UNESCO World Heritage Sites

[hkskyline]

I don't think UNESCO is a complete list of all heritage. Countries need to submit applications to get their sites posted, so I don't think people should interpret countries with more sites as those with more 'heritage'.

[OshHisham]

Originally Posted by hkskyline

I don't think UNESCO is a complete list of all heritage. Countries need to submit applications to get their sites posted, so I don't think people should interpret countries with more sites as those with more 'heritage'.

pretty true. as the tiny city state Singapore and Macao have a lovely heritage to be seen....

[hkskyline]

Originally Posted by OshHisham

pretty true. as the tiny city state Singapore and Macao have a lovely heritage to be seen....

Actually, Macau's historic centre was recently put on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1110

[goschio]

Dresden Elbe valley has been removed from the list because a new bridge is going to be build.

Was not that great anyway. Hardly world heritage IMO. Just some riverside floodplains. You can find similar stuff all over the world.

[Marathaman]

Originally Posted by hkskyline

I don't think UNESCO is a complete list of all heritage. Countries need to submit applications to get their sites posted, so I don't think people should interpret countries with more sites as those with more 'heritage'.

Absolutely. There are hundreds of stunning sites in India, but nobody is interested in giving them UNESCO recognition.

[ainttelling]

Originally Posted by Marathaman

Absolutely. There are hundreds of stunning sites in India, but nobody is interested in giving them UNESCO recognition.

But then India would have more Heritage Sites than all of Europe put together and that would be an embarrassment.

[Marathaman]

Originally Posted by ainttelling

But then India would have more Heritage Sites than all of Europe put together and that would be an embarrassment.

Haha, well I'm sure Europe has more than India, especially since most traditional towns and cities in India are either totally destroyed or well on their way to annhilation.

[ainttelling]

Originally Posted by Marathaman

Haha, well I'm sure Europe has more than India, especially since most traditional towns and cities in India are either totally destroyed or well on their way to annhilation.

In Europe, when a particular site is given the Heritage status, there are often artificial stretches. If we judge heritage by the Asian standards, many European sites wouldn't even be on the list.

[Marathaman]

Originally Posted by ainttelling

In Europe, when a particular site is given the Heritage status, there are often artificial stretches. If we judge heritage by the Asian standards, many European sites wouldn't even be on the list.

Atleast Europe has laws regarding preservation of heritage buildings.

In India, stone gets arbitrarily replaced by concrete, thatch/tile by corrugated iron sheets, and wood with steel. There's no laws for retaining the original colour schemes or banning use of harmful paints and chemicals.

As long as you own the property you're living in you can do whatever the hell you want to with it. Add balconies randomly, break down walls, etc.etc.
Even if you don't own it, the government won't evict you if you can show that you have no other place of residence.

So we have beautiful old havelis and mansions being lived in by people so poor, they can't even afford to own the whole place, forget about maintaining it, and end up squeezing half a dozen families in the same structure. Its pathetic really.

IMO, if a property is deemed to have heritage value, laws should be made so that its prospective owners can prove that they have the funds to maintain it in pristine condition.

Here you can witness first-hand, the destruction of Manali, Himachal Pradesh. Note how metal sheets are replacing the stone tiles, and ugly concrete structures are springing up in the middle...

image hosted on flickr

[Küsel]

La Chaux-de-Fonds is now also on the list!


If Le Corbusier himself will enter the UNESCO list is still under debate.

[Gatis]

My list - 46 monuments so far:

Austria
1. Historical centre of Salzburg
2. Historic Centre of Vienna

Belgium
3. La Grand-Place, Brussels
4. Historic Centre of Brugge
5. Major Town Houses of The Architect Victor Horta in Brussels (made a day trip specially for them )

Bulgaria
6. Ancient City of Nessebar

Czech Republic
7. Historic Centre of Prague

Denmark
8. Roskilde Cathedral

Estonia
9. Historic Centre of Tallinn

France
10. Strasbourg - Grande Ile

Germany
11. Pilgrimage Church of Wies
12. Hanseatic City of Lubeck
13. Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin
14. Town of Bamberg
15. Museuminsel, Berlin
16. Monastic Island of Reichenau
17. Historic Centres of Stralsund and Wismar (only Stralsund)
18. Upper Middle Rhine Valley

Italy
19. Historic Centre of Florence
20. Piazza Del Duomo, Pisa
21. Venice and its Lagoon
22. Botanical Garden, Padua
23. City of Verona
24. The Dolomites

Latvia
25. Historic Centre of Riga (writing to you from the heart of it )
26. Struve Geodetic Arc (boring - but monuments visited)

Lithuania
27. Vilnius Historic Centre
28. Curonian Spit
29. Kernave Archaeological Site

Luxembourg
30. City of Luxembourg

Netherlands
31. The Wadden Sea (seen both in Netherlands and Denmark - why Danish one isn't there - its more impressive!)

New Zealand
32. Te Wahipounamu
33. Tongariro National Park

Poland
34. Historic Centre of Warsaw

Portugal
35. Monastery of the Hieronymites and Tower of Belem, Lisbon
36. Cultural landscape of Sintra

Russian Federation
37. Historic Centre of St Petersburg
38. Kremlin and Red Square. Moscow

Slovakia
39. Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians - been in autumn, loved it!

Sweden
40. Royal Domain of Drottnigholm
41. Hanseatic Town of Visby
42. Naval Port of Karlskrona
43. Agricultural Landscape of Southern Oland

Ukraine
44. Kiev-Pechersk Lavra

United Kingdom
45. Westminster Abbey
46. Tower of London

[Gatis]

Of the things which I have seen - this list misses such monuments as:

- Gothic Cathedral in Milan
- Those wonderful, >100 km long caves in Western Ukraine
- Ancient Amudarya valley (Uzboy) through Karakum desert in Turkmenistan
- Gauja River valley in Latvia
- Kauri forests in New Zealand
- Waitomo and similar caves in New Zealand

[skyscraper100]

Historic town of Vigan, ilocos, Philippines


image hosted on flickr

[Mojojojo.]

Taxila My home county

[WhiteMagick]

Originally Posted by null

Get you fact right:

Any per capita data?

[Küsel]

Per capita I think we Swiss would win as in Nobel Prizes
11 UNESCO sites existing (3 natural, 6 cultural, 2 biospheres), La-Chaux-de-Fonds will enroll definitly and Le Corbusier as well as bronze age settlements are to be checked up. That would make a total of 14 UNESCO enlistments for a 7.6mio pop country in 1 or 2 years from now.

Not bad

Personally I think it's overrated. The dome of Milan is not even on the list or the Golden Gate Bridge. Sometimes I wonder as well...

[Rabih]

World Heritage Sites in Lebanon




Anjar
The famous Umayyad ruins are now a World Heritage Site




Baalbek
Temple of Jupiter


Temple of Bacchus




Byblos
the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world



Cedars of the God
In 1998, the Cedars of God were added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.



Kadisha Valley
In 1998, UNESCO added the valley to the list of World Heritage Sites because of its importance as the site of some of the earliest Christian monastic settlements in the world, and its continued example of early Christian faith.



Tyre
The fantastic remains of the ancient Triumphal Arch


main colonnaded street in Al Mina excavation area



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categor...tes_in_Lebanon

[Federicoft]

Originally Posted by ainttelling

In Europe, when a particular site is given the Heritage status, there are often artificial stretches. If we judge heritage by the Asian standards, many European sites wouldn't even be on the list.

Sorry but you don't make any sense.

[Kintoy]

i visited 3, all in the Philippines:

* Baroque Churches of the Philippines (1993) [San Agustin church in Intramuros]


* Historic Town of Vigan (1999)


Natural

* Puerto-Princesa Subterranean River National Park (1999)

[goschio]

Newest World heritage site: The Waddean Sea in Germany