung, residence of the bishops in the 16th and 17th centuries
• Neue Residenz, residence of the bishops after the 17th century
• Old Town Hall (1386), built in the middle of the Regnitz River, accessible by two bridges
• Klein-Venedig ("Little Venice"), a colony of picturesque fishermen's houses from the 19th century along one side of the river Regnitz.
• Michaelsberg Abbey, built in the 12th century on one of Bamberg's "Seven Hills"
• Altenburg, castle, former residence of the bishops

The Bauhaus and its Sites in Weimar, Dessau and Bernau are the most prominent representations of the Bauhaus architectural school (1919-1933).

The "Staatliche Bauhaus" was founded in Weimar in 1919 by Walter Gropius. In Weimar the Art School, the Applied Art School and the Haus am Horn are inscribed. The Art Schools were designed by the Belgian master Henry van de Velde. The Haus am Horn was the first practical statement: a Bauhaus settlement of single-family houses like this was planned. Due to political pressure, the Bauhaus had to leave Weimar in 1925.

They ended up in Dessau, where the second (and more successful) phase of Bauhaus started. Prominent here were Hannes Meyer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. In Dessau, the designated sites are the Bauhaus building and the group of seven Masters Houses. Especially the Bauhaus building, made out of concrete, glass and steel, is a landmark in 20th-century architecture. The main monument in Bernau is the ADGB Trade Union School.

The Water features and Hercules within the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe is a monumental Baroque and Romantic garden landscape.

Water descends from the Giant statue of Hercules, passing a water-wheel-powered organ, various fountains, waterfalls, basins and grottoes. The dramatic water displays were laid out by Landgrave Carl of Hesse-Kassel from 1689 on, to display his power as an absolute ruler. He derived his ideas from Italian, French and English examples of garden art. The Italian architect Giovanni Francesco Guerniero was hired for the design.

The site also includes the Neo-classical Wilhelmshöhe Palace (1785) and the Gothic Revival Löwenburg Castle (1793). The statue of Hercules is 70.5m high and is made of copper.

The "Berlin Modernism Housing Estates" represent low income housing architecture from the early 20th century.

Bruno Taut, Martin Wagner and Walter Gropius were among the leading architects of these projects which exercised considerable influence on the development of housing around the world.

The six included estates are:

• Tuschkastensiedlung Falkenberg, 1913-16, by Bruno Taut
• Wohnstadt Carl Legien in Prenzlauer Berg, 1928-30, by Bruno Taut
• Ringsiedlung in Siemensstadt,1929-34, by Hans Scharoun and Martin Wagner
• Hufeisensiedlung Britz, 1925-30, by Bruno Taut
• Siedlung Schillerpark im Wedding, 1924-30, by Bruno Taut
• Weiße Stadt in Reinickendorf, 1929-31, by Otto Rudolf Salivsberg and Martin Wagner

The Augustusburg and Falkenlust castles in Brühl are considered masterpieces of the rococo. They were developed in the 18th century for Clemens August, the archbishop and worldly ruler of Cologne.

Construction of Augustusburg was started in 1725. First Johann Conrad Schlaun was appointed as architect, but August wanted something more modern and after 3 years hired Francois Cuvilliés. He made the castle into what it is now, with a lot of help of other artists like Balthasar Neumann who is responsible for the magnificent marble staircase.

Nearby Falkenlust was built as a hunting castle. The responsible architects here were Cuviliés and Leveilly. Also worth mentioning is the garden of Augustusburg. It was designed in Versailles-style by the Frenchman Dominique Girard.

The Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura comprise archaeological sites from the Aurignacian period where stone tools, figurative art and early musical instruments have been found.

It covers 2 locations with 3 caves each: the Ach Valley and the Lone River. The objects were carved from various materials, including mammoth ivory. Notable finding include the figurines of the ‘Venus of Hohle Fels’ and the ‘Lion Man’.

The ensemble "Classical Weimar" reflects a period in history when this East German town was the cultural heart of Europe. This was made possible by the patronage of (initially) Duchess Anna Amalia and (later) Duke Carl August.

Goethe made Weimar his home in 1775, and Herder and Schiller followed his example. The following monuments are included:

• Goethe's House
• Schiller's House
• City Church, Herder House, and Old High School
• The City Castle
• The Dowager's Palace
• The Duchess Anna Amalia Library
• The Princes' Tomb and the Historic Cemetery
• The Park on the Ilm with the Roman House, Goethe's Garden, and Garden House
• The Belvedere Castle, Orangery, and Park
• Tiefurt Castle and Park
• Ettersburg Castle and Park

The Cologne Cathedral is the highest expression of the Gothic Cathedral architectonic form that developed over the 12th and 13th centuries in Europe.

Already in 1248, the construction of the Cathedral was started. Until 1560 the work on this Gothic Cathedral was in progress, but an accumulation of problems prevented it to be finished.

Only during the 19th century the Cathedral was finally completed, stimulated by Emperor William I. Not anymore as a pure construction to honor God, but also as a national Prussian symbol.

The Carolingian Westwork and Civitas Corvey comprise an early Christian monastic complex.

It has the oldest surviving example of a Westwerk, a massive, tower-like western front typical of Carolingian churches. It also shows a rare cycle of mural paintings depicting classic mythological subjects applied to a religious building.

The complex lies in a rural area and was built between between 822 and 885. Its name, Nova Corbeia, derives from the mother monastery Corbie in the North of France.

Frontiers of the Roman Empire – The Danube Limes (Western Segment) is a serial transnational site that comprises the remains of the Roman border along the Danube river.

• The German part consists of 24 locations between Eining near Regensburg and Passau near the Austrian border. The eastern end of the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes is directly adjacent to the Danube Limes. The majority of the structures are preserved below ground, original remains are visible at Bad Gögging (thermal baths), Regensburg (Porta Praetoria, included in the WHS Old Town of Regensburg), and at the Roman Museum Boiotro in Passau.
• The Austrian part consists of 47 locations between the German border close to Passau (Bavaria) and the Slovakian border near Bratislava. The majority of the structures are preserved below ground, visible remains can be found at Mautern, Traismauer, Tulln, Zeiselmauer, and Petronell-Carnutum.
• The Limes Romanus in Slovakia comprises 6 locations, centered around the remains of the Roman military camp Gerulata in Rusovce (Bratislava) and the military fortress Kelemantia in Iza. They date from the 1st and 2nd century respectively.

The Fagus Factory, an operational shoe last factory, is an important example of early modern architecture.

The construction of the architectural complex started in 1911. It was built by the architect Walter Gropius. Light was required for work purposes: this lead to an almost entirely glazed building, via the innovative use of "curtain walls" (vast glass panels). It was a major break with the existing architectural and decorative values of the time.

The site contains 10 buildings, including a sawmill. Although constructed with different systems, all of the buildings on the site give a common image and appear as a unified whole. All buildings have a base of about 40cm of black brick and the rest is built of yellow bricks.

The Frontiers of the Roman Empire is a serial site that comprises parts of the Limes Romanus, a border defense or delimiting system of Ancient Rome.

The two sections of the Upper German-Raetian Limes in Germany cover a length of 550 km from the north-west of the country to the Danube in the south-east.

The Hadrian's Wall was built under the orders of the Roman Emperor Hadrian in AD 122. It took soldiers six years to build a wall 80 Roman miles long (117km) on the border of what is now England and Scotland. Emperor Hadrian built this wall "to separate Romans from Barbarians": it formed the most northern border of his empire. Later, there was some Roman expansion further north, resulting in the Antonine Wall.

The Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz is a series of landscape parks developed in the 18th century by Prince Leopold III Friedrich Franz of Anhalt-Dessau and his friend and adviser Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff.

Inspired by trips abroad (Italy, England) they were the first to introduce landscape gardening to continental Europe. They also applied the philosophical principles of the Age of Enlightenment to their landscape design: the result should not only be pretty to the eye, but also educative.

The worldheritage listed sites within the Garden Kingdom include the Kühnauer Park, the Georgium (in Dessau), the Luisium, Oranienbaum, Wörlitz Park and many small ornaments along the road.

The Great Spa Towns of Europe are a group of eleven spa towns from seven countries.

They represent the development of European spa tradition from its roots in the antiquity to the peak in the 19th and early 20th century.

The included towns are:  Baden bei Wien (Austria), Vichy (France), Spa (Belgium), Bath (UK), Montecatini Terme (Italy), Baden-Baden, Bad Kissingen, Bad Ems (all Germany) and Karlovy Vary, Mariánské Lázně, Františkovy Lázně (all Czechia).

The Archaeological Border Complex of Hedeby and the Danevirke is a relict cultural landscape of a trading centre between Western and Northern Europe.

The designated area consists of a 33km long fortification, the Danevirke, and the archaeological site of the trading town Hedeby. The site consists of 22 locations, mainly segments of the former border wall. The Danevirke consists of several walls, trenches and the Schlei Barrier.

Hedeby became a principal marketplace because of its geographical location on the major trade routes between the Frankish Empire and Scandinavia (north-south), and between the Baltic and the North Sea (east-west). Between 800 and 1000 the growing economic power of the Vikings led to its dramatic expansion as a major trading centre.

St. Mary's Cathedral and St. Michael's Church at Hildesheim are two inseparable monuments that are an exceptional testimony to the religious art of the Holy Roman Empire.

St. Mary's Cathedral was built between 1010 and 1020 in Romanesque style. It follows a symmetrical plan with two apses, which is characteristic of Ottonic Romanesque architecture in Old Saxony. The cathedral is famous for its many works of art, such as the bronze doors (1015) with reliefs from the history of Adam and of Jesus Christ, and a bronze column 15 ft. high (dating from 1020) adorned with reliefs from the life of Christ.

The Church of St. Michael also is an early-Romanesque church. It was founded in ca. 1010 by Bishop Bernward. The church has a famous painted ceiling, with 1300 pieces of wood, and was the original location of the bronze Bernward doors (now in the Cathedral).

The Lower German Limes was the north-eastern border of the Roman province Germania Inferior along the Rhine between the North Sea coast in the Netherlands and the Rhine south of Bonn where the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes starts.

They include the traces of military fortifications, roads, settlements, an aqueduct and canals, often now buried in wetland. The long linear frontier made the Roman army adapt to the use of smaller military installations instead of big operational bases. The frontier was far from impregnable, and allowed for trade and cultural exchange. The German part consists of 64 components and includes the remains of forts, legionary camps, civil settlements, cemeteries and roads. Most of the structures have been preserved underground. Original remains are visible at the Archaeological Park Xanten, the Haus Bürgel in Monheim, the Cologne Praetorium, and in Iversheim. The Dutch part of The Lower German Limes comprises 38 locations.

The Hanseatic City of Lübeck was leading among this league of merchant cities which held a monopoly over the trade of the Baltic Sea and the North Sea.

The functioning of the Hanseatic League is not only proof of early economic cooperation in Europe, but it also founded a social and cultural community that has left its mark throughout the region, particularly in the self-contained architectural world of brick Gothic. Parts of the medieval city of Lübeck were severely destroyed during the Second World War.

Included are three specific areas:

• the Burgkloster, Koberg and sections between the Glockengiesserstrasse and the Aegidienstrasse.
• the patrician residences between the Petrikirche and the Dom, the salt storehouses and the Holstentor.
• the heart of the city, with the Marienkirche, the Rathaus and the Marktplatz.

The Luther Memorials in Eisleben and Wittenberg bear testimony to the Protestant Reformation.

These two towns in former Eastern Germany are closely related to the lives of Martin Luther and his fellow-reformer Melanchthon. The site includes the houses in Eisleben where Luther was born in 1483 and died in 1546, his room in Wittenberg, the local church and the castle church where, on 31 October 1517, Luther posted his famous '95 Theses', which launched the Reformation and a new era in the religious and political history of the Western world.

The Margravial Opera House Bayreuth is an 18th-century Court Opera House. It is considered a masterwork of Baroque theatre architecture.

It is the sole surviving example of a Court Opera House in the world (many others have been destroyed by fires), and its layout, design and materials have been preserved mostly unchanged. As it is located in a public urban space instead of within the walls of a private residence, the Margravial Opera House can be seen as a precursor to the later great public opera houses.

This Opera House was built between 1745 and 1750. It was commissioned by Margravine Wilhelmine. The interior was designed by the Italian architect Giuseppe Galli Bibiena. It is a loge theatre with three tiers of loges, made out of wood and painted canvas. It could hold an audience of 500. It is still in use as a theatre.

Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt represents the architectural and artistical transition from Art Noveau to Modernism.

The artist colony was founded in 1899 by Ernst Ludwig, the Grand Duke of Hesse, and existed until 1914. As patron he invited famous designers and architects to Darmstadt, including Joseph Maria Olbrich and Peter Behrens. The Mathildenhöhe complex, divided across 2 locations, includes the exhibition buildings, the wedding tower, a plane grove with sculptures and pavillons, and several master houses.

Maulbronn Monastery Complex is the most complete surviving Cistercian monastic structure in Europe.

It includes an extensive water-management system of reservoirs and channels. The Cistercians laid out a network of approximately twenty natural and artificial lakes and ponds over several terraces. These were interconnected with an extensive system of trenches and canals.

This former monastery was founded in 1147. It further developed from the 12th to the 17th century. The main church was built in a transitional style from Romanesque to Gothic. It was of fundamental importance for the dissemination of Gothic architecture over much of northern and central Europe.

After the Reformation broke out, the Duke of Württemberg seized the monastery in 1504 and built his hunting lodge and stables there. Half a century later, the former abbey was given over to a Protestant seminary, which has occupied it ever since.

The Messel Pit Fossil contains unique fossils from the Eocene dating back 50 million years. The Messel Pit is a disused quarry, in an ancient lake bed, in which bituminous shale was mined.

The first animal fossil remains discovered were that of a crocodile found in 1875. Subsequent excavations have led to the identification of 40 species, including mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and insects.

The pit first became known for its wealth of fossils around 1900, but serious scientific excavation only started around the 1970s, when falling oil prices made the quarry uneconomical. Commercial oil shale mining ceased in 1971, and a cement factory built in the quarry failed the following year. The land was slotted for use as a landfill, but the plans came to nought, and the Hessian state bought the site in 1991 to secure scientific access.

Erzgebirge / Krušnohoří Mining Region is a mining region that has been used from the Middle Ages onwards.

The 95x45 km area is located in southeastern Germany (Saxony) and northwestern Czechia. Amongst the raw materials mined over the course of centuries were ores of the metals silver, tin, zinc, cobalt, nickel, copper and lead; but anthracite and uranium were also extracted into the 20th century. 

The Museumsinsel (Museum Island), Berlin, was made a WHS for its modern museum design and its concept to extend the art museum to all people (by choosing a central urban setting).

The development of part of the Spreeinsel into a Museumisland started in the 1820s with the construction of the Altes Museum. In 1841, a master plan destinated this island for the arts and sciences only. During the following century, four more museums were built:

• Neues Museum
• Nationalgalerie
• Bodemuseum
• Pergamonmuseum.

The buildings fell into disrepair after being bombed during World War II. 

Muskauer Park / Park Muzakowski is a mid 19th century landscape park.

It covers 3.5 square kilometres of land in Poland and 2.1 in Germany. The park extends on both sides of the Lusatian Neisse river, which constitutes the border between the countries.

The founder of the park was Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau (1785-1871), the author of the influential Hints on Landscape Gardening. He was the owner of Bad Muskau since 1811. After prolonged studies in England, in 1815 he founded the Park. As time went by, he established an international school of landscape management in Bad Muskau and outlined the construction of an extensive landscape park with the focus on 'improving' nature.

The Naumburg Cathedral contains artistic masterpieces of a medieval sculptor and his workshop, known as ‘the Naumburg Master’.

1. It is a 13th century romanesque former Cathedral (now a Protestant church).
2. Its gothic west choir holds a rood screen and the famous donor portrait statues of the twelve cathedral founders, all created by the Naumburg Master.
3. The Naumburg sculptures also have preserved their polychromy in singular condition.
4. The Cathedral has a double choir structure where both original rood screens have survived since 1300.

The Pilgrimage Church of Wies is considered a masterpiece of Bavarian Rococo.

The exuberant stucco work and frescoes in lively colours were made between 1745 and 1754 by the brothers Johann Baptist und Dominikus Zimmermann.

In 1738 a miracle appeared in this Alpine valley: tears were seen on a dilapidated wooden figure of the Scourged Saviour. This miracle resulted in a pilgrimage rush to see the sculpture. In 1740 a small chapel was built to house the statue, but it was soon realized that the building would be too small for the number of pilgrims it attracted, and thus Steingaden Abbey decided to commission a separate shrine.

The Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin are an eclectic artistic achievement, with influences from Italy, England, France, Flanders, Paris and Dresden.

Potsdam was the residence of the Prussian kings until 1918; its majestic buildings were built mainly during the reign of Frederick II the Great (1740-1786).

After three extensions in 1991, 1992 and 1999, the site now includes Sanssouci, New Palace, Charlottenhof, New Garden, Babelsberg Park, Sacrow estate, Linstedt, Bornsted, Alexandrovka and many more small buildings and parks.

The Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps are the remains of prehistoric stilt houses at the edges of lakes and rivers.

The site consists of 111 locations, spread out over 6 countries. They date from 5,000 to 500 BC, and represent the life of early agrarian communities in Europe.

Rising water levels since prehistory led to the abandonment of settlements which were then covered by lake and river sediments. About 30 different cultural groups were responsible for creating these pile dwellings.

The Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe cover forests of the European beech in 18 countries.

They comprise the largest remaining 'virgin' forests of the European beech ('Fagus sylvatica'). They also hold the largest and tallest beech specimens in the world.

The European beech is a very adaptable species and it is spread across areas of different altitudinal zones, with different climatic and geological conditions. 

Quedlinburg is a town with medieval origins that has a large number of high-quality timber-framed buildings. In 919, it became the first capital of the Saxonian-Ottonian dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire

The WHS encompasses the whole town, and consists of several separate areas:

• the historic town within the city walls (an ‘old’ and ‘new’ town, originating from the 10th and 12th centuries respectively, and adorned with many fine buildings during an economic boom in the 16th and 17th centuries).
• the Westendorf district around the Burgberg (Castle Hill) with the collegiate church of St. Servatius (holding the graves of the first German Royal couple) and the buildings of the Imperial foundation.
• St. Wipert’s church with its crypt (dating from ca. 1000).
• the Münzenberg: the traditionally poor part of the town, with 60 small timber-framed buildings.

The Mines of Rammelsberg, Historic Town of Goslar and Upper Harz Water Management System constitute of one of the largest mining and metallurgical complexes for non-ferrous metals in Europe.

The Rammelsberg mining complex was in continuous use for at least 1000 years, before it closed its doors in 1988 due to exhaustion. The uniqueness of this site lies in its long history of mining and metal production. A variety of metals were discovered here over the ages, including copper, zinc, lead, silver and gold.

The nearby town of Goslar owns its level of development to the mining industry. It achieved great prosperity in the late Middle Ages thanks to the revenues from mining, metal production and trade. Goslar also played an important role in the Hanseatic League. In and around Rammelsberg and Goslar a great number of monuments give testimony to this period in history, such as mine-owners houses, underground tunnels, and transportation tracks , office buildings and churches.

The Old town of Regensburg with Stadtamhof has an almost intact medieval city center with many romanesque and gothic buildings.

Regensburg was an important trading centre along the Danube. It was also home of the assemblies of the Holy Roman Empire in the High Middle Ages. Its roots lie in the Roman town of Castra Regina.

The 'Monastic Island of Reichenau' developed around an influential Benedictine Abbey from the year 724. It lies in Lake Constance in southern Germany.

The Abbey of Reichenau housed a school, and a scriptorium and artists' workshop, that has a claim to having been the largest and artistically most influential center for producing lavishly illuminated manuscripts in Europe during the late 10th and early 11th centuries, when this area belonged to the Holy Roman Empire.

The Abbey reached its apex under Abbot Berno of Reichenau (1008-1048). During his time, important scholars, such as Hermannus Contractus, lived and worked in Reichenau.

The ShUM cities of Speyer, Worms and Mainz refers to the cluster of three Jewish communities in the 11th century: Shpira (Sh), Warmaisa (W=U), and Magenza (M).

The three cities were centres of Jewish scholarship and of great importance for Ashkenazi Judaism. The specific customs and legal principles that developed there are still effective for Orthodox Judaism today. The cemetery in Worms and the ritual baths in Speyer and Worms have largely been preserved in their original form. The other components are the remains of the synagogue in Speyer and the cemetery in Mainz and the synagogue in Worms, which was reconstructed after World War II.

The Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District with Chilehaus are two commercial quarters with offices and warehouses close to the port of Hamburg.

They date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The iconic Chilehaus is a ten-story office building. It is an exceptional example of the 1920s Modernist architecture (Brick Expressionism style).

Speyer Cathedral is one of the most important Romanesque monuments from the time of the Holy Roman Empire.

The cathedral was inaugurated in 1061. Emperor Koenraad II wanted to honor a city of his choice with the biggest church of its time. This way Speyer was given the prestige of a real Royal Residence.

In 1689 the cathedral was almost totally destructed. Until today renovations are underway to save the building and reconstruct the interior in the original Romanesque style. Its architecture is a combination of eastern and western influences. The total length of the building is 134 meters, the highest point is 72 meters. The Crypt is still the original and harbors the graves of no less than 8 medieval German emperors and kings. 

Stralsund and Wismar are two historic coastal cities in north-eastern Germany, that owe WHS status because of their role in the Hanseatic League (13th to 15th centuries) and their Swedish heritage (17th and 18th centuries).

Both towns are rich in gothic religious architecture, sharing six major 'Gothic Brick' churches between them. They also feature unaltered medieval ground plans, and city centres that survived World War II almost unscathed.

This site is considered so closely related and complementary to the Hanseatic City of Lübeck WHS, that ICOMOS recommended turning them into a serial nomination.

The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier comprises 17 locations designed by the renowned French-Swiss architect, who is seen as one of the pioneers of modern architecture.

The series shows the dissemination of his ideas over the world during a period of 50 years.

The locations span seven countries on three continents. 10 are situated in France and 2 in Switzerland, the homelands of Le Corbusier (born in Switzerland, became a French citizen). But also Chandigarh (India), National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo (Japan) and Casa Curutchet (Argentina) are included.

The Town Hall and Roland on the Marketplace of Bremen represent the civic autonomy and market freedom during the Holy Roman Empire.

Both Town Hall and Roland are prominently placed on the marketplace of the Hanzestadt Bremen. Bremen today still is an autonomous federal land, situated in north-western Germany.

The Old Town Hall was built in 1409 and renovated in the 17th century. It was especially designed to act as a Town Hall, and used this way over the ages.

The Roland statue is 5,55 meter high and dates from 1404. It stands in front of the Town Hall, but faces sidewards to the church. Roland statues can be found in a number of German towns, they represent market rights and freedom.

The Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St. Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier are the testimonies of a Roman colony and its recognition of Christianity.

Julius Caesar conquered this territory in 57 BC and the 500-year-long Roman history of Trier began. The city became a crossroads and a commercial link between major towns in France and along the Rhine.

Trier has a classic rectangular layout, with the Forum (including the most important buildings) in the center. There were also several Roman Baths in town. The oldest preserved building is the Amphitheatre, dating from 100 AD.

During the reign of Constantine the Great (306-337), Trier became an even more splendid city. He built the Dome/Cathedral, the Imperial Baths, the Basilica and several more Christian places of worship (as this was the empire's new religion).

The Upper Middle Rhine Valley is a cultural landscape that has been formed by the transport of means and ideas for over 2,000 years.

The Middle Rhine Valley stretches for 65km between Koblenz and Mainz, in central Germany. This area is full of medieval castles, historic towns and vineyards. The rocky Rhine Valley was already a major traffic route in Roman times. During the Middle Ages, many castles were built. Its owners levied tolls on the roads and the river, in return for protection against robbers.

Navigating the Rhine itself was also dangerous: there are many currents. Especially the Binger Loch was an obstacle. For a long time, it took the power of 40 horses to tow a ship across this treacherous point. The Loreley is the most narrow and deepest point along the way. It's also famous for its echo, which features in many legends like the one about the siren Loreley who lures sailors with her voice.

The Völklingen Ironworks represent a modern ironmaking plant from the 19th and 20th centuries.

The 'Völklinger Hütte' was founded in 1873 by Julius Buch. Under the direction of the Röchling family (from 1881 on) it developed into one of the most important iron and steel works in Europe.

During its heydays, 17.000 people worked here. They manned the furnaces, stoves, coke ovens, and sintering machines. The entire process of pig iron production was executed in this 6 ha. large spot.

The iron works were closed in 1986.

The Wadden Sea is a shallow body of water with tidal flats and wetlands, rich in biological diversity

The word wad is Dutch for "mud flat". The area is typified by extensive tidal mud flats, deeper tidal trenches (tidal creeks) and the islands that are contained within this, a region continually contested by land and sea. The landscape has been formed for a great part by storm tides in the 10th to 14th centuries, overflowing and carrying away former peat land behind the coastal dunes. The present islands are a remnant of the former coastal dunes.

Wartburg Castle is seen as an "outstanding monument of the feudal period in central Europe".

The origins of Wartburg Castle date back to 1067. In that year a watching tower was constructed here by Ludwig der Springer.

Its current imposing shape started to develop with the construction of the Palas (the main body) in 1155. The Landgraves of Thuringia owned and expanded the castle from that time until the 15th century. The castle's history has been coloured with theological and artistic highlights rather than for military reasons. During 1521 and 1522 for example, Martin Luther lived here in exile. He made good use of his time by translating the New Testament into German.

The Water Management System of Augsburg has produced various technological innovations in the areas of waterways and drinking water supply.

The system consists of 22 different components, varying from hydroelectric power stations to fountains. It has its origins in the Middle Ages, when canals were built to bring water to the mills, tanneries, textile producers and goldsmiths. From 1545 there was a strict separation between drinking water and water for industry use.

The Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens and Residence Square represents a highlight in 18th-century Baroque palace architecture.

In 1720, the building of this baroque palace started at the request of Bishop Johann. It is made of yellow sandstone, which provides a golden glow. The palace has 300 rooms, spread over 3 wings.

The ceiling over the broad staircase is decorated with frescoes made by the Venetian master Tiepolo. The paintings date from 1753, and portray the god Apollo and the four continents. At the end of World War II, the Residence was partly wrecked by bombs. However, the ceilings (and paintings) did survive.

In the western wing lies the Hofkirche, an elegant red-golden church. The altar is decorated also with paintings of Tiepolo.

The Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Essen represents the development of traditional heavy industries in Europe, and the innovative architecture that was used.

Mining here started in the middle of the 19th century in the village of Katernberg. Because of its closeness to the major railway to Cologne, the site had the potential to grow.

And it did grow indeed. This culminated in the construction of shaft no. 12 in 1930, with its outer landmarks often named the Eiffel Tower of the Ruhr Area. The architects were Fritz Schupp and Martin Kremmer, for whom both functionality and aesthetic qualities counted.

The Asante Traditional Buildings are the only surviving examples of traditional Ashanti architecture.

Their design and construction, consisting of a timber framework filled up with clay and thatched with sheaves of leaves, is rare nowadays. All designated sites are shrines, but there have been many other buildings in the past in the same architectural style. The buildings consist of four rooms around a quadrangular courtyard. Three of the rooms (those for drumming, singing and cooking) are open, while the fourth (the actual shrine) is closed to all but the priest and his assistants. The inner courtyards are usually littered with fetishes. The shrine is home to Obosomfie, the spiritual abode of a deity, who manifests itself through a fetish priest. Some of the enlisted buildings still have priests, some don't.

The buildings traditionally have steep thatched roofs. Their lower walls are painted orange/red, and the upper walls are whitewashed. The walls hold symbolic murals, like those on the adinkra cloth.

"Forts and Castles, Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions" is the collective designation of Western-style fortifications and outposts (mostly Portuguese, Dutch and British) along the Gold Coast during the colonial period.

They were constructed as posts for the trade in gold and later slaves.

The term specifically applies to 28-35 ensembles designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979.

The Acropolis, Athens holds a group of monuments that have been influential from Antiquity to Neo-Classicism.

'Acropolis' means Upper City, although it hasn't been a city where people live since the 6th century BC. The monuments are situated on a 60 meter high rock that dominates Athens. Since the 5th century the Acropolis has city walls, turning it into a strong fortification.

On top of the rock, some of the best monuments of Classical Greece can be found: the Parthenon, the Propylaia, the Temple of Athena Nike and the Erechtheion (421-406). They all date from the 5th century BC.

The Archaeological Site of Aigai (modern name Vergina) became famous in 1977, when the tomb of Alexander the Great's father, King Philip of Macedon, was discovered there. This proved undoubtedly that Vergina was ancient Macedonia's first capital, Aegae.

Aegae was inhabited from the early Iron Age (1000-700 BC) onwards. It was the capital of the Macedonian state until King Archelaus transferred his seat to Pella. However, also then it remained customary for Macedonia's kings to be buried in the original capital.

Aegae flourished chiefly in the second half of the 4th century B.C. To this period belong the Palace, Theatre and the Tombs. In 168 B.C. the city was seized by the Romans and burnt down.

The Archaeological Site of Delphi comprises the remains of a sanctuary that was the "navel of the world" and had a huge impact on the ancient world.

Delphi reached its height in the 4th century BC, when large numbers of pilgrims came to ask advice of its oracle. The oracle, an old priestess, was believed to be Apollo's mouthpiece. She answered the visitor's questions (via a priest), inhaling the fumes of a chasm. In return, the pilgrims brought lots of votive gifts to the temple. Also city-states like Athens and Thebes contributed with treasuries and statues, thanking Apollo for supporting them in wars.

Delphi's fame dwindled in 191 BC, when it was taken by the Romans. It was totally closed down in the 4th century AD by Theodosius, who wanted to get rid of the pagan sanctuaries.

The Archaeological Site of Philippi comprises the ruins of a Macedon city, that saw its heyday in Roman and Early Christian times.

Philippi was founded in 356 BCE by King Phillip II (and named after himself), on a strategic location on the east-west route through his empire which was later reconstructed by the Romans as the Via Egnatia.

The city later became a center of Christian faith and place of pilgrimage, because according to the New Testament it had been visited by the Apostle Paul around 49 or 50 A.D. The first church in Philippi was established in the year 343.

The Old Town of Corfu is noted for its defence system dating from the Venetian period. It also has preserved its remarkable British Neoclassical housing of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Venetians built two fortresses to withstand the Ottomans, in 1555 and 1588 respectively. The British demolished most of them in the 19th century, during the period when Corfu was a British protectorate (1815-1864).

The Monasteries of Daphni, Hossios Luckas and Nea Moni of Chios are masterpieces of the 'second golden age of Byzantine art'.

The three monasteries date from the 11th and 12th century. They have the same typology and aesthetic features, with marble and mosaic decorations.

They are geographically distant from each other: the monastery of Daphni is located in Attica, near Athens, the Hossios Luckas is located in Phocida near Delphi, and the Nea Moni of Chios is on the Aegean island of Chios.

Delos is a small island and archaelogical site that is part of the Cyclades island group.

It has been made a WHS because of:

• its role in early archaeology,
• its part in Aegean history,
• its important role as cosmopolitan Mediterranean port from the 4th to the 1st century BC,
• it being the mythological birthplace of Apollo and Artemis.

The Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus is renowned for its influential healing cult and Hellenic architecture, especially its theatre.

To the ancient Greeks Asklepios was the God of Medicine. A son of Apollo, he was given the healing gift after his mother died at his birth.

From the 4th century BC, Epidauros became widely known as a sanctuary to Asclepius. There were temples and hospitals here, and people from as far as Rome to seek help. Treatments included licks from snakes. Also, every four years the Festival of Asclepieia took place at Epidaurus. Dramas were staged and athletic competitions were held. Today's best-preserved building - the theatre - links to this.

The Historic Centre (Chorá) with the Monastery of Saint John "the Theologian" and the Cave of the Apocalypse on the Island of Pátmos represent a traditional Greek Orthodox pilgrimage centre.

The designated area consists of 3 parts:

• Chorá: the town centre, including mostly 17th century small churches and residential houses
• Monastery of Hagios Ioannis Theologos: a castle-like structure that dominates the island (constructed in 1088)
• Cave of the Apocalypse: a holy place, venerated by both Catholics and Eastern Orthodox as the cave where St. John the Apostle had visions.

'Meteora' comprises a group of 7 monasteries, built on high rock pillars.

They were founded in the 14th and 15th centuries as an expression of life in solitude. They also offered protection in times of political instability. In the heydays there were 24 monasteries, now there are only 7 left of which 4 are still inhabited by monks or nuns.

The iconic sandstone rock pillars were created about 60 million years ago by the effects of rivers and earthquakes.

Mount Athos is a holy mountain that has been the spiritual centre of the orthodox world since 1054, and combines natural beauty with architectural creation.

It lies on a peninsula of about 50x10km in the Aegean Sea. The area, which is forbidden to women and children, includes 20 monasteries. They have been influential on religious architecture and iconographic painting. The Monastery of Great Lavra is the first monastery built and the most prominent. Its library has one of the richest collections of Greek manuscripts in the world.

Mount Athos is also home to 12 "sketes", communities of Christian hermits.

Mycenae and Tiryns were the two greatest cities of the Mycenaean civilisation.

Between 1600 and 1200 BC, its kingdom was the most powerful in Greece. Homer, in his Iliad and Odyssey, spoke of it as "rich in gold". Mycenae consisted of a fortified citadel and surrounding settlement. Its walls were 13 meters high, and 7 meters thick. The walls of the city of Tiryns are even more immense: in parts they are 20 meters thick.

The Myceneans prospered through their trade with eastern mediterranean neighbours like the Hittites and Egyptians. Around 1200 this all came to an end, and the palaces were destroyed.

The Archaeological Site of Mystras is a relict townscape from the 13th century.

After having conquered Constantinople in 1204, the Crusaders divided Greece among themselves. Small states were created. One of those was Mystras, established by Guillaume de Villehardouin. It started as a castle, but the inhabitants of nearby Sparta fled to this safe place and developed it into a city. At the end of the 14th century, Mystras was the centre of the Peloponnesus and flourished as never before. It also became an intellectual centre, where artists and writers found a refuge.

In 1460, Mystras fell into Turkish hands. It lost its grand status but remained a commercial centre where at one stage 42.000 people lived. The city finally came to its end after a fire in 1825.

The Archaeological Site of Olympia holds several masterpieces from the Ancient Greek world and was the site of the original Olympic Games.

Already in the 10th century BC, Olympia became a center of worship to Zeus. It flourished until AD 426, the year in which the emperor Theodosius II closed all the ancient sanctuaries.

Olympia now is mainly remembered for the games that were held here every 4 years. They existed even in prehistoric times, but got their Pan-Hellenic character in 776 BC. Victors won a crown with a branch of the olive tree that stood near the temple of Zeus.

Pythagoreion and the Heraion of Samos are the remains of two impressive classical architectural structures.

Pythagoreion was an ancient fortified port with Greek and Roman monuments. It holds the Tunnel of Eupalinos, of 1,036 m length and built in the 6th century BC. The tunnel is the second known tunnel in history which was excavated from both ends, and the first with a methodical approach in doing so.

The Heraion of Samos was a sanctuary originating from the 8th century BCE. A temple stood opposite the cult altar of the goddess Hera. It was the first of the gigantic Ionic temples. It stood for only about a decade before it was destroyed, probably by an earthquake. After that, an even larger one was built approximately 40 m to the West. This temple has the largest known floor plan of any Greek temple.

The Medieval City of Rhodes, built by the Christian military order Knights Hospitalers, is one of the best preserved medieval towns in Europe.

The city center is located within a 4km long wall. It has numerous fine Frankish (Gothic) and Ottoman buildings. Notable monuments include:

• Collachium (high town), built by the Knights Hospitalers
• Grand Masters' Palace
• St. John's cathedral
• St. Mary's church
• several Byzantine churches turned into mosques after 1523
• city ramparts

The Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae was an Ancient Greek temple known for its architecture. It is located in a rural location and was dedicated to the god of healing.

The temple was built from 420 to 400 BC. Its architect probably was Iktinos. It is a Doric temple, with dimensions of 14.48 x 38.24 m. Part of it is modelled after the temple of Apollo at Delphi.

The originality of this monument lies in its internal design. A 31 meter long frieze encircled the inside on all four sides. This masterpiece has been transported to the British Museum in London. The temple also boasts the oldest Corinthian capital that has so far been found.

The Paleochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessalonika are a group of religious monuments known for their mosaics and distinct architectural typology.

Thessaloniki is Greece's second largest city, situated in the northeast, in Macedonia prefecture. During its heydays, in the Byzantine period, it was also the empire's second city (to Constantinople, in that case).

Thessaloniki derives its name from the first daughter of King Philip of Macedon. She married Kassandros, Alexander the Great's general who succeeded him on the throne. He gave her name to the city he founded around 316 B.C.

Antigua Guatemala is known for its Spanish colonial architecture. Antigua was founded in the early 16th century.

It served as the capital for the Spanish colonial government in Central America. After several earthquakes in the 18th century, the seat of government was moved to a safer place. The name Antigua dates from this period and refers to the Old one.

In its years as capital Antigua had a population of about 80.000 people. The catholic church, including a large number of sects, was very powerful and wealthy. This resulted in the counstruction of numerous churches and monasteries, one even more beautiful than the other.

The Archaeological Park and Ruins of Quirigua comprise an ancient Maya site, which contains some outstanding 8th-century monuments that were constructed during the reign of Cauac Sky.

Quirigua remains important due largely to its wealth of sculpture, including the tallest stone monuments ever erected in the New World. They include carved stelae and sculpted calendars that constitute an essential source for the study of Mayan civilization.

Tikal National Park comprises the remains of a major center of the Maya civilization. It lies within the Maya Forest, an area now rich in animal and plant diversity after having recovered from centuries of human land use.

Tikal was one of the most important kingdoms of the Ancient Maya, who reigned over large parts of the Maya region during its heydays between 200 and 900. The site shows different stages of their evolution, resulting in monumental structures such as pyramids, temples, ball courts, stone stelae with the data of their rulers, public squares, and a network of causeways (sacbe).

The natural surroundings of Tikal consist mainly of a rain forest, where several animal species have their home: among them jaguar, puma, tapir, howler monkeys, anteaters, crocodiles, raccoons, skunks, weasels, and various birds.

Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve includes significant portions of Mount Nimba, a geographically unique area with a high number of endemic plant and animal species.

These species include multiple types of duikers, big cats, civets, and several types of viviparous toads. It also has a population of chimpanzees using stones as tools.

Mount Nimba is shared between Guinea, Ivory Coast and Liberia. The part of the latter country is excluded from the protected areas. The Nature Reserve consists of high-altitude grassland, plains savannah and primary forest including rain forest.

The site has been in danger since 1992, since Guinea allowed mining for iron ore and because of the massive arrival of Liberian refugees. The area suffers also from a lack of management, poaching and uncontrolled fires.

National History Park - Citadel, Sans-Souci, Ramiers is the largest fortress in the Western Hemisphere, and was built when Haiti became a free republic.

The Sans-Souci Palace was the royal residence of King Henri I (better known as Henri Christophe, a key leader during the Haitian slave rebellion) of Haiti. Construction of the palace started in 1810 and was completed in 1813.

The Citadelle Henri Christophe, known as Citadelle Laferrière is a large mountaintop fortress. It was built by Henri Christophe after Haiti gained independence from France at the beginning of the 19th century. The massive stone structure was built by up to 20,000 enslaved workers between 1805 and 1820 as part of a system of fortifications designed to keep the newly-independent nation of Haiti safe from French incursions.

The Historic Centre of Rome, the Properties of the Holy See in that City Enjoying Extraterritorial Rights and San Paolo Fuori le Mura comprise major monuments of Roman antiquity and papal history.

The city of Rome exists since the 4th or 5th century BC. Remains from the period of the Classical Roman Empire include: the Forum Romanum (the former political center) still holds a central position in town, the Colosseum and a triumphal arch. Also, the Therms of Caracalla: a large public bathhouse where also restaurants, libraries and other forms of leisure activities could be performed. Except for the walls, now there are only some mosaics and wall paintings left.

In 1990, the inscription was extended with properties of the Holy See which are located in the historic centre of Rome. Among them the Basilica of San Paolo fuori le Mura.

Vatican City is an important site in the history of Christianity that is also known for its Renaissance and Baroque artistic creations.

The most famous monument within this small city-state is the San Pietro Basilica. Until 1989 this was the biggest cathedral in Christianity. The current structure dates from the early 16th century, although there have been churches on this site since 326 AD.

The Sistine Chapel is the other focal point. Dating from the late 15th century, this papal conference room is decorated with a series of paintings by a.o. Michelangelo. Between 1535 and 1541 he added his masterpiece: The Last Judgement.

The Maya Site of Copán in western Honduras is best known for the number and artistic quality of its remaining stelae, sculptures, and altars.

Copán was a political, civil, and religious centre for the southeast of the Maya area. It was one of the most important sites of the Mayan civilization during the Classic era (5th century - 9th century AD). The site was abandoned shortly after 900.

The main complex consists of the Acropolis and five plazas, with ball courts, temples, and altar complexes. The highlight is the inscription on the Hieroglyphic Stairway, the longest known Maya hieroglyphic text which describes the most important rulers in the dynastic history of the site.

The Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve encompasses both mountainous and lowland tropical rainforest, full of diverse wildlife and plant life.

Endangered animals like the Giant Anteater, Ocelot and Jaguar can be found here.

The Reserve is located on the Río Plátano in the La Mosquitia region on the Caribbean coast of Honduras. Miskito and Paya Indians still live in the forests. They are responsible for stone inscriptions and petroglyphs.

The Caves of the Aggtelek and Slovak Karst is a transboundary karst cave system, noted for its high concentration of caves and their great variety of cave types.

There are 712 caves in total. Features include the world's highest stalagmite and an ice-filled abyss. The site also covers Gombasecká Cave-Silicka Jadnica Ice Cave System and Dobšinská Ice Cave.

Budapest, including the Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter and Andrássy Avenue, holds a number of influential constructions from the Middle Ages to the late 19th century.

The Budapest World Heritage Site consists of three parts:

1. Buda Castle Quarter - holds the city's medieval sites, with Buda Castle. Also, there are the remains of the original Roman town Aquincum.
2. Banks of the Danube - includes the Parliament (1884-1904) and the suspension bridge (1849).
3. Andrássy Avenue - includes the Opera, Millennium Park and the Underground Railway.

The Early Christian Necropolis of Pécs (Sopianae) comprises 16 funerary monuments with a distinctive architecture and impressive murals depicting Christian themes.

The earliest monuments date from the second half of the 4th century, when Pécs (then named Sopianae) was an important city in the Roman province of Pannonia.

Among the inscribed monuments are burial chambers, chapels and a mausoleum. Typical for the site is the two-storey building, with an above ground chapel and a subterranean burial chamber. Only some of these include mural paintings.

Fertö/Neusiedlersee Cultural Landscape is the result of the symbiotic process of human interaction with second largest steppe lake in Central Europe.

Traces of human settlement around Lake Neusiedl go back to the neolithic period. The area became densely populated from the 7th century BC onward, initially by people of the Hallstatt culture and remained so throughout Roman times.

The designated area comprises of the settlements of Podersdorf, Illmitz and Apetion, parts of Rust and Fertörákos, the Palace of Nagycenk and Fertöd Palace.

Most of the lake is surrounded by reeds which serve as a habitat for wildlife (making the lake an important resting place for migratory birds) and are harvested in winter as soon as the ice is solid enough.

The Old Village of Hollókö and its surroundings is a living example of rural life before the agricultural revolution of the 20th century.

The village developed mainly during the 17th and 18th centuries. Hollókö is an Palóc ethnographic village, an ethnic minority group in north-east Hungary.

Hortobágy National Park - the Puszta is the biggest grassland that remained in Central Europe.

Hortobágy is similar to a steppe, a grassy plain with cattle, sheep, oxen, horses, tended by herdsmen, and it provides habitat for various different species (342 bird species have been registered to appear).

The landscape features the following manmade structures:

• Early Bronze Age burial mounds (kurgans)
• low mounds (tells) that mark the sites of ancient settlements
• bridges, among which the Nine Arch Bridge (the longest stone bridge in Hungary)
• csárdas (18th and 19th century provincial inns for travellers)

The Millenary Benedictine Abbey of Pannonhalma and its Natural Environment was the first Hungarian Christian monastery and has been influential in the spread of Christianity over Central Europe.

It was founded in 996 when Hungary was primarily a pagan culture. It's an example of an early Christian monastery that still is in use. The hill where the monastery was constructed was called Sacred Mount of Pannonia, after the Roman name for this area.

In the 1590s the monks left the monastery due to a siege by the Turks. Monastic life resumed in the first half of the 17th century. About 50 Benedictine monks still live in this monastery. They chiefly work in the on-site boarding school.

The Tokaji Wine Region Historic Cultural Landscape consists of 28 named villages and 7,000 hectares of classified vineyards.

It is the origin of Tokaji aszú wine, the world's oldest botrytized wine.

This agricultural landscape represents a distinct viticultural tradition that has existed for at least a thousand years.

Surtsey is a volcanic island that was formed in a volcanic eruption in the sea which reached the surface on 14 November 1963. The eruption may have started a few days earlier and lasted until 5 June 1967.

Since then it has been a protected natural area and a pristine natural laboratory. Slowly, plants, animals and marine organisms have managed to find it. It is located 20 miles off the south coast of Iceland and is part of the Westman Islands.

Thingvellir contains the remains of the place where the Althing met, the Icelandic "parliament", between the years 930 and 1798.

Once a year, residents from all over Iceland gathered here in the open air for 2 weeks to make judicial and administrative decisions. The site continues to have an iconic status for the national Icelandic identity.

Thingvellir National Park is located in an active volcanic region, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge that separates the North American and Eurasian continents.

Vatnajökull National Park has a wide variety of tectonic, volcanic and glaciovolcanic features.

Vatnajökull is the largest glacier in Europe and one of the largest in the world. It is situated on large and active tectonic rift systems. The park comprises 14% of the territory of Iceland.

Agra Fort is a 16th century Mughal red sandstone fortress.

The great Mughals Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jehangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb lived here, and the country was governed from here. It has massive red walls, with an outline of 2.5 kilometers. Within the walls, palaces, mosques and reception rooms can be found.

The most beautiful parts were added in the 17th century, by Shah Jahan. A lot of its white marble was used for the inside of Agra Fort too.

The Historic City of Ahmadabad is a walled city dating from the 15th century, especially known for its fusion of Hindu, Jain and Islamic elements.

The specific style can be seen in the city's religious buildings and domestic wooden architecture. Further notable are its clusters of gated streets (pol), which belong to families of a particular group, linked by caste, profession, or religion. The city is surrounded by a wall that dates from 1759.

The Ajanta Caves are rock-cut cave monuments dating from the second century BCE, containing paintings and sculpture considered to be masterpieces of both "Buddhist religious art" and "universal pictorial art".

The complex of Ajanta consists of several viharas (monastic halls of residence) and chaitya-grihas (stupa monument halls) cut into the mountain scarp in two phases.

The Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park holds a largely unexcavated city which has been built in the late 15th / early 16th century as the capital of Gujarat.

It is an early Islamic, pre-Mughal city and its architecture shows the transition between the Hindu and Muslim traditions.

The designated area includes over 100 monuments, including fortifications, water installations and different standing structures. At the top of the hill is the temple of Kalikameta. There are also five mosques that are in excellent state. Some of them are forerunners of the Mughal architecture, being a mix of Hindu traditions and craftsmanship with Moslem ideology. The most significant of them is the Jama Masjid, also built by Sultan Begada.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus) is a 19th-century railway station in Mumbai, that is known for its architectural mix of Victorian Gothic Revival and traditional Indian features.

It is a symbol of the blossom period of Mumbai as a commercial city in the late 19th century. The station was opened in 1887, on the Silver Jubilee of Empress Victoria. Its architect was Frederick William Stevens, who implemented advanced structural and technical solutions. He designed it in the Gothic Revival style, which has many similarities to traditional Indian palace architecture, such as the use of turrets, colouring and ground plan. 

The station was originally named "Victoria Terminus". In 1996, in response to demands by the Shiv Sena and in keeping with the policy of renaming locations with Indian names, the station was renamed by the state government after Chhatrapati Shivaji, a famed 17th century Maratha king.

The Great Living Chola Temples are three granite temples dedicated to Shiva, that show the progressive development of Chola architecture and art.

The three included temples are:

• Brihadisvara Temple in Thanjavur: the earliest and most representative monument. Built 1003-1010, during the reign of king Rajaraja, the founder of the Chola Empire which stretched out over South India and the neighbouring islands.
• And the temples of Gangaikondacholapuram and Darasuram, built by his successors and following the main characteristics of the one in Thanjavur

Their layout is different from other South Indian temples, as the Vimana (sanctuary) is the highest point of the complex, not the Gopuram (gates). The tall Vimanas with many tiers as the core feature of the temples and the elaborate sculpted decoration represents the divinities and mythological figures related to the Tamil beliefs. In all three temples, traditional religious rituals continue to be performed by the general public.

The Churches and Convents of Goa are a group of Catholic religious buildings that have been influential for spreading both the faith and their Portuguese style of art and architecture around Asia.

They are located in Old Goa, which from 1565 was the capital of the Portuguese Indies. It was abandoned as such in 1760 because of a malaria outbreak. The main buildings that are included, are:

• St. Catherine's Chapel
• Church and Convent of Francis of Assisi
• Sé Cathedral
• Basilica of Bom Jesus
• Church of Saint Cajetan including the seminary
• Church of Our Lady of the Rosary
• St. Augustine Tower

The Basilica of Bom Jesus holds the mortal remains of St. Francis Xavier, a missionary across Asia (India, Japan, China) who died in 1552. He is regarded as the patron saint of Goa. Once every decade on December 3, the body is taken down for veneration and for public viewing.

Dholavira is an archaeological site that contains ruins of an ancient Indus Valley Civilization/Harappan city.

The fortified city flourished between 3000 and 1800 BCE. It had an efficient water conservation system. Unlike Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, the city was constructed to a pre-existing geometrical plan consisting of three divisions – the citadel, the middle town, and the lower town.

The Elephanta Caves are two groups of caves that contain Hindu and Buddhist rock art architecture.

The reliefs and sculptures in the caves has been dated to between the 5th or 6th and 8th centuries. The Hindu caves are dedicated to the god Shiva. These were regular Hindu places of worship, and during the festival of Shiva still continue to be so.

The caves are hewn from solid basalt rock. All caves were painted in the past, but only traces remain.

The caves are located on the Elephanta Island in the Mumbai harbour. The Portuguese named the island "Elephanta Island" in honour of a huge rock-cut black stone statue of an elephant that was then installed on a mound on the island. That elephant now sits in the Jijamata Udyaan zoo in Mumbai.

The Ellora Caves are an archeological site that represents the epitome of Indian rock-cut architecture.

The 35 "caves" - actually structures excavated out of the vertical face of the Charanandri hills - comprised of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain cave temples and monasteries, were built between the 5th century and 10th century. The 12 Buddhist (caves 1-12), 17 Hindu (caves 13-29) and 5 Jain caves (caves 30-34), built in proximity, demonstrate the religious harmony prevalent during this period of Indian history.

Fatehpur Sikri is a Moghul architectural ensemble that has been influential on the evolution of town planning.

Between 1570 and 1586 Fatehpur Sikri was the capital of the Moghul-empire. The Moghuls experienced their hey-day, and their leader Akbar wanted to construct a dreamcity where he and his large harem could live a glorious life.

However, because of unknown reasons (lack of water? a large war somewhere else in the empire?) Akbar and his followers left the city suddenly.

What is remaining now is a very well preserved ghost town, that gives insight in the architectural style from its period in history. The city has a mosque, several palaces, a caravanserai and broad streets and squares. The buildings are made of red sandstone.

The Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area is an undisturbed habitat in the ecologically distinct Western Himalayas.

It holds diverse flora with greatest concentration of medicinal plants known for all of the Himalayas. It is the habitat of 4 globally threatened mammals such as Snow Leopard and Himalayan Brown Bear, and 3 globally threatened birds including the Western Tragopan pheasant.

The park lies in the Himalayan mountains in the state of Himachal Pradesh. The site covers Great Himalayan National Park plus the Tirthan and Sainj Wildlife Sanctuaries.

The Group of Monuments at Hampi represent the ruins of Vijayanagara, the former capital of the Vijayanagara empire. This was a South Indian empire, dating from 1336 to 1646.

The buildings in the city are mostly built in the original native traditions of southern India, associated with the Hindu religion. Some of them show a certain amount of Islamic influence due the interaction with Islamic kingdoms.

The Hill Forts of Rajasthan are 6 military fortifications built in the Rajput cultural tradition.

The included forts are:

• Chittorgarh Fort
• Kumbhalgarh Fort
• Ranthambore Fort
• Gagron Fort
• Amber Fort
• Jaisalmer Fort

Humayun's Tomb, Delhi is a landmark in the development of Mughal architecture.

It was built in 1570 for Humayun the second Mughal Emperor of India. The architect was Mirak Mirza Ghiyath, under the direction of Humayun's widow. He used mainly red sandstone, with white and black marble inlays.

The tomb and the complex around it now contains about 150 graves of ruling family members.

Around the tomb is an accomplished Charbagh garden, with pools joined by channels. It was modelled after Persian and Central Asian gardens, and was the first introduction of the Garden Tomb concept in the Indian subcontinent.

Jaipur City, Rajasthan, is a planned city combining ancient Hindu, Mughal and contemporary Western ideas.

The city of Jaipur was founded in 1727 by Jai Singh II, the Raja of Amer. Under the architectural guidance of Vidyadhar Bhattacharya, Jaipur was designed based on Hindu (Vedic) architectural principles. It also uses a (Western) grid plan.

The Jantar Mantar is a collection of architectural astronomical instruments, built by Maharaja (King) Jai Singh II at his then-new capital of Jaipur between 1727 and 1734.

It is modeled after the one that he had built for him at the Mughal capital of Delhi. He had constructed a total of five such facilities at different locations, including the ones in Delhi and Jaipur.

The Jaipur observatory is the largest and best-preserved of these. It has been inscribed on the World Heritage List as "an expression of the astronomical skills and cosmological concepts of the court of a scholarly prince at the end of the Mughal period".

Kaziranga National Park is the world's primary protection area of the Indian rhino.

The park is located in Assam, Northeast India. The natural surroundings consist of tall elephant grass, marshland, and dense tropical moist broadleaf forests, crisscrossed by four major rivers, including the Brahmaputra, and the park includes numerous small bodies of water.

Two-thirds of the world's Great One-horned Rhinoceroses live in the park, and Kaziranga has the highest density of tigers among protected areas in the world. The park also has large breeding populations of elephants, water buffalo and swamp deer. Located on the edge of the Eastern Himalaya biodiversity hotspot, the park combines high-species diversity and visibility.

Keoladeo National Park is famous for its (water)birds. 375 species can be found here, among them the rare Siberian crane.

The park is an important wintering place for birds from colder countries in the North, like Siberia and China.

During colonial times, the area was used as a duck hunting ground. Since 1981 it is a national park.

Keoladeo Park is situated in the town of Bharatpur, 55 kilometers from Agra. It is best visited during the monsoon, when the park comes alive and the birds start courting and nesting.

The Khajuraho Group of Monuments date from around 1000 AD, when the Chandella Dynasty ruled this area. Originally there were 85 temples, of which only 22 still exist. There are both Brahman and Jain temples at the site.

The temples are beautifully decorated on the outside: bands of sculptures surround the walls. These depict life in the time of the Chandellas. Some of the sculptures are remarkable because of their erotic displayings.

Khangchendzonga National Park is a mixed site known for its glacial mountains and sacred cultural landscape. This Himalayan site includes the 8586m high peak of Khangchendzonga, the 3rd highest in the world.

The landscape features glaciers and glacial lakes, and is the habitat of species such as the snow leopard, red panda and Asian black bear.

For the local Sikkimese population, the area has important sacred significance. Both shamanic and Tibetan Buddhist traditions are kept alive in this cultural landscape.

The Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram consists of temples and reliefs from the 7th century Pallava-dynasty, known for their sculptures carved out of rock.

Mahabalipuram was a seaport of the South Indian dynasty of the Pallavas, before they lost power to the Cholas.

The sculptures were hewn out of local granite. They fall into 4 different categories by mode of execution:

1. rock-cut caves
2. monolithic temples or rathas, hewn out of a large boulder
3. bas-reliefs in the open air
4. structural temples

The bas-relief “Descent of the Ganges” (also known as Arjuna’s Penance) is considered to be a unique artistic achievement. The sculptures of Mahabalipuram have influenced those in Cambodia, Annam and Java.

The Mahabodhi Temple Complex at Bodh Gaya is one of the four holy sites of Buddhism. It is the location where Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, attained enlightenment.

The current temple dates from the 5th and 6th centuries. Being one of the few surviving examples of early brick architecture in India, it has yielded significant influence in the development of architecture in brick.

The site is located in the city of Bodh Gaya, Bihar. It consists of the main temple, six sacred places within an enclosed area and the Lotus Pond, just outside the enclosure to the south.

The Manas Wildlife Sanctuary is located in the Himalayan foothills and known for its tiger and elephant populations. The park is densly forested. The Manas river a major tributary of the Brahmaputra.

The fauna of the park includes Tigers, Elephants, Rhinoceros, Wild Buffaloes, Leopards, Clouded Leopards Black Panthers, Gaurs, Swamp Deer, Capped Langurs, Golden Langurs, Assamese Macaques, Slow Loris, Hoolock Gibbons, Smooth Indian Otters, Sloth Bears, Barking Deer, Hog Deer, Sambar and Chital. It is also well known for its rare and endangered wildlife which is not found anywhere else in the world like the Assam Roofed Turtle, Hispid Hare, Golden Langur and Pygmy Hog.

In 1992, UNESCO declared it as a world heritage site in danger due to heavy poaching and terrorist activities.

The Mountain Railways of India are three fully operational railway tracks that are fine examples of 19th century technology and the changes they brought with them.

These railways built during the British colonial period stimulated population movements between the plains and the mountains. The site includes the following 3 railway systems:

• Darjeeling Himalayan Railway: the first of the railways to become a WHS; it is a 86 km long narrow gauge railway from Siliguri to Darjeeling in West Bengal, built 1879-1881. It uses zigzags, with traction reversal and spirals.
• Nilgiri Mountain Railway: a rack railway of 46 km long between Mettupalayam and Ooty in Tamil Nadu; it includes original stations, rolling stock and steam locs.
• Kalka-Shimla Railway: a narrow gauge railway from Kalka to Shimla in North-West India. It uses very heavy and complex engineering, including multi-arch viaducts, tunnels, retaining walls and a very large number of curves, in order to overcome the mountain conditions.