World Heritage Sites and Curriculum Themes

Below is a list of World Heritage sites categorized by curriculum themes (e.g. under “Ancient Civilizations,” you can learn about the World Heritages site of Carthage or the Archeological Site of Troy).

To use this page:

Click on a letter to find a theme (for example, “N” for “Native Americans”). If you don’t see the theme you are looking for, try alternative phrasing (for example, instead of “Global Warming”, try “Climate Change”).
Then click on the name of a theme to find a list of relevant World Heritage sites (for instance, under “Maya Civilization,” you can find information about World Heritage sites in Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico).

UNESCO's World Heritage Center has a full list of World Heritage sites, organized by country.

The List of World Heritage in Danger includes sites that are threatened by armed conflict, pollution, natural disasters, and uncontrolled urbanization and tourism.

This webpage was made possible through the generous support of the United Nations Foundation.

Curriculum Themes:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Agriculture

Ancient_civilizations

Architecture--African

Architecture--Art Nouveau

Architecture--Asian

Architecture--Baroque

Architecture--Buddhist

Architecture--Byzantine

Architecture--Gothic

Architecture--Islamic

Architecture--Medieval (Europe)

Architecture--Mixed styles

Architecture--Modern

Architecture--Neoclassical

Architecture--Norman

Architecture--Other styles

Architecture--Ottoman

Architecture--Prehistoric

Architecture--Renaissance

Architecture--Rococo

Architecture--Romanesque

Architecture--Spanish colonial

Citizenship/Civic_values

Ecosystems--Coastal and marine

Ecosystems--Fresh water

Ecosystems--Terrestrial

Education

Endangered_species

Energy

Enlightenment, Age of (Europe)

Erosion

Evolution

Exploration

Forests (see also Rainforests)

Forts/Fortifications/Fortified cities

Global warming (see Climate change)

Indigenous peoples (see also Native Americans)

Industry

Industrial Revolution

International organizations

Landforms (see Caves, Deserts, Glaciers, Islands, Lakes, Mountains, Plateaus, Rivers, Volcanoes, Waterfalls)

Orthodox Christianity

Pre-colonial civilizations (Africa)

Pre-Hispanic civilizations (the Americas) (see also Aztec civilization, Inca civilization, Maya civilization)

Prehistoric peoples

Protestant Reformation

Rainforests

Reformation, Protestant

Refugees

Religion (see Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Orthodox Christianity, Pagan cultures, Shinto religion, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, Other)

Renaissance (Europe)

Rivers

Rock carvings/Rock paintings (see also Cave art)

Sustainable development/Sustainability

United States history

Urban/Town planning (see also Forts/Fortified cities)

Agriculture

Chile: Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works. Workers from Chile, Bolivia and Peru worked here in the 1800's to process the world's largest saltpeter deposit. This was used to produce fertilizer that transformed agriculture in North and South America and Europe, bringing great wealth to Chile. The workers lived in communal towns that produced their own language, culture, and a pioneering struggle for social justice. Because of the impact of a recent earthquake on the vulnerable structures, the site is on the list of World Heritage in Danger.

China: Mount Qingcheng and the Dujiangyan Irrigation System. Construction of the Dujiangyan irrigation system began in the 3rd century B.C. This system still controls the waters of the Minjiang River and distributes it to the farmland of the Chengdu plains. Mount Qingcheng was the birthplace of Taoism, which is celebrated in a series of ancient temples.

Cuba: Archaeological Landscape of the First Coffee Plantations in the South-East of Cuba. The remains of the 19th-century coffee plantations in the foothills of the Sierra Maestra are unique evidence of a pioneer form of agriculture in a difficult terrain. They illustrate the economic, social, and technological history of the Caribbean and Latin American region.

Cuba: ViÒales Valley. The Valley's landscape is encircled by mountains and dramatic rocky outcrops. Traditional techniques are still in use for agricultural production, particularly of tobacco. The architecture of its farms and villages illustrates the culture of the Caribbean Islands.

France: Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion. Viticulture was introduced to this fertile region by the Romans, and intensified in the Middle Ages. It is an exceptional landscape devoted entirely to wine-growing, with many fine historic monuments in its towns and villages.

Germany: Upper Middle Rhine Valley. The 65 km. stretch of the Middle Rhine Valley, with its castles, historic towns and vineyards, forms a cultural landscape that has had a powerful influence on writers, artists and composers. The terracing of its steep slopes in particular has shaped the landscape for more than two millennia. This form of land-use is under threat from current socio-economic pressures.

Hungary: Hortob·gy National Park - the Puszta. The cultural landscape of the Hortob·gy Puszta is a vast area of plains and wetlands. Traditional forms of land use, such as the grazing of domestic animals, have been present in this pastoral society for over 2,000 years.

Hungary: Old Village of Hollokˆ and its Surroundings. Hollokˆ is an example of a well-preserved traditional settlement. This village, which developed mainly during the 17th and 18th centuries, is a living example of rural life before the agricultural revolution of the 20th century.

Hungary: Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landscape. The cultural landscape of vineyards, farms, villages and small towns, with their historic networks of deep wine cellars, illustrates every facet of the production of the famous Tokaj wines.

Japan: Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama. Located in a mountainous region that was cut off from the rest of the world for many years, these villages with their Gassho-style houses subsisted on the cultivation of mulberry trees and the rearing of silkworms. The large houses with their steeply pitched thatched roofs are the only examples of their kind in Japan. The villages are outstanding examples of a traditional way of life perfectly adapted to the environment and people's social and economic circumstances.

Mexico: Agave Landscape and Ancient Industrial Facilities of Tequila. The site is part of an expansive landscape of blue agave, which has been used since the 16th century to produce tequila spirit and over at least 2,000 years to make fermented drinks and cloth. Within the landscape are working distilleries reflecting the growth in the international consumption of tequila in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Philippines: Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras. For 2,000 years, these high rice fields have followed the contours of the mountains. The resulting landscape expresses sacred traditions and harmony between humankind and the environment. The site is on the List of World Heritage in Danger because of development pressures. Also, as people leave the area, the irrigation systems and terrace wall have fallen into disrepair.

Portugal: Alto Douro Wine Region. Wine has been produced by traditional landholders in the Alto Douro region for some 2,000 years. Since the 18th century, its port wine has been world famous for its quality. This long tradition of viticulture has produced a cultural landscape of outstanding beauty that reflects its technological, social and economic evolution.

Portugal: Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture. This site on the volcanic island of Pico in the Azores archipelago, consists of a remarkable pattern of spaced-out, long linear walls running inland from, and parallel to, the rocky shore. The walls were built to protect the vineyards -- thousands of small, contiguous, rectangular, plots (currais) -- from wind and seawater, a practice dating to the 15th century.

Spain: Palmeral of Elche. The Palmeral of Elche, a landscape of groves of date palms, was formally laid out, with elaborate irrigation systems (still in use), when the Muslim city of Elche was erected at the end of the tenth century A.C. The Palmeral is an oasis, a system for agrarian production in arid areas, and an example of Arab agricultural practices on the European continent.

Sweden: Agricultural Landscape of Southern ÷land. The southern part of the island of ÷land in the Baltic Sea is dominated by a vast limestone plateau. Human beings have lived here for some five thousand years and adapted their way of life to the physical constraints of the island.

Switzerland: Lavaux, Vineyard Terraces. The terraces cover the lower slopes of the mountain side between the villages and Lake Geneva. The present vine terraces can be traced back to the 11th century, when Benedictine and Cistercian Monasteries controlled the area (and possibly to Roman times). It is an example of a centuries-long interaction between people and their environment developed to optimize local resources so as to produce a highly valued wine that has always been important to the local economy. Local communities have been strongly supportive of protection measures to resist the fast-growing urban settlements that could endanger the area.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: St. Kilda. This volcanic archipelago, comprising the islands of Hirta, Dun, Soay and Boreray, uninhabited since 1930, bears the evidence of more than 2,000 years of human occupation in the extreme conditions prevalent in the Hebrides. Human vestiges include built structures and field systems, the cleits and the traditional Highland stone houses. They feature the vulnerable remains of a subsistence economy based on the products of birds, agriculture and sheep farming.

Ancient civilizations

Bahrain: Qal'at al-Bahrain. This site is a typical "tell" -- an artificial mound created by successive layers of human occupation since 2300 B.C. The site was the capital of the ancient civilization of Dilmun.

Cyprus: Paphos. Paphos has been inhabited since the Neolithic period. It was a center of the cult of Aphrodite and of pre-Hellenic fertility deities. Aphrodite's legendary birthplace was on this island, where her temple was erected by the Myceneans in the 12th century B.C. The mosaics of Nea Paphos are among the most beautiful in the world.

Egypt: Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis. Thebes, the city of the god Amon, was the capital of Egypt during the period of the Middle and New Kingdoms. With the temples and palaces at Karnak and Luxor, and the necropolises of the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens, Thebes is a striking testimony to Egyptian civilization at its height.

Egypt: Memphis and its Necropolis - the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur. The capital of the Old Kingdom of Egypt has extraordinary funerary monuments, including rock tombs, ornate mastabas, temples and pyramids.

Egypt: Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae. This outstanding archaeological area contains such monuments as the Temples of Ramses II at Abu Simbel and the Sanctuary of Isis at Philae, which were saved from the rising waters of the Nile thanks to the International Campaign launched by UNESCO, in 1960 to 1980.

Ethiopia: Aksum. The ruins of the ancient city of Aksum mark the heart of ancient Ethiopia, when the Kingdom of Aksum was the most powerful state between the Eastern Roman Empire and Persia. The massive ruins, dating from between the 1st and the 13th century A.D., include monolithic obelisks, giant stelae, royal tombs and the ruins of ancient castles.

Ethiopia: Tiya. Tiya is an archaeological site that contains 36 monuments, including 32 carved stelae covered with symbols, most of which are difficult to decipher. They are the remains of an ancient Ethiopian culture whose age has not yet been precisely determined.

Finland: Bronze Age Burial Site of Sammallahdenm‰ki. This site features more than 30 granite burial cairns, providing insight into the funerary practices and social and religious structures of northern Europe more than three millennia ago.

Iraq: Ashur (Qal'at Sherqat). The ancient city of Ashur dates back to the 3rd millennium B.C. From the 14th to the 9th centuries B.C. it was the first capital of the Assyrian Empire, and the religious capital of the Assyrians, associated with the god Ashur. It is on the list of World Heritage in Danger because a proposed dam project (now suspended, but possible in the future) would flood parts of the site.

Iran (Islamic Republic of): Bisotun. The principal monument of this archaeological site is the bas-relief and cuneiform inscription ordered by Darius I, The Great, when he rose to the throne of the Persian Empire, 521 B.C. The bas-relief portrays Darius holding a bow, as a sign of sovereignty. Below and around the bas-reliefs, there are 1,200 lines of inscriptions telling the story of the battles Darius waged in 521-520 B.C. against those who attempted to destroy the Empire. The inscription is written in three languages, Elamite, Babylonian, and Old Persian.

Iran (Islamic Republic of): Pasargadae. Pasargadae was the first dynastic capital of the Achaemenid Empire, founded by Cyrus II in the 6th century BC. Its palaces, gardens, and the mausoleum of Cyrus are outstanding examples of the first phase of royal Achaemenid art and architecture and exceptional testimonies of Persian civilization. Pasargadae was the capital of the first great multicultural empire in Western Asia. Respect for the cultural diversity of its different peoples was reflected in Achaemenid architecture.

Iran (Islamic Republic of): Persepolis. Founded by Darius I in 518 B.C., Persepolis was the capital of the Achaemenid Empire. It was built on an immense half-artificial, half-natural terrace, with an impressive palace complex inspired by Mesopotamian models.

Iran (Islamic Republic of): Tchogha Zanbil. The ruins of the holy city of the Kingdom of Elam, surrounded by three huge concentric walls, are found at Tchogha Zanbil. Founded c. 1250 B.C., the city remained unfinished after it was invaded by Ashurbanipal.

Israel: Biblical Tels - Megiddo, Hazor, Beer Sheba. The tels, or pre-historic settlement mounds, of Megiddo, Hazor and Beer Sheba contain substantial remains of cities with biblical connections. The three tels also present some of the best examples in the Levant of elaborate Iron Age underground water collecting systems, created to serve dense urban communities. Their traces of construction over the millennia reflect the existence of centralized authority, prosperous agricultural activity and the control of important trade routes.

Italy: I Sassi di Matera. This is the most outstanding, intact example of a troglodyte settlement in the Mediterranean region, perfectly adapted to its terrain and ecosystem. The first inhabited zone dates from the Palaeolithic, while later settlements illustrate a number of significant stages in human history.

Jordan: Petra. Inhabited since prehistoric times, this Nabataean caravan-city, situated between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea, was an important crossroads between Arabia, Egypt and Syria-Phoenicia. Petra is half-built, half-carved into the rock, and is surrounded by mountains riddled with passages and gorges. It is one of the world's most famous archaeological sites, where ancient Eastern traditions blend with Hellenistic architecture.

Lebanon: Byblos. The ruins of many successive civilizations are found at Byblos, one of the oldest Phoenician cities. Inhabited since Neolithic times, it has been closely linked to the legends and history of the Mediterranean region for thousands of years. Byblos is also directly associated with the history and diffusion of the Phoenician alphabet.

Mongolia: Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape. The site encompasses an extensive area of pastureland on both banks of the Orkhon River and includes numerous archaeological remains dating back to the 6th century. The site also includes Kharkhorum, the 13th and 14th century capital of Chingis (Genghis) Khanís vast Empire. The site reflects the symbiotic links between nomadic, pastoral societies and their administrative and religious centers. The grassland is still grazed by Mongolian nomadic pastoralists.

Pakistan: Archaeological Ruins at Moenjodaro. The ruins of the huge city of Moenjodaro ñ built entirely of unbaked brick in the 3rd millennium B.C. ñ lie in the Indus valley. The acropolis, set on high embankments, the ramparts, and the lower town, which is laid out according to strict rules, provide evidence of an early system of town planning.

Pakistan: Taxila. From the ancient Neolithic tumulus of Saraikala to the ramparts of Sirkap (2nd century B.C.) and the city of Sirsukh (1st century A.D.), Taxila illustrates the different stages in the development of a city on the Indus that was alternately influenced by Persia, Greece and Central Asia and which, from the 5th century B.C. to the 2nd century A.D., was an important Buddhist center of learning.

Peru: Lines and Geoglyphs of Nasca and Pampas de Jumana. Located in the arid Peruvian coastal plain, the geoglyphs of Nasca and the pampas of Jumana cover about 450 sq. km. These lines, which were scratched on the surface of the ground between 500 B.C. and A.D. 500, are among archaeology's greatest enigmas. The geoglyphs depict living creatures, stylized plants and imaginary beings, as well as geometric figures several kilometers long. They are believed to have had ritual astronomical functions.

South Africa: Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape. Mapungubwe is an open, expansive savannah landscape at the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe rivers. Mapungubwe developed into the largest kingdom in the sub-continent before it was abandoned in the 14th century. What survives are the almost untouched remains of the palace sites and also the entire settlement area dependent upon them, as well as two earlier capital sites, the whole presenting an unrivalled picture of the development of social and political structures over some 400 years.

Spain: Ibiza, Biodiversity and Culture. The archaeological sites at Sa Caleta (settlement) and Puig des Molins (necropolis) testify to the important role played by the island in the Mediterranean economy in protohistory, particularly during the Phoenician-Carthaginian period. The fortified Upper Town (Alta Vila) is an outstanding example of Renaissance military architecture.

Sri Lanka: Ancient City of Polonnaruwa. Polonnaruwa was the second capital of Sri Lanka after the destruction of Anuradhapura in 993. It has Brahmanic monuments built by the Cholas, and the monumental ruins of the garden-city created by Parakramabahu I in the 12th century.

Sri Lanka: Ancient City of Sigiriya. The ruins of the capital built by the parricidal King Kassapa I (477ñ95) lie on the steep slopes and at the summit of a granite peak standing some 370 meters high (the 'Lion's Rock', which dominates the jungle from all sides). A series of galleries and staircases emerging from the mouth of a gigantic lion constructed of bricks and plaster provide access to the site.

Sudan: Gebel Barkal and the Sites of the Napatan Region. These five archaeological sites, stretching over more than 60 km. in the Nile valley, are testimony to the Napatan (900 to 270 BC) and Meroitic (270 BC to 350 AD) cultures, of the second kingdom of Kush. Tombs, with and without pyramids, temples, living complexes and palaces, are to be found on the site. Since antiquity, the hill of Gebel Barkal has been strongly associated with religious traditions and folklore. The largest temples are still considered by the local people as sacred places.

Syrian Arab Republic: Ancient City of Aleppo. Located at the crossroads of several trade routes from the 2nd millennium B.C., Aleppo was ruled successively by the Hittites, Assyrians, Arabs, Mongols, Mamelukes and Ottomans. The 13th-century citadel, 12th-century Great Mosque and various 17th-century madrasas, palaces, caravanserais and hammams all form part of the city's cohesive, unique urban fabric, now threatened by overpopulation.

Syrian Arab Republic: Ancient City of Damascus. Founded in the 3rd millennium B.C., Damascus is one of the oldest cities in the Middle East. In the Middle Ages, it had a flourishing craft industry, specializing in swords and lace. The city has some 125 monuments from different periods of history ñ one of the most spectacular is the 8th-century Great Mosque of the Umayyads, built on the site of an Assyrian sanctuary.

Syrian Arab Republic: Site of Palmyra. An oasis in the Syrian desert, north-east of Damascus, Palmyra contains the monumental ruins of one of the most important cultural centers of the ancient world. From the 1st to the 2nd century, the art and architecture of Palmyra, standing at the crossroads of several civilizations, married Graeco-Roman techniques with local traditions and Persian influences.

Tunisia: Punic Town of Kerkuane and its Necropolis. This Phoenician city was probably abandoned during the First Punic War (c. 250 B.C.) and as a result was not rebuilt by the Romans. The remains constitute the only example of a Phoenicio-Punic city to have survived. The houses were built to a standard plan in accordance with a sophisticated notion of town planning.

Tunisia: Site of Carthage. Carthage was founded in the 9th century B.C. From the 6th century onwards, it developed into a trading empire covering much of the Mediterranean and was home to a brilliant civilization. In the course of the Punic wars, Carthage occupied territories belonging to Rome, which finally destroyed its rival in 146 B.C. A second ñ Roman ñ Carthage was then established on the ruins of the first.

Turkey: Archaeological Site of Troy. The remains at Troy, with its 4,000 years of history, are the most significant demonstration of the first contact between the civilizations of Anatolia and the Mediterranean world. The siege of Troy by Spartan and Achaean warriors from Greece in the 13th or 12th century B.C., immortalized by Homer in the Iliad, has inspired great creative artists throughout the world ever since.

Turkey: Hattusha: the Hittite Capital. The archaeological site of Hattusha is notable for its urban organization, the types of construction that have been preserved (temples, royal residences, fortifications), the rich ornamentation of the Lions' Gate and the Royal Gate, and the ensemble of rock art at Yazilikaya. The city was influential in Anatolia and northern Syria in the 2nd millennium B.C.

Turkey: Nemrut Dağ. The mausoleum of Antiochus I (69ñ34 B.C.), who reigned over Commagene, a kingdom founded north of Syria and the Euphrates after the breakup of Alexander's empire, is one of the most ambitious constructions of the Hellenistic period. The syncretism of its pantheon, and the lineage of its kings, which can be traced back through two sets of legends, Greek and Persian, is evidence of the dual origin of this kingdom's culture.

Turkey: Xanthos-Letoon. This site, which was the capital of Lycia, illustrates the blending of Lycian traditions and Hellenic influence, especially in its funerary art. The epigraphic inscriptions are crucial for our understanding of the history of the Lycian people and their Indo-European language.

Zimbabwe: Great Zimbabwe National Monument. The ruins of Great Zimbabwe ñ the capital of the Queen of Sheba, according to an age-old legend ñ are a unique testimony to the Bantu civilization of the Shona between the 11th and 15th centuries. The city, which covers an area of nearly 80 ha, was an important trading center and was renowned from the Middle Ages onwards.

Architecture--African

Benin: Royal Palaces of Abomey. The 12 kings who ruled the kingdom of Abomey from 1625 to 1900 built their palaces within the same cob-wall area. The kingdom was a center for the slave trade with Europe.

Ethiopia: Harar Jugol, the Fortified Historic Town. The walls surrounding this sacred Muslim city were built between the 13th and 16th centuries. Harar Jugol, said to be the fourth holiest city of Islam, numbers 82 mosques, three of which date from the 10th century, and 102 shrines. The houses combine local and Indian styles.

Kenya: Lamu Old Town. Lamu Old Town is the oldest and best-preserved Swahili settlement in East Africa. Built in coral stone and mangrove timber, the town is characterized by the simplicity of structural forms enriched by such features as inner courtyards, verandas, and elaborately carved wooden doors. Lamu has hosted major Muslim religious festivals since the 19th century, and has become a significant center for the study of Islamic and Swahili cultures.

Libyan Arab Jamahiriya: Old Town of GhadamËs. Known as 'the pearl of the desert', this town stands in an oasis. It is one of the oldest pre-Saharan cities and an outstanding example of a traditional settlement. Its domestic architecture is characterized by a vertical division of functions: the ground floor used to store supplies; then another floor for the family, overhanging covered alleys that create what is almost an underground network of passageways; and, at the top, open-air terraces reserved for the women.

Mali: Cliff of Bandiagara (Land of the Dogons). The Bandiagara site is an outstanding landscape of cliffs and sandy plateaux with some beautiful architecture (houses, granaries, altars, sanctuaries and Togu Na, or communal meeting-places). Several age-old social traditions live on in the region (masks, feasts, rituals, and ceremonies involving ancestor worship).

Mali: Old Towns of Djenné. Inhabited since 250 B.C., Djenné became a market center and an important link in the trans-Saharan gold trade. In the 15th and 16th centuries, it was one of the centers for the propagation of Islam. Its traditional houses, of which nearly 2,000 have survived, are built on hillocks (toguere) as protection from the seasonal floods.

Mali: Tomb of Askia. The dramatic 17-meter pyramidal structure of the Tomb of Askia was built by Askia Mohamed, the Emperor of Songhai, in 1495 in his capital Gao. It bears testimony to the power and riches of the Empire that flourished in the 15th and 16th centuries through its control of the trans-Saharan trade. It is also a fine example of the monumental mud-building traditions of the West African Sahel. The complex was built after Askia Mohamed returned from Mecca and made Islam the official religion of the Empire.

Togo: Koutammakou, the Land of the Batammariba. The Koutammakou landscape in northeastern Togo is home to the Batammariba whose remarkable mud Takienta tower-houses have come to be seen as a symbol of Togo. The cultural landscape is remarkable due to the architecture of its of Takienta tower-houses which are a reflection of social structure; its farmland and forest; and the associations between people and landscape. Many of the buildings are two stories high and those with granaries feature an almost spherical form above a cylindrical base. They are grouped in villages, which also include ceremonial spaces, springs, rocks and places for initiation ceremonies.

Uganda: Tombs of Buganda Kings at Kasubi. The site includes the former palace of the Kabakas of Buganda, built in 1882 and converted into the royal burial ground in 1884. Four royal tombs now lie within the Muzibu Azaala Mpanga, the main building, which is circular and surmounted by a dome. It is a major example of an architectural achievement in organic materials, principally wood, thatch, reed, wattle and daub. The site's main significance lies, however, in its intangible values of belief, spirituality, continuity and identity.

Architecture--Art Nouveau

Belgium: Major Town Houses of the Architect Victor Horta (Brussels). The town houses are pioneering works in the Art Nouveau style.

Latvia: Historic Center of Riga. Riga was a major center of the Hanseatic League, deriving its prosperity in the 13thñ15th centuries from the trade with central and eastern Europe. Riga became an important economic center in the 19th century, when the suburbs surrounding the medieval town were laid out, first with imposing wooden buildings in neoclassical style and then in Jugendstil. It is generally recognized that Riga has the finest collection of art nouveau buildings in Europe.

Spain: Palau de la M˙sica Catalana and Hospital de Sant Pau, Barcelona. These two buildings were designed by the Catalan art nouveau architect LluÌs DomËnech i Montaner. The Palau de la M˙sica Catalana is an exuberant steel-framed structure full of light and space. The Hospital de Sant Pau is equally bold in its design and decoration, while at the same time perfectly adapted to the needs of the sick.

Spain: Works of Antoni GaudÌ. Seven properties built by the architect Antoni GaudÌ (1852ñ1926) in or near Barcelona-- Parque G¸ell, Palacio B¸ell, Casa Mila, Casa Vicens, the Sagrada Familia cathedral, Casa BatllÛ, and the Crypt in Colonia G¸ell testify to GaudÌís exceptional creative contribution to the development of architecture and building technology in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Architecture--Asian

Cambodia: Angkor. One of the most important archeological sites in Southeast Asia, Angkor included forested areas, the famous temples of Angkor Wat and the Bayon Temple, and remains of the capitals of the Khmer Empire from the 9th to the 15th centuries.

China: Ancient Building Complex in the Wudang Mountains. The palaces and temples which form the nucleus of this group of secular and religious buildings illustrate the architectural and artistic achievements of China's Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.

China: Ancient City of Ping Yao. Ping Yao is an exceptionally well-preserved example of a traditional Han Chinese city, founded in the 14th century. It shows the evolution of architectural styles and town planning in Imperial China over five centuries.

China: Capital Cities and Tombs of the Ancient Koguryo Kingdom. The site includes archaeological remains of three cities and 40 tombs. All belong to the Koguryo culture, named after the dynasty that ruled over parts of northern China and the northern half of the Korean Peninsula from 37 BC to 668 AD. Some of the tombs have elaborate ceilings, designed to roof wide spaces without columns and carry the heavy load of a stone or earth tumulus (mound) which was placed above them.

China: Imperial Palaces of the Ming and Qing Dynasties in Beijing and Shenyang. The architectural style of these palaces are testimonies to the Ming and Qing dynasties, and to the cultural traditions of the Manchu and other tribes of North China.

China: Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Constructed for the founding emperors of the Qing Dynasty and their ancestors, the tombs follow the precepts of traditional Chinese geomancy and fengshui theory. They feature rich decoration of stone statues and carvings and tiles with dragon motifs, illustrating the development of the funerary architecture of the Qing Dynasty.

China: Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial Altar in Beijing. The Temple of Heaven, founded in the first half of the 15th century, is a dignified complex of fine cult buildings set in gardens and surrounded by historic pine woods. It symbolizes the relationship between earth and heaven ñ the human world and God's world ñ which stands at the heart of Chinese cosmogony.

China: Yin Xu. This site is the ancient capital city of the late Shang Dynasty (1300 to 1046 BC). A number of royal tombs and palaces, prototypes of later Chinese architecture, have been unearthed on the site. The large number and superb craftsmanship of the burial accessories found there bear testimony to the advanced level of Shang handicraft industry.

India: Great Living Chola Temples. These three temples were built by kings of the Chola Empire, which stretched over all of South India and the neighboring islands. The temples testify to the Cholas brilliant achievements in architecture, sculpture, painting, and bronze casting.

India: Group of Monuments at Hampi. Hampi was the last capital of the last great Hindu Kingdom of Vijayanagar. Its fabulously rich princes built Dravidian temples and palaces between the 14th and 16th centuries. Conquered by the Deccan Muslim confederacy in 1565, the city was pillaged over a period of six months before being abandoned.

Japan: Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (Kyoto, Uji and Otsu Cities). Built in A.D. 794 on the model of ancient Chinese capitals, Kyoto was the imperial capital of Japan until the mid-19th century. As the center of Japanese culture for over 1,000 years, Kyoto illustrates the development of Japanese wooden architecture, and the art of Japanese gardens, which has influenced landscape gardening the world over.

Kazakhstan: Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi. The Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, in the town of Turkestan, was built at the time of Timur (Tamerlane), from 1389 to 1405. In this building, Persian master builders experimented with architectural methods later used in the construction of Samarkand, capital of the Timurid Empire. It is one of the largest and best-preserved constructions of the Timurid period.

Thailand: Historic City of Ayutthaya. Founded c. 1350, Ayutthaya became the second Siamese capital after Sukhothai. It was destroyed by the Burmese in the 18th century. Its remains, including the prang (reliquary towers) and gigantic monasteries, give an idea of its past splendor.

Thailand: Historic Town of Sukothai and Associated Historic Towns. Sukhothai was the capital of the first Kingdom of Siam in the 13th and 14th centuries. It has a number of monuments, illustrating the beginnings of Thai architecture. The civilization which evolved in the Kingdom of Sukhothai absorbed numerous influences and ancient local traditions into what is known as the 'Sukhothai style'.

Turkmenistan: Kunya-Urgench. Urgench was the capital of the Khorezm region. The old town contains monuments from the 11th to 16th centuries, including a mosque, the gates of a caravanserai, fortresses, mausoleums and a minaret. The achievements in architecture and craftsmanship reached Iran and Afghanistan, and the architecture of the Mogul Empire of 16th-century India.

Uzbekistan: Historic Center of Shakhrisyabz. The historic center of Shakhrisyabz contains monuments illustrating the city's secular development, particularly from the period of the rule of Amir Temur and the Temurids, in the 15th-16th century.

Architecture--Baroque

Austria: Historic Center of the City of Salzburg. The city is known for its Gothic and Baroque art and architecture, as well as for being the home of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Austria: Historic Center of Vienna. Vienna developed from Celtic and Roman settlements into a Medieval and Baroque city. Notable for its Baroque architecture, Vienna was a leading European music center.

Austria: Palace and Gardens of Schˆnbrunn. This was the residence of the Hapsburg Emperors from the 18th century until 1918. It has outstanding examples of Baroque decorative art.

Czech Republic: Holaöovice Historical Village Reservation. Holaöovice is a well-preserved example of a traditional central European village. It has a large number of outstanding 18th- and 19th-century buildings in a style known as 'South Bohemian folk Baroque', and preserves a ground plan dating from the Middle Ages.

Czech Republic: Litomyöl Castle. This was originally a Renaissance arcade-castle of the type first developed in Italy and then adopted and greatly developed in central Europe in the 16th century. It includes High-Baroque features added in the 18th century.

France: Palace and Park of Versailles. The Palace of Versailles was the principal residence of the French kings from the time of Louis XIV to Louis XVI. Embellished by several generations of architects, sculptors, decorators and landscape architects, it provided Europe with a model of the ideal royal residence for over a century. The peace treaty that ended World War I was signed here in 1919.

Germany: W¸rzburg Residence with the Court Gardens and Residence Square. This Baroque palace was built and decorated in the 18th century by an international team of architects, painters (including Tiepolo), sculptors and stucco-workers, led by Balthasar Neumann.

Italy: Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli. Genoaís historic center (late 16th and early 17th centuries) represents the first example in Europe of an urban development project with a unitary framework, where the plans were specially parceled out by a public authority. The site includes an Renaissance and Baroque palaces along the so-called ënew streetsí (Strade Nuove).

Italy: Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto (South-Eastern Sicily). These eight towns in south-eastern Sicily were all rebuilt after the 1693 earthquake. Keeping within the late Baroque style of the day, they depict distinctive innovations in town planning and urban building. The towns are permanently at risk from earthquakes and eruptions of Mount Etna.

Mexico: Historic Center of Zacatecas. Founded in 1546 after the discovery of a rich silver lode, Zacatecas reached the height of its prosperity in the 16th and 17th centuries. Built on the steep slopes of a narrow valley, the town has breathtaking views. The cathedral, built between 1730 and 1760, is notable for its Baroque faÁades, where European and indigenous decorative elements are found side by side.

Mexico: Historic Monuments Zone of Querétaro. The old colonial town of Querétaro is unusual in having retained the geometric street plan of the Spanish conquerors side by side with the twisting alleys of the Indian quarters. The Otomi, the Tarasco, the Chichimeca and the Spanish lived together peacefully in the town, which has many ornate civil and religious Baroque monuments from the 17th and 18th centuries.

Mexico: Historic Town of Guanajuato and Adjacent Mines. Founded by the Spanish in the early 16th century, Guanajuato became the world's leading silver-extraction center in the 18th century. This past can be seen in its 'subterranean streets' and the 'Boca del Inferno', a mineshaft that plunges a breathtaking 600 meters. Resulting from the prosperity of the mines, the town has some of the most beautiful examples of Baroque architecture in Central and South America, including the churches of La CompaÒÌa and La Valenciana.

Philippines: Baroque Churches of the Philippines. These four churches, the first of which was built by the Spanish in the late 16th century, are located in Manila, Santa Maria, Paoay and Miag-ao. Their unique architectural style is a reinterpretation of European Baroque by Chinese and Philippine craftsmen.

Russian Federation: Historic Center of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments. The 'Venice of the North', with its numerous canals and more than 400 bridges, is the result of a vast urban project begun in 1703 under Peter the Great. Later known as Leningrad (in the former USSR), the city is closely associated with the October Revolution. Its architectural heritage reconciles the very different Baroque and pure neoclassical styles, as can be seen in the Admiralty, the Winter Palace, the Marble Palace and the Hermitage.

Switzerland: Convent of St. Gall. The Convent, an example of a Carolingian monastery, was one of the most important in Europe from the 8th century to its secularization in 1805. Its library is one of the richest and oldest in the world and contains precious manuscripts such as the earliest-known architectural plan drawn on parchment. From 1755 to 1768, the convent area was rebuilt in Baroque style.

Ukraine: L'viv - the Ensemble of the Historic Center. The city of L'viv, founded in the late Middle Ages, was a flourishing administrative, religious and commercial center for several centuries. The medieval urban topography has been preserved virtually intact (in particular, there is evidence of the different ethnic communities who lived there), along with many fine Baroque and later buildings.

Architecture--Buddhist

Bangladesh: Ruins of the Buddhist Vihara at Paharpur. From the 7th to the 12th century, this monastery was a renowned intellectual center. Its layout was perfectly adapted to its religious function, and the design influenced Buddhist architecture as far away as Cambodia.

China: Historic Ensemble of the Potala Palace, Lhasa. The Potala Palace, winter palace of the Dalai Lama since the 7th century, symbolizes Tibetan Buddhism and its central role in the traditional administration of Tibet. The various buildings are masterpieces of Tibetan art and architecture.

India: Mahabodhi Temple Complex at Bodh Gaya. This complex is one of the four holy sites related to the life of the Lord Buddha, and particularly to the attainment of Enlightenment. The first temple was built by Emperor Asoka in the 3rd century B.C., and the present temple dates from the 5th or 6th centuries. It is one of the earliest Buddhist temples built entirely in brick, still standing in India.

Japan: Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area. Of the 48 Buddhist monuments in this area, several date from the late 7th or early 8th century, making them some of the oldest surviving wooden buildings in the world. They illustrate the adaptation of Chinese Buddhist architecture to Japanese culture. They were constructed when Buddhism was introduced to Japan from China, via the Korean peninsula.

Korea, Republic of: Gyeongju Historic Areas. The Gyeongju Historic Areas contain a remarkable concentration of outstanding examples of Korean Buddhist art, in the form of sculptures, reliefs, pagodas, and the remains of temples and palaces from the flowering, in particular between the 7th and 10th centuries, of this form of unique artistic expression.

Architecture--Byzantine

Armenia: Monasteries of Haghpat and Sanahin. These two monasteries, dating to the 10th-13th centuries, are examples of Byzantine and traditional Armenian religious architecture.

Greece: Monasteries of Daphni, Hossios Luckas and Nea Moni of Chios. The churches are built on a cross-in-square plan with a large dome supported by squinches defining an octagonal space. In the 11th and 12th centuries they were decorated with superb marble works as well as mosaics on a gold background, all characteristic of the 'second golden age of Byzantine art'.

Italy: Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna. Ravenna was the seat of the Roman Empire in the 5th century and then of Byzantine Italy until the 8th century. It has a unique collection of early Christian mosaics and monuments. All eight buildings were constructed in the 5th and 6th centuries. They show a blend of Graeco-Roman tradition, Christian iconography and oriental and Western styles.

Romania: Churches of Moldavia. With their painted exterior walls, decorated with 15th- and 16th-century frescoes that are considered masterpieces of Byzantine art, these seven churches in northern Moldavia are unique in Europe. Far from being merely wall decorations, the paintings represent complete cycles of religious murals on all facades.

Architecture--Gothic

Austria: Historic Center of the City of Salzburg. The city is known for its Gothic and Baroque art and architecture, as well as for being the home of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Belgium: Historic Center of Brugge. The town is significant for its Gothic brick architecture, and as the birthplace of the Flemish Primitive school of painting.

Czech Republic: Historic Center of Telč. The houses in Telč were originally built of wood. After a fire in the late 14th century, the town was rebuilt in stone, surrounded by walls and further strengthened by a network of artificial ponds. The town's Gothic castle was reconstructed in High Gothic style in the late 15th century.

Denmark: Roskilde Cathedral. Built in the 12th and 13th centuries, this was Scandinavia's first brick Gothic cathedral and it encouraged the spread of this style throughout northern Europe. It has been the mausoleum of the Danish royal family since the 15th century.

France: Amiens Cathedral. This is one of the largest 'classic' Gothic churches of the 13th century.

France: Bourges Cathedral. The Cathedral of St Etienne of Bourges, built between the late 12th and late 13th centuries, is one of the great masterpieces of Gothic art and is admired for its proportions and the unity of its design.

France: Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Former Abbey of Saint-Remi and Palace of Tau, Reims. Dating from the 13th century, Notre-Dame in Reims is considered one of the masterpieces of Gothic art.

France: Chartres Cathedral. Partly built starting in 1145, and then reconstructed over a 26-year period after the fire of 1194, Chartres Cathedral marks the high point of French Gothic art.

France: Mont-Saint-Michel and its Bay. Perched on a rocky islet in the midst of vast sandbanks exposed to powerful tides between Normandy and Brittany stands this Gothic-style Benedictine abbey dedicated to the archangel St Michael. Built between the 11th and 16th centuries, the abbey is a technical and artistic tour de force, having had to adapt to the problems posed by this unique natural site.

Germany: Cologne Cathedral. Begun in 1248, the construction of this Gothic masterpiece was not completed until 1880. Cologne Cathedral testifies to the enduring strength of European Christianity. Urban development has threatened its visual integrity.

Germany: Historic Centers of Stralsund and Wismar. These two medieval towns were major trading centers of the Hanseatic League in the 14th and 15th centuries. Their cathedrals contributed to the development Brick Gothic architecture in the region.

Germany: Maulbronn Monastery Complex. Founded in 1147, the Cistercian Maulbronn Monastery is considered the most complete and best-preserved medieval monastic complex north of the Alps. Surrounded by fortified walls, the main buildings were constructed between the 12th and 16th centuries. The monastery's church, in Transitional Gothic style, influenced Gothic architecture throughout Europe. The water-management system at Maulbronn, with its elaborate network of drains, irrigation canals and reservoirs, is of exceptional interest.

Germany: Town Hall and Roland on the Marketplace of Bremen. The Town Hall on the marketplace of Bremen was built as in the Gothic style in the early 15thcentury, after Bremen joined the Hanseatic League. The Statue of Roland stands 5.5m tall and dates back to 1404.

Greece: Medieval City of Rhodes. The Order of St. John of Jerusalem occupied Rhodes from 1309 to 1523, transforming the city into a stronghold. It subsequently came under Turkish and Italian rule. The Palace of the Grand Masters, the Great Hospital and the Street of the Knights, the Upper Town are examples of Gothic architecture; mosques, public baths and other buildings date from the Ottoman period.

Hungary: Budapest, including the Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter and Andr·ssy Avenue. This site has the remains of monuments such as the Roman city of Aquincum and the Gothic castle of Buda. It is one of the world's outstanding urban landscapes.

India: Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus). This is an example of Victorian Gothic Revival architecture in India, blended with themes deriving from Indian traditional architecture. The building, designed by the British architect F.W. Stevens, became the symbol of Bombay as the ëGothic Cityí and the major international mercantile port of India.

Italy: Historic Center of Siena. Siena is the embodiment of a medieval city. Its inhabitants pursued their rivalry with Florence right into the area of urban planning. Throughout the centuries, they preserved their city's Gothic appearance, acquired between the 12th and 15th centuries. The whole city of Siena, built around the Piazza del Campo, is a work of art that blends into the surrounding landscape.

Portugal: Monastery of AlcobaÁa. The Monastery of Santa Maria d'AlcobaÁa was founded in the 12th century. Its size, the purity of its architectural style, the beauty of the materials and the care with which it was built make this a masterpiece of Cistercian Gothic art.

Portugal: Monastery of Batalha. The Monastery of the Dominicans of Batalha was built to commemorate the victory of the Portuguese over the Castilians at the battle of Aljubarrota in 1385. It was to be the Portuguese monarchy's main building project for the next two centuries. Here a highly original, national Gothic style evolved, profoundly influenced by Manueline art, as demonstrated by the Royal Cloister.

Slovakia: Spiösk˝ Hrad and its Associated Cultural Monuments. Spiösk˝ Hrad has one of the largest ensembles of 13th- and 14th-century military, political and religious buildings in eastern Europe, and its Romanesque and Gothic architecture has remained remarkably intact.

Spain: Burgos Cathedral. Our Lady of Burgos was begun in the 13th century at the same time as the great cathedrals of the Ile-de-France and was completed in the 15th and 16th centuries. The entire history of Gothic art is summed up in its superb architecture and its unique collection of works of art, including paintings, choir stalls, reredos, tombs and stained-glass windows.

Spain: Cathedral, Alc·zar, and Archivo de Indias in Seville. The cathedral and the Alc·zar ñ dating from the Reconquest of 1248 to the 16th century and imbued with Moorish influences ñ are a testimony to the civilization of the Almohads as well as that of Christian Andalusia. The Giralda minaret is the masterpiece of Almohad architecture. The cathedral with its five naves is the largest Gothic building in Europe. It houses the tomb of Christopher Columbus. The Archivo de Indias contains valuable documents from the archives of colonies in the Americas.

Spain: La Lonja de la Seda de Valencia. Built between 1482 and 1533, this group of buildings was originally used for trading in silk (hence its name, the Silk Exchange) and it has always been a center for commerce. Its late Gothic architecture illustrates the power and wealth of a major Mediterranean mercantile city in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Spain: Mudéjar Architecture of Aragon. The development in the 12th century of Mudéjar art in Aragon resulted from conditions that prevailed in Spain after the Reconquista. This art, influenced by Islamic tradition, also reflects various contemporary European styles, particularly the Gothic. It is characterized by an extremely refined and inventive use of brick and glazed tiles in architecture, especially in the belfries.

Spain: Old Town of Avila and its Extra-Muros Churches. Founded in the 11th century to protect the Spanish territories from the Moors, this medieval city is the birthplace of St. Teresa and the burial place of the Grand Inquisitor Torquemada. The cathedral is an example of pure Gothic architecture; the fortifications which, with their 82 semicircular towers and nine gates, are the most complete in Spain.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret's Church. Westminster Palace, rebuilt from the year 1840 on the site of important medieval remains, is a fine example of neo-Gothic architecture. The site ñ which also comprises the small medieval Church of Saint Margaret, built in Perpendicular Gothic style, and Westminster Abbey, where all the sovereigns since the 11th century have been crowned ñ is of great historic and symbolic significance.

Architecture--Islamic

Afghanistan: Minaret and Archaeological Remains of Jam. The 65-meter tall minaret dates to the 12th century. Its elaborate brickwork and tiles make it an outstanding example of Islamic architecture. The site is on the list of World Heritage in Danger due to a planned road that would cross the site, water infiltration, and lack of preservation.

India: Fatehpur Sikri. Built in the 16th century by the Emperor Akbar, Fatehpur Sikri (the City of Victory) was briefly the capital of the Mughal Empire. Its monuments and temples, all in a uniform architectural style, include one of the largest mosques in India, the Jama Masjid.

India: Qutb Minar and its Monuments, Delhi. Built in the early 13th century, the red sandstone tower of Qutb Minar is 72.5 meters high. The surrounding area contains funerary buildings, notably the magnificent Alai-Darwaza Gate, the masterpiece of Indo-Muslim art (built in 1311), and two mosques, including the Quwwatu'l-Islam, the oldest in northern India, built of materials reused from some 20 Brahman temples.

India: Red Fort Complex. The Red Fort Complex was built as the palace fort of the 5th Mughal Emperor of India, Shahjahan (1628-58). It gets its name from its massive enclosing walls of red sandstone. The private apartments consist of a row of pavilions connected by a continuous water channel, known as the Nahr-i-Behisht, or the Stream of Paradise. The palace was designed as an imitation of paradise as described in the Koran. The planning of the palace is based on Islamic designs, but the pavilions have elements of Persian, Timurid and Hindu traditions.

Iran (Islamic Republic of): Meidan Emam, Esfahan. Built by Shah Abbas I the Great at the beginning of the 17th century, the site is known for the Royal Mosque, the Mosque of Sheykh Lotfollah, the magnificent Portico of Qaysariyyeh and the 15th-century Timurid palace.

Iran (Islamic Republic of): Soltaniyeh. The mausoleum of Oljaytu was constructed in 1302-12 in the city of Soltaniyeh, one of the outstanding examples of Persian architecture and a key monument in the development of Islamic architecture. The octagonal building has a 50-meter-tall dome covered in turquoise blue faience and surrounded by eight minarets. It is the earliest example of the double-shelled dome in Iran.

Iran (Islamic Republic of): Takht-e Soleyman. The archaeological site of Takht-e Soleyman includes the principal Zoroastrian sanctuary partly rebuilt in the Ilkhanid (Mongol) period (13th century), as well as a temple of the Sasanian period (6th and 7th centuries) dedicated to Anahita. The designs of the temple and the palace have influenced Islamic architecture.

Iraq: Samarra Archeological City. Located on both sides of the River Tigris north of Baghdad, the site was a powerful Islamic capital city which ruled over the provinces of the Abbasid empire extending from Tunisia to Central Asia for a century. The Great Mosque and Spiral Minaret, from the 9th century, are among its numerous remarkable architecture monuments. The site is on the list of World Heritage in Danger due to armed conflict, looting, and a lack of preservation.

Morocco: Medina of Marrakesh. Founded in 1070ñ72 by the Almoravids, Marrakesh remained a political, economic and cultural center for a long period. Its influence was felt throughout the western Muslim world, from North Africa to Andalusia. It has several impressive monuments dating from that period: the Koutoubiya Mosque, the Kasbah, the battlements, monumental doors, gardens, etc.

Spain: Historic Center of Cordoba. Cordoba's period of greatest glory began in the 8th century after the Moorish conquest, when some 300 mosques and innumerable palaces and public buildings were built to rival the splendors of Constantinople, Damascus and Baghdad. In the 13th century, under Ferdinand III, the Saint, Cordoba's Great Mosque was turned into a cathedral.

Spain: Old Town of C·ceres. The city's history of battles between Moors and Christians is reflected in its architecture, which blends Roman, Islamic, Northern Gothic and Italian Renaissance styles. Of the 30 or so towers from the Muslim period, the Torre del Bujaco is most famous.

Turkey: Great Mosque and Hospital of Divriği. This region of Anatolia was conquered by the Turks in the early 11th century. In 1228ñ29 Emir Ahmet Shah founded a mosque, with its adjoining hospital, at Divriği. The mosque has a single prayer room and is crowned by two cupolas. The sophisticated technique of vault construction, and decorative sculpture are unique features of this masterpiece of Islamic architecture.

Uzbekistan: Historic Center of Bukhara. Bukhara, which is situated on the Silk Route, is more than 2,000 years old. It is the most complete example of a medieval city in Central Asia, with an urban fabric that has remained largely intact. Monuments of particular interest include the famous tomb of Ismail Samani, a masterpiece of 10th-century Muslim architecture, and a large number of 17th-century madrasas.

Uzbekistan: Itchan Kala. Itchan Kala is the inner town (protected by brick walls some 10 meters high) of the old Khiva oasis, which was the last resting-place of caravans before crossing the desert to Iran. Although few very old monuments still remain, it is a coherent and well-preserved example of the Muslim architecture of Central Asia. There are several outstanding structures such as the Djuma Mosque, the mausoleums and the madrasas and the two magnificent palaces built at the beginning of the 19th century by Alla-Kulli-Khan.

Uzbekistan: Samarkand - Crossroads of Cultures. The historic town of Samarkand is a melting pot of the world's cultures. Founded in the 7th century B.C., Samarkand had its most significant development from the 14th to the 15th centuries. Its monuments include the Registan Mosque and madrasas, Bibi-Khanum Mosque, the Shakhi-Zinda compound and the Gur-Emir ensemble, as well as Ulugh-Beg's Observatory.

Architecture--Medieval (Europe)

Armenia: Monastery of Geghard and the Upper Azat Valley. The monastery contains a number of churches and tombs, most of them cut into the rock, which illustrate the peak of Armenian medieval architecture.

Czech Republic: Historic Center of Prague. Built between the 11th and 18th centuries, the Old Town, the Lesser Town and the New Town speak of the great architectural and cultural influence enjoyed by this city since the Middle Ages. The many magnificent monuments, such as Hradcani Castle, St. Vitus Cathedral, and Charles Bridge were built mostly in the 14th century under the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV.

Georgia: Bagrati Cathedral and Gelati Monastery. Bagrati Cathedral was completed in the early years of the 11th century, and was partly destroyed by the Turks in 1691. The Gelati Monastery, built between the 12th and 17th centuries, has wonderful mosaics and wall paintings. The cathedral and monastery represent the flowering of medieval architecture in Georgia.

Georgia: Historical Monuments of Mtskheta. The historic churches of Mtskheta, former capital of Georgia, are outstanding examples of medieval religious architecture in the Caucasus.

Georgia: Upper Svaneti. Preserved by its long isolation, the Upper Svaneti region is an exceptional example of mountain scenery with medieval-type villages and unusual tower-houses, which were used both as dwellings and as defense posts against invaders.

Germany: Monastic Island of Reichenau. The island of Reichenau on Lake Constance preserves the traces of the Benedictine monastery, founded in 724, which exercised remarkable spiritual, intellectual and artistic influence. The churches, built between the 9th and 11th centuries, illustrate early medieval monastic architecture in central Europe, and contain monumental wall paintings.

Germany: Old Town of Regensburg with Stadtamhof. This medieval town was an influential trading center from the 9th century. It has preserved ancient Roman, Romanesque and Gothic buildings. The town is also remarkable for the vestiges that testify to its rich institutional and religious history as one of the centers of the Holy Roman Empire that turned to Protestantism.

Greece: Mystras. Mystras was built as an amphitheatre around a fortress in 1249. Conquered by the Byzantines, then occupied by the Turks and the Venetians, the city was abandoned in 1832, leaving only the breathtaking medieval ruins, standing in a beautiful landscape.

Italy: Historic Center of San Gimignano. The patrician families who controlled San Gimignano built around 72 tower-houses (some as high as 50 meters) as symbols of their wealth and power. Although only 14 have survived, San Gimignano has retained its feudal atmosphere and appearance. The town also has several masterpieces of 14th- and 15th-century Italian art.

Italy: Piazza del Duomo, Pisa. The Piazza del Duomo houses four masterpieces of medieval architecture known the world over. These buildings ñ the cathedral, the baptistry, the campanile (the 'Leaning Tower') and the cemetery ñ influenced monumental art in Italy from the 11th to the 14th century.

Poland: Wooden Churches of Southern Little Poland. These churches represent outstanding examples of the different aspects of medieval church-building traditions in Roman Catholic culture. Built using the horizontal log technique, common in eastern and northern Europe since the Middle Ages, these churches were sponsored by noble families and became status symbols.

Architecture--Mixed styles

Albania: Butrint. Inhabited since prehistoric times, Butrint was the site of a Greek colony, a Roman city, a Byzantine administration, and Venetian occupation. Ruins from each period make the site unique.

Algeria: Tipasa. The ruins of this trading post contain Phoenician, Roman, paleochristian, Byzantine, and indigenous monuments.

Austria: City of Graz - Historic Center. A crossroads between the Germanic region, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean, Graz harmoniously integrates architectural styles from many different periods.

Azerbaijan: Walled City of Baku with the Shirvanshah's Palace and Maiden Tower. The Walled City of Baku reveals Zoroastrian, Sasanian, Arabic, Persian, Shirvan, Ottoman and Russian presence. It was significantly damaged in the earthquake of November 2000, and is increasingly affected by the pressure of urban development. Because of this, it is on the list of World Heritage in Danger.

Belarus: Mir Castle Complex. The castle was build in a succession of styles, including Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque.

Belgium: Belfries of Belgium and France. The belfries showcase Roman, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles. They were erected as a sign of communal independence obtained by charter -- a symbol of freedom.

Bolivia: Historic City of Sucre. Sucre, the first capital of Bolivia, was founded by the Spanish in the first half of the 16th century. The architecture mixes local traditions with styles imported from Europe.

Bulgaria: Ancient City of Nessebar. This site was originally a Thracian settlement, then a Greek colony. The architectural remains date from the Hellenistic period and include an acropolis, a temple of Apollo, and an agora. The Stara Mitropolia Basilica dates from the Middle Ages, when this was an important Byzantine town. Wooden houses built in the 19th century are typical of the Black Sea architecture of the period.

Chile: Churches of Chiloé. The wooden mission churches represent a fusion of European and indigenous architecture, the integration of architecture and environment, and the spiritual values of the community.

China: Kaiping Diaolou and Villages. The Diaolou are multi-storied defensive village houses in Kaiping, Guangdong Province, which merge Chinese and Western structural and decorative forms. These buildings take three forms: communal towers built by several families and used as temporary refuge; residential towers built by individual rich families and used as fortified residences; and watch towers. Built of stone, pise (compressed earth), brick or concrete, they represent building traditions that started in the Ming period in response to local banditry.

Croatia: The Cathedral of St. James in äibenik. The Cathedral's three architects developed a structure built entirely from stone and using unique construction techniques for the vaulting and the dome of the Cathedral. Its form and the decorative elements illustrate the successful fusion of Gothic and Renaissance art.

Croatia: Episcopal Complex of the Euphrasian Basilica in the Historic Center of Poreč. The religious monuments in Poreč, where Christianity was established as early as the 4th century, are the most complete surviving complex of its type. The basilica, atrium, baptistery and episcopal palace are outstanding examples of religious architecture. The basilica itself combines classical and Byzantine elements.

Croatia: Historic City of Trogir. Trogir is a remarkable example of urban continuity. The orthogonal street plan of this island settlement dates from the Hellenistic period. There are Romanesque churches and Renaissance and Baroque buildings from the Venetian period.

Croatia: Historical Complex of Split with the Palace of Diocletian. The palace ruins, built between the late 3rd and the early 4th centuries A.D., can be found throughout the city. The cathedral was built in the Middle Ages. The area also includes 12th- and 13th-century Romanesque churches, medieval fortifications, 15th-century Gothic palaces and other palaces in Renaissance and Baroque style.

Croatia: Old City of Dubrovnik. This city-- the 'Pearl of the Adriatic'-- became an important Mediterranean sea power in the 13th century. Though damaged by an earthquake in 1667, Dubrovnik preserved its beautiful Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque churches, monasteries, palaces and fountains. Damaged again in the 1990s by armed conflict, it is now the focus of a major UNESCO restoration program.

Cuba: Old Havana and its Fortifications. Havana was founded in 1519 by the Spanish. By the 17th century, it had become one of the Caribbean's main centers for ship-building. Its old center has a mix of Baroque and neoclassical monuments.

Czech Republic: Historic Center of Česk˝ Krumlov. This town on the banks of the Vltava river was built around a 13th-century castle with Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque elements.

Czech Republic: Kutn· Hora: Historical Town Centre with the Church of St Barbara and the Cathedral of Our Lady at Sedlec. Kutn· Hora developed as a result of the exploitation of the silver mines. In the 14th century it became a royal city endowed with monuments that symbolized its prosperity. The late Gothic and Baroque churches influenced the architecture of central Europe.

Czech Republic: Pilgrimage Church of St. John of Nepomuk at Zelen· Hora. This church was constructed at the beginning of the 18th century on a star-shaped plan. It is the most unusual work by the architect Jan Blazej Santini, whose style falls between neo-Gothic and Baroque.

Ecuador: City of Quito. Quito, the capital of Ecuador, was founded in the 16th century on the ruins of an Inca city. It has the best-preserved, least altered historic centre in Latin America. The monasteries and churches are examples of the 'Baroque school of Quito', which is a fusion of Spanish, Italian, Moorish, Flemish and indigenous art.

Ethiopia: Fasil Ghebbi, Gondar Region. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the fortress-city of Fasil Ghebbi was the residence of the Ethiopian emperor Fasilides and his successors. Surrounded by a 900-m-long wall, the city contains palaces, churches, monasteries and unique public and private buildings marked by Hindu and Arab influences, later transformed by the Baroque style brought by the Jesuit missionaries.

Germany: Aachen Cathedral. Construction of this palatine chapel, with its octagonal basilica and cupola, began c. 790ñ800 under the Emperor Charlemagne. Originally inspired by the churches of the Eastern part of the Holy Roman Empire, it was enlarged in the Middle Ages.

Germany: Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin. With 500 hectares of parks and 150 buildings constructed between 1730 and 1916, Potsdam's complex of palaces and parks forms an artistic whole, whose eclectic nature reinforces its sense of uniqueness. It extends into the district of Berlin-Zehlendorf, with the palaces and parks lining the banks of the River Havel and Lake Glienicke.

India: Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park. The park contains prehistoric sites, a hill fortress of an early Hindu capital, and remains of the 16th century capital of the state of Gujarat. It also includes fortifications, palaces, religious buildings, residential precincts, agricultural structures and water installations, from the 8th to the 14th centuries. It is a unique blend of Hindu and Muslim architecture.

India: Group of Monuments at Pattadakal. Pattadakal, in Karnataka, represents the high point of an eclectic art which, in the 7th and 8th centuries achieved a harmonious blend of architectural forms from northern and southern India. An impressive series of nine Hindu temples, as well as a Jain sanctuary, can be seen there.

Iraq: Hatra. A fortified city and capital of the first Arab Kingdom, Hatra withstood invasions by the Romans in A.D. 116 and 198 thanks to its high, thick walls reinforced by towers. It has temples where Hellenistic and Roman architecture blend with Eastern decorative features.

Italy: Castel del Monte. When Emperor Frederick II built this castle in the 13th century, he imbued it with symbolic significance, reflected in the location, the mathematical and astronomical precision of the layout and the perfectly regular shape. A unique piece of medieval military architecture, Castel del Monte is a blend of elements from classical antiquity, the Islamic Orient and north European Cistercian Gothic.

Italy: Historic Center of Naples. From the Neapolis founded by Greek settlers in 470 B.C. to the city of today, Naples has retained the imprint of the successive cultures that emerged in Europe and the Mediterranean basin. This makes it a unique site, with a wealth of outstanding monuments such as the Church of Santa Chiara and the Castel Nuovo.

Lao People's Democratic Republic: Town of Luang Prabang. Luang Prabang is an outstanding example of the fusion of traditional architecture and Lao urban structures with those built by the European colonial authorities in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Lithuania: Vilnius Historic Center. Vilnius has had a profound influence on the cultural and architectural development of much of eastern Europe. Despite invasions and partial destruction, it has preserved an impressive complex of Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and classical buildings as well as its medieval layout and natural setting.

Mexico: Historic Center of Morelia. Built in the 16th century, Morelia is an outstanding example of urban planning. Well-adapted to the slopes of the hill site, its streets still follow the original layout. More than 200 historic buildings, all in the region's characteristic pink stone, reflect the town's architectural history, revealing a blend of the medieval spirit with Renaissance, Baroque and neoclassical elements.

Morocco: Historic City of Meknes. Founded in the 11th century as a military settlement, Meknes became a capital under Sultan Moulay IsmaÔl (1672ñ1727). The sultan turned it into a impressive city in Spanish-Moorish style, surrounded by high walls with great doors, where the harmonious blending of the Islamic and European styles of the 17th-century Maghreb are still evident today.

Morocco: Medina of Tétouan (formerly known as Titawin). Tétouan was important in the Islamic period, from the 8th century onwards, since it served as the main point of contact between Morocco and Andalusia. After the Reconquest, the town was rebuilt by Andalusian refugees who had been expelled by the Spanish. This is well illustrated by its art and architecture, which reveal clear Andalusian influence.

Norway: Urnes Stave Church. The wooden church of Urnes (the stavkirke) stands in the natural setting of Sogn og Fjordane. It was built in the 12th and 13th centuries and is an outstanding example of traditional Scandinavian wooden architecture. It brings together traces of Celtic art, Viking traditions and Romanesque structures.

Peru: Historical Center of the City of Arequipa. The historic center of Arequipa, built in volcanic sillar rock, represents an integration of European and native building techniques and characteristics.

Philippines: Historic Town of Vigan. Established in the 16th century, Vigan is the best-preserved example of a planned Spanish colonial town in Asia. Its architecture reflects the coming together of cultural elements from elsewhere in the Philippines, from China and from Europe.

Portugal: Cultural Landscape of Sintra. In the 19th century Sintra became the first center of European Romantic architecture. Ferdinand II turned a ruined monastery into a castle that used Gothic, Egyptian, Moorish and Renaissance elements, and created a park blending local and exotic species of trees. The site influenced the development of landscape architecture throughout Europe.

Portugal: Historic Center of Oporto. The city is an outstanding urban landscape with a 1,000-year history. Its continuous growth, linked to the sea (the Romans gave it the name Portus, or port), can be seen in the many and varied monuments, from the cathedral with its Romanesque choir, to the neoclassical Stock Exchange and the typically Portuguese Manueline-style Church of Santa Clara.

Spain: Alhambra, Generalife, and AlbayzÌn, Granada. Rising above the modern lower town, the Alhambra and the AlbayzÌn form the medieval part of Granada. To the east of the Alhambra fortress and residence are the magnificent gardens of the Generalife, the former rural residence of the emirs who ruled this part of Spain in the 13th and 14th centuries. The residential district of the AlbayzÌn is a rich repository of Moorish vernacular architecture, into which the traditional Andalusian architecture blends harmoniously.

Spain: Old City of Salamanca. This ancient university town was first conquered by the Carthaginians in the 3rd century B.C. It then became a Roman settlement before being ruled by the Moors until the 11th century. The university, one of the oldest in Europe, reached its high point during Salamanca's golden age. The city's historic center has important Romanesque, Gothic, Moorish, Renaissance and Baroque monuments.

Spain: Santiago de Compostela (Old Town). This city became a symbol in the Spanish Christians' struggle against Islam. Destroyed by the Muslims at the end of the 10th century, it was completely rebuilt in the following century. The Old Town today contains Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque buildings. The oldest monuments are grouped around the tomb of St James and the cathedral.

Tanzania, United Republic of: Stone Town of Zanzibar. The town is an example of the Swahili coastal trading towns of East Africa. Its buildings reflect the influences of disparate cultures of Africa, the Arab region, India, and Europe over more than a millennium. Zanzibar has great symbolic importance in the suppression of slavery, since it was one of the main slave-trading ports in East Africa and also the base from which its opponents such as David Livingstone conducted their campaign.

Turkey: Historic Areas of Istanbul. With its strategic location on the Bosphorus peninsula between the Balkans and Anatolia, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, Istanbul has been associated with major political, religious and artistic events for more than 2,000 years. Its masterpieces include the ancient Hippodrome of Constantine, the 6th-century Hagia Sophia and the 16th-century S¸leymaniye Mosque, all now under threat from population pressure, industrial pollution and uncontrolled urbanization.

Venezuela: Coro and its Port. With its earthen constructions unique to the Caribbean, Coro is the only surviving example of a rich fusion of local traditions with Spanish Mudéjar and Dutch architectural techniques. One of the first colonial towns (founded in 1527), it has some 602 historic buildings. It is on the List of World Heritage in Danger because of pressures of development, and damage done by heavy rains in 2004 and 2005.

Architecture--Modern

Australia: Sydney Opera House. Inaugurated in 1973, the Sydney Opera House is a great urban sculpture set in a remarkable waterscape, at the tip a peninsula projecting into Sydney Harbor. The Opera House comprises three groups of interlocking vaulted ëshells' which roof two main performances halls and a restaurant. These shell-structure are set upon a vast platform and are surrounded by terrace areas that function as pedestrian concourses.

Brazil: Brasilia. This capital city was a landmark in the history of urban planning. Every element, from the layout of residential areas and administrative districts to the symmetry of the buildings themselves, is in harmony with the city's overall design. Official buildings are particularly innovative and imaginative.

Czech Republic: Tugendhat Villa in Brno. Designed by the architect Mies van der Rohe, the villa is an outstanding example of the international style in the modern movement in architecture as it developed in Europe in the 1920s, applied to a residence.

Germany: Bauhaus and its Sites in Weimar and Dessau. Between 1919 and 1933, the Bauhaus School revolutionized architectural and aesthetic concepts and practices. The buildings put up and decorated by the school's professors (Walter Gropius, Hannes Meyer, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Wassily Kandinsky) launched the Modern Movement, which shaped much of the architecture of the 20th century.

Israel: White City of Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv was founded in 1909 and developed as a metropolitan city under the British Mandate in Palestine. The White City was constructed from the early 1930s until the 1950s, based on an urban plan reflecting modern organic planning principles.

Mexico: Central University City Campus of the Universidad Nacional AutÛnoma de México (UNAM). The campus is a unique example 20^th century modernism integrating urban planning, architecture, engineering, landscape design and fine arts with references to Mexicoís pre-Hispanic past.

Mexico: Luis Barrag·n House and Studio. Built in 1948, the House and Studio of architect Luis Barrag·n in the suburb of Mexico City represents an outstanding example of the architectís creative work in the post-Second World War period. Barrag·nís work integrated modern and traditional artistic elements into an influential new synthesis.

Netherlands: Rietveld Schrˆderhuis (Rietveld Schrˆder House). This 1924 house represents the ideals of the De Stijl group of artists and architects in the Netherlands in the 1920s, and has since been considered one of the icons of the Modern Movement in architecture.

Poland: Centennial Hall in Wroclaw. The Centennial Hall, a landmark in the history of reinforced concrete architecture, was erected in 1911-1913. It is considered a pioneering work of modern engineering and architecture.

Venezuela: Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas. The Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas, built to the design of the architect Carlos Ra˙l Villanueva, between 1940 and 1960, is an example of the Modern Movement in architecture. The university campus includes masterpieces of modern architecture and visual arts, such as the Aula Magna with the "Clouds" of Alexander Calder, the Olympic Stadium, and the Covered Plaza.

Architecture--Neoclassical

France: Bordeaux, Port of the Moon. This port city in south-west France represents the philosophical view, during the age of Enlightenment, that towns should be melting pots of humanism, universality and culture. It is recognized for its historic role as a place of exchange of cultural values over more than 2,000 years, particularly since the 12th century due to commercial links with Britain and the Low Lands. It is an outstanding example of classical and neo-classical urban planning and architecture.

Russian Federation: Historical Center of the City of Yaroslavl. The site was a major commercial center by the 11th century. It is renowned for its numerous 17th century churches and is an outstanding example of the urban planning reform Empress Catherine the Great ordered for the whole of Russia in 1763. The town was renovated in the neo-classical style on a radial urban master plan.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: City of Bath. Founded by the Romans as a thermal spa, Bath became an important center of the wool industry in the Middle Ages. In the 18th century, under George III, it developed into an elegant town with neoclassical Palladian buildings, which blend harmoniously with the Roman baths.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Old and New Towns of Edinburgh. Edinburgh has been the Scottish capital since the 15th century. It has two distinct areas: the Old Town, dominated by a medieval fortress; and the neoclassical New Town, whose development from the 18th century onwards had a far-reaching influence on European urban planning.

United States: Monticello and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Thomas Jefferson (1743ñ1826), author of the American Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States, was also a talented architect of neoclassical buildings. He designed Monticello (1769ñ1809), his plantation home, and his ideal 'academical village' (1817ñ26), which is still the heart of the University of Virginia.

Architecture--Norman

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Durham Castle and Cathedral. Durham Cathedral was built in the late 11th and early 12th centuries to house the relics of St Cuthbert (evangelizer of Northumbria) and the Venerable Bede. It was home to an early Benedictine monastic community and is the largest example of Norman architecture in England. Its vaulting foreshadowed Gothic architecture. Behind the cathedral stands the castle, an ancient Norman fortress which was the residence of the prince-bishops of Durham.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Tower of London. The Tower of London ñ an imposing fortress with many layers of history, which has become one of the symbols of royalty ñ was built around the White Tower, a typical example of Norman military architecture. It was built on the Thames by William the Conqueror to protect London and assert his power.

Architecture--Other styles

Armenia: Cathedral and Churches of Echmiatsin and the Archaelological Site of Zvartnots. These sites illustrate the central-domed cross-hall type of church, which influenced architectural development in the region.

Australia: Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens. With a mix of architectural styles, the building and grounds are an example of the international exhibition movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries, which promoted an increase in industrialization and trade through the exchange of knowledge and ideas.

Belarus: Architectural, Residential and Cultural Complex of the Radziwill Family at Nesvizh. The complex led to new developments in the history of architecture in Central Europe.

Belgium: La Grand-Place, Brussels. The architecture of these 17th century buildings illustrates the achievements of a successful commercial and political city.

Bulgaria: Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari. This 3rd century B.C. tomb is both typical of Thracian architecture, and also includes unique features such as painted murals and carved female figures in high relief on central chamber walls.

Canada: Old Town Lunenburg. This is the best surviving example of a planned British colonial settlement in North America. The town was laid out on a rectangular grid pattern drawn up in Great Britain. Residents have preserved the wooden architecture of the houses, which date from the 18th century.

Chile: Historic Quarter of the Seaport City of ValparaÌso. The architecture of the city is adapted to the hillsides and the natural amphitheater-like setting. The city has preserved interesting industrial infrastructures, such as the "elevators" on the steep hillsides.

Finland: Old Rauma. Built around a Franciscan monastery, where the mid-15th-century Holy Cross Church still stands, Rauma is an outstanding example of an old Nordic city constructed in wood.

Finland: Pet‰j‰vesi Old Church. This church was built of logs between 1763 and 1765, an example of a unique eastern Scandinavian architectural tradition. It combines the Renaissance idea of a centrally planned church with older Gothic forms.

Germany: Abbey and Altenm¸nster of Lorsch. The abbey, together with its monumental entrance, the famous 'Torhall', are rare architectural vestiges of the Carolingian era.

Italy: City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto. Vicenza prospered under Venetian rule from the early 15th to the end of the 18th century. The work of Andrea Palladio (1508ñ80), based on a detailed study of classical Roman architecture, gives the city its unique appearance. His work inspired an architectural style known as Palladian, which spread to Europe and North America.

Italy: Residences of the Royal House of Savoy. When Emmanuel-Philibert, Duke of Savoy, moved his capital to Turin in 1562, he began a vast series of building projects to demonstrate the power of the ruling house. The monumental architecture illustrates the prevailing doctrine of absolute monarchy in material terms.

Norway: Bryggen. Bryggen, the old wharf of Bergen, is a reminder of the town's importance as part of the Hanseatic League's trading empire from the 14th to the mid-16th century. Many fires, the last in 1955, have ravaged the beautiful wooden houses of Bryggen but its main structure has been preserved.

Portugal: Historic Center of …vora. This museum-city, whose roots go back to Roman times, reached its golden age in the 15th century, when it became the residence of the Portuguese kings. Its unique whitewashed houses decorated with azulejos and wrought-iron balconies date from the 16th to the 18th century.

Romania: Monastery of Horezu. Founded in 1690 by Prince Constantine Brancovan, the monastery of Horezu is a masterpiece of the 'Brancovan' style. It is known for its architectural purity and balance, the richness of its sculptural detail, the treatment of its religious compositions, its votive portraits, its painted decorative works, and a school of mural and icon painting established in the 18th century.

Romania: Wooden Churches of Maramureş. These eight churches have narrow, high, timber constructions with their characteristic tall, slim clock towers at the western end of the building, either single- or double-roofed and covered by shingles. As such, they are a particular vernacular expression of the cultural landscape of this mountainous area of northern Romania.

Russian Federation: Church of the Ascension, Kolomenskoye. The Church of the Ascension was built in 1532 to celebrate the birth of the prince who was to become Tsar Ivan IV ('the Terrible'). One of the earliest examples of a traditional wooden tent-roofed church on a stone and brick substructure, it had a great influence on the development of Russian ecclesiastical architecture.

Russian Federation: Kizhi Pogost. The pogost of Kizhi (i.e. the Kizhi enclosure) is located on one of the many islands in Lake Onega. Two 18th-century wooden churches, and an octagonal clock tower, also in wood and built in 1862, can be seen there. These unusual constructions perpetuate an ancient model of parish space and are in harmony with the surrounding landscape.

Russian Federation: White Monuments of Vladimir and Suzdal. These two artistic centers in central Russia hold an important place in the country's architectural history. There are a number of magnificent 12th- and 13th-century public and religious buildings, above all the masterpieces of the Collegiate Church of St. Demetrios and the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin.

Slovakia: VlkolÌnec. VlkolÌnec is a remarkably intact settlement of 45 buildings with the traditional features of a central European village. It is the region's most complete group of these kinds of traditional log houses, often found in mountainous areas.

Spain: Monastery and Site of the Escurial, Madrid. The Escurial Monastery was built at the end of the 16th century on a plan in the form of a grill, the instrument of the martyrdom of St Lawrence. Its austere architecture influenced Spanish architecture for more than half a century. It was the retreat of a mystic king and became, in the last years of Philip II's reign, the center of the greatest political power of the time.

Sweden: Royal Domain of Drottningholm. The Royal Domain of Drottningholm stands on an island in Lake M‰lar in a suburb of Stockholm. With its castle, perfectly preserved theater (built in 1766), Chinese pavilion and gardens, it is the finest example of an 18th-century north European royal residence inspired by the Palace of Versailles.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Blenheim Palace. Blenheim Palace, near Oxford, stands in a romantic park created by the famous landscape gardener 'Capability' Brown. It was presented by the English nation to John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough, in recognition of his victory in 1704 over French and Bavarian troops. Built between 1705 and 1722 and characterized by an eclectic style and a return to national roots, it is a perfect example of an 18th-century princely dwelling.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Maritime Greenwich. The ensemble of buildings at Greenwich, near London, and the park in which they are set, symbolize English artistic and scientific endeavor in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Queen's House (by Inigo Jones) was the first Palladian building in England, while the complex that was until recently the Royal Naval College was designed by Christopher Wren. The park contains the Old Royal Observatory, the work of Wren and the scientist Robert Hooke.

Architecture--Ottoman

Albania: Museum-City of Gjirokastra: A rare example of a well-preserved Ottoman town, with a 13th century citadel and characteristic "kule" (tower houses).

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Mehmed Paöa Sokolović Bridge of Viöegrad. This bridge across the Drina River was built at the end of the 16th century. It is characteristic of Ottoman monumental architecture and civil engineering. It has 11 masonry arches, with spans of 11 to 15 meters, and an access ramp at right angles with four arches on the left bank of the river.

Turkey: City of Safranbolu. From the 13th century to the advent of the railway in the early 20th century, Safranbolu was an important caravan station on the main EastñWest trade route. The Old Mosque, Old Bath and S¸leyman Pasha Medrese were built in 1322. During its apogee in the 17th century, Safranbolu's architecture influenced urban development throughout much of the Ottoman Empire.

Architecture--Prehistoric

Italy: Su Naraxi di Barumini. During the late 2nd millennium B.C. in the Bronze Age, a type of defensive structure known as nuraghi (for which no parallel exists anywhere else in the world) developed on the island of Sardinia. The complex consists of circular defensive towers in the form of truncated cones, with corbel-vaulted internal chambers. The complex at Barumini is the most complete example of this form of prehistoric architecture.

Italy: The Trulli of Alberobello. The trulli, limestone dwellings found in the southern region of Puglia, are remarkable examples of drywall (mortarless) construction, a prehistoric building technique still in use in this region. The trulli are made of roughly worked limestone boulders collected from neighboring fields, and feature pyramidal, domed or conical roofs built up of corbelled limestone slabs.

Malta: Megalithic Temples of Malta. Seven megalithic temples are found on the islands of Malta and Gozo. The two temples of Ggantija on the island of Gozo are notable for their gigantic Bronze Age structures. On the island of Malta, the temples of Hagar Qin, Mnajdra and Tarxien are unique architectural masterpieces, given the limited resources available to their builders.

Architecture--Renaissance

Bulgaria: Rila Monastery. The monastery was founded in the 10th century by St. John of Rila, a hermit canonized by the Orthodox Church. It became a holy site that was transformed into a monastery that played an important part in the country's spiritual life. Destroyed by fire, it was rebuilt between 1834 and 1862. The Bulgarian Renaissance style is a symbol of Slavic cultural identity.

Denmark: Kronborg Castle. The Royal castle of Kronborg at Helsing¯r (Elsinore) played a key role in the history of northern Europe in the 16th-18th centuries. Work began on the construction of this outstanding Renaissance castle in 1574, and its defences were reinforced in the late 17th century. It is world-renowned as Elsinore, the setting of Shakespeare's Hamlet.

France: Palace and Park of Fontainebleau. Used by the kings of France from the 12th century, the medieval royal hunting lodge of Fontainebleau was transformed, enlarged and embellished in the 16th century by FranÁois I, who wanted to make a 'New Rome' of it. Surrounded by an immense park, the Italianate palace combines Renaissance and French artistic traditions.

Guatemala: Antigua Guatemala. Antigua was founded in the early 16th century. It was largely destroyed by an earthquake in 1773 but its principal monuments are still preserved as ruins. The city was built on a grid pattern inspired by the Italian Renaissance.

Malta: City of Valletta. The capital of Malta is inextricably linked to the history of the military and charitable Order of St John of Jerusalem. It was ruled successively by the Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs and the Order of the Knights of St John. Vallettaís 320 monuments, all within an area of 55 ha, make it one of the most concentrated historic areas in the world.

Spain: Ibiza, Biodiversity and Culture. The fortified Upper Town (Alta Vila) is an outstanding example of Renaissance military architecture.

Architecture--Rococo

Germany: Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust at Br¸hl. The Castle (the residence of the prince-archbishops of Cologne) and the Falkenlust hunting lodge are among the earliest examples of Rococo architecture in 18th-century Germany.

Germany: Pilgrimage Church of Wies. In the beautiful setting of an Alpine valley, the Church of Wies (1745ñ54) is a masterpiece of Bavarian Rococo style.

Architecture--Romanesque

Belgium: Notre-Dame Cathedral in Tournai. The cathedral is notable for its large Romanesque nave, sculpture, and a transept topped by five towers, all precursors of the Gothic style.

Montenegro: Natural and Culturo-Historical Region of Kotor. In the Middle Ages, this natural harbor on the Adriatic coast in Montenegro was an important artistic and commercial center with its own famous schools of masonry and iconography. Many of the monuments (including four Romanesque churches and the town walls) were seriously damaged by the 1979 earthquake but have been restored with UNESCO's help.

France: Abbey Church of Saint-Savin sur Gartempe. Known as the 'Romanesque Sistine Chapel', the Abbey-Church of Saint-Savin contains many beautiful and well-preserved 11th- and 12th-century murals.

France: Arles, Roman and Romanesque Monuments. Arles is an example of the adaptation of an ancient city to medieval European civilization. It has some impressive Roman monuments, of which the earliest ñ the arena, the Roman theatre and the cryptoporticus (subterranean galleries) ñ date back to the 1st century B.C. Within the city walls, Saint-Trophime, with its cloister, is one of Provence's major Romanesque monuments.

France: Vézelay , Church and Hill. Founded in the 9th century, the Benedictine abbey of Vézelay acquired the relics of St. Mary Magdalene and since then it has been an important place of pilgrimage. 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 12th-century monastic church is a masterpiece of Burgundian Romanesque art and architecture.

Germany: Collegiate Church, Castle, and Old Town of Quedlinburg. The number and high quality of the timber-framed buildings make Quedlinburg an exceptional example of a medieval European town. The Collegiate Church of St. Servatius is one of the masterpieces of Romanesque architecture.

Germany: Speyer Cathedral: Founded by Conrad II in 1030 and remodeled at the end of the 11th century, this is one of the most important Romanesque monuments from the time of the Holy Roman Empire, and the burial place of the German emperors for almost 300 years.

Germany: St. Mary's Cathedral and St. Michael's Church at Hildesheim. St Michael's Church was built between 1010 and 1020 on a symmetrical plan with two apses. Its wooden ceiling and painted stucco-work, its famous bronze doors and the Bernward bronze column, are ñ together with the treasures of St Mary's Cathedral ñ exceptional examples of the Romanesque churches of the Holy Roman Empire.

Italy: Cathedral, Torre Civica and Piazza Grande, Modena. The magnificent 12th-century cathedral at Modena, the work of two great artists (Lanfranco and Wiligelmus), is a supreme example of early Romanesque art. With its piazza and soaring tower, it testifies to the faith of its builders and the power of the Canossa dynasty who commissioned it.

Spain: Catalan Romanesque Churches of the Vall de BoÌ. The narrow Vall de BoÌ is situated in the high Pyrénées, in the Alta RibagorÁa region and is surrounded by steep mountains. Each village in the valley contains a Romanesque church, and is surrounded by enclosed fields.

Spain: Monuments of Oviedo and the Kingdom of the Asturias. In the 9th century the flame of Christianity was kept alive in the Iberian peninsula in the tiny Kingdom of the Asturias. Here an innovative pre-Romanesque architectural style was created that was to play a significant role in the development of the religious architecture of the peninsula. There is also a remarkable contemporary hydraulic engineering structure known as La Foncalada.

Spain: San Mill·n Yuso and Suso Monasteries. The monastic community founded by St. Mill·n in the mid-6th century became a place of pilgrimage; a Romanesque church built in his honor still stands at the site of Suso. It was here that the first literature was produced in Castilian, from which one of the most widely spoken languages in the world today is derived.

Architecture--Spanish colonial

Mexico: Historic Center of Puebla. Puebla, which was founded in 1531, is located at the foot of the Popocatepetl volcano. It has preserved its religious structures such as the 16thñ17th-century cathedral, the old archbishop's palace, and houses with walls covered in tiles (azulejos). The fusion of European and American styles is unique to the Baroque district of Puebla.

Mexico: Historic Monuments Zone of Tlacotalpan. This Spanish colonial river port on the Gulf coast was founded in the mid-16th century. It has preserved its original design, with wide streets, colonnaded houses, and mature trees in the public spaces and private gardens.

Art--Mosaics

Greece: Paleochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessalonika. Founded in 315 B.C., Thessalonika was one of the first bases for the spread of Christianity. Among its Christian monuments are fine churches, some built on the Greek cross plan and others on the three-nave basilica plan. The mosaics of the rotunda, St. Demetrius and St. David are among the great masterpieces of early Christian art.

Italy: Archaeological Area and the Patriarchal Basilica of Aquileia. Aquileia, one of the largest and wealthiest cities of the Early Roman Empire, was destroyed by Attila in the mid-5th century. Most of it still lies unexcavated beneath the fields, a great archaeological reserve. The patriarchal basilica, with its exceptional mosaic pavement, played a key role in the evangelization of a large region of central Europe.

Italy: Villa Romana del Casale. The Villa Romana del Casale (in Sicily) is the center of the large estate upon which the rural economy of the Western Empire was based. The villa is one of the most luxurious of its kind. It is especially noteworthy for the richness and quality of the mosaics which decorate almost every room; they are the finest mosaics in situ anywhere in the Roman world.

Jordan: Um er-Rasas (Kastrom Mefa'a). Containing remains from the Roman, Byzantine and Early Moslem periods (end of 3rd to 9th century AD), the site started as a Roman military camp and grew to become a town as of the 5th century. The site also has several churches, some with well preserved mosaic floors, particularly in the Church of Saint Stephen. Two square towers are probably the only remains of the practice of the stylite monks (i.e. ascetic monks who spent time in isolation atop a column or tower). The site is strongly associated with monasticism and with the spread of monotheism, including Islam, in the region.

Pakistan: Fort and Shalamar Gardens in Lahore. Dating from the time of the Mughal civilization, the fort contains marble palaces and mosques decorated with mosaics and gilt. The splendid gardens are built on three terraces with lodges, waterfalls and large ornamental ponds. The site is on the list of World Heritage in Danger, because of deterioration of the Garden walls. Also, tanks built 375 years ago to supply water to the Garden's fountains were destroyed in June 1999 to widen the road which borders the gardens.

Art--Painting

Belgium: Historic Center of Brugge. The town is significant for its Gothic brick architecture, and as the birthplace of the Flemish Primitive school of painting, with artists such as Jan van Eyck and Hans Memling.

Bulgaria: Boyana Church. The church contains frescoes painted in 1259, one of the most perfectly preserved collections of east European medieval art.

Bulgaria: Rock-Hewn Churches of Ivanovo. This complex of rock-hewn churches, chapels, monasteries and cells was inhabited by hermits in the 12th century. The 14th century murals were done by artists of the Tarnovo school of painting.

Bulgaria: Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak. This tomb dates from the end of the 4th century B.C. Its murals representing Thracian burial rituals and culture are Bulgaria's best-preserved artworks from the Hellenistic period.

China: Mount Huangshan. Huangshan, was acclaimed through art and literature throughout Chinese history (e.g. the Shanshui 'mountain and water' style of the mid-16th century). Today it is renowned for its magnificent scenery made up of many granite peaks and rocks emerging out of a sea of clouds.

Cyprus: Painted Churches in the Troodos Region. This region has one of the largest groups of churches and monasteries of the former Byzantine Empire. The churches, all richly decorated with murals, provides an overview of Byzantine and post-Byzantine painting in Cyprus.

Greece: Meteora. In a region of almost inaccessible sandstone peaks, monks settled on these 'columns of the sky' from the 11th century onwards. Twenty-four of these monasteries were built, despite incredible difficulties, at the time of the great revival of the eremetic ideal in the 15th century. Their 16th-century frescoes mark a key stage in the development of post-Byzantine painting.

Greece: Mount Athos. An Orthodox spiritual centre since 1054, Mount Athos has enjoyed an autonomous statute since Byzantine times. The 'Holy Mountain', which is forbidden to women and children, is also a recognized artistic site. Its school of painting influenced the history of Orthodox art.

Italy: Archaeological Areas of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata. When Mt. Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79, it engulfed the two Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum. These have been excavated and made accessible since the mid-18th century. The superb wall paintings of the Villa Oplontis at Torre Annunziata show the opulent lifestyle enjoyed by wealthy citizens of the Early Roman Empire.

Italy: Church and Dominican Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie with "The Last Supper" by Leonardo d Vinci. On the north wall of the Convent refectory is The Last Supper, the unrivalled masterpiece painted between 1495 and 1497 by Leonardo da Vinci.

Italy: Venice and its Lagoon. Founded in the 5th century and spread over 118 small islands, Venice became a major sea power in the 10th century. The whole city is an architectural masterpiece, where even small building contains works by some of the world's greatest artists such as Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese and others. The city is considered vulnerable to changes brought on by global warming.

Mexico: Hospicio CabaÒas, Guadalajara. The Hospicio CabaÒas, built at the beginning of the 19th century to provide care and shelter for the disadvantaged ñ orphans, old people, the handicapped and chronic invalids - was unique for its time. It is also notable for the harmonious relationship between the open and built spaces, and the murals in the chapel.

Russian Federation: Ensemble of the Ferrapontov Monastery. The Ferapontov Monastery, in the Vologda region in northern Russia, is an exceptionally well-preserved and complete example of a Russian Orthodox monastic complex of the 15th-17th centuries. The interior is contains the wall paintings of Dionisy, the greatest Russian artist of the end of the 15th century.

Serbia: Medieval Monuments in Kosovo. The churches of this site, including the Patriarchate of Peć Monastery, Church of Holy Apostles, and the Church of the Holy Virgin reflect a distinctive Byzantine-Romanesque style of wall painting that developed in the Balkans between the 13th and 17th centuries. Political instability has made management and conservation of the site difficult, leading it to be added to the List of World Heritage in Danger.

Serbia: Studenica Monastery. The Studenica Monastery was established in the late 12th century by Stevan Nemanja, founder of the medieval Serb state, shortly after his abdication. It is the largest and richest of Serbia's Orthodox monasteries. The Church of the Virgin and the Church of the King, both built of white marble, enshrine priceless collections of 13th- and 14th-century Byzantine painting.

Switzerland: Benedictine Convent of St. John at M¸stair. The Convent of M¸stair, which stands in a valley in the Grisons, is a good example of Christian monastic renovation during the Carolingian period. It has Switzerland's greatest series of figurative murals, painted c. A.D. 800, along with Romanesque frescoes and stuccoes.

Art--Sculpture

Afghanistan: Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley. An important pilgrimage center over many centuries, the valley contains significant examples of Buddhist art and architecture from the 1st to 13th centuries. The site is on the list of World Heritage in Danger due to damage from lack of preservation and military action; two large standing Buddha statues were destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban.

Brazil: Historic Town of Ouro Preto. The town was the focal point of Brazil's gold rush in the 18th century; its influence declined with the exhaustion of the mines in the 19th century. The work of the Baroque sculptor Aleijadinho is evident on the town's churches, bridges, and fountains.

Brazil: Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Congonhas. This 18th century church has a Rococo interior of Italian inspiration, and Baroque sculptures by Aleijadinho.

Chile: Rapa Nui National Park. Also known as "Easter Island", Rapa Nui was settled by people of Polynesian origin in 300 A.D. From the 10th to the 16th century, they built shrines and enormous stone figures known as "moai".

China: Dazu Rock Carvings. The steep hillsides of the Dazu area contain an exceptional series of rock carvings dating from the 9th to the 13th century. They are remarkable for their aesthetic quality, their diversity of subject matter, and the illustration of everyday life in China during this period. They provide evidence of the harmonious synthesis of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism.

China: Longmen Grottoes. The grottoes and niches of Longmen contain the largest collection of Chinese art of the late Northern Wei and Tang Dynasties (316-907). Entirely devoted to the Buddhist religion, they represent the high point of Chinese stone carving.

China: Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. Qin, the first unifier of China, is buried surrounded by terracotta warriors, each different. With their horses, chariots and weapons, they are masterpieces of realism.

Czech Republic: Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc. This 18th century memorial column is an outstanding example of a type of monument specific to central Europe. In the characteristic regional style known as Olomouc Baroque it is decorated with many fine religious sculptures.

India: Elephanta Caves. The 'City of Caves', on an island in the Sea of Oman close to Bombay, contains a collection of rock art linked to the cult of Shiva. Here, Indian art has found one of its most perfect expressions, particularly the huge high reliefs in the main cave.

India: Khajuraho Group of Monuments. The temples at Khajuraho were built between 950 and 1050. The 20 remaining temples remain belong to two different religions ñ Hinduism and Jainism. They strike a perfect balance between architecture and sculpture. The Temple of Kandariya is decorated with a profusion of sculptures that are among the greatest masterpieces of Indian art.

Poland: Wieliczka Salt Mine. This deposit of rock salt has been mined since the 13th century. Spread over nine levels, it has 300 km. of galleries with works of art, altars, and statues sculpted in the salt, a fascinating pilgrimage into the past of a major industrial undertaking.

Astronomy

Mexico: El Tajin, Pre-Hispanic City. El Tajin was at its height from the early 9th to the early 13th century. It became the most important center in north-east Mesoamerica after the fall of the Teotihuacan Empire. Its architecture, which is unique in Mesoamerica, is characterized by elaborate carved reliefs on the columns and frieze. The 'Pyramid of the Niches', a masterpiece of ancient Mexican and American architecture, reveals the astronomical and symbolic significance of the buildings.

Mexico: Pre-Hispanic City of Chichen-Itza. This sacred site was one of the greatest Mayan centers of the Yucat·n peninsula. Throughout its nearly 1,000-year history, the Maya, Toltec and Iztec peoples revealed their vision of the world and the universe in their stone monuments and artistic works. Surviving buildings include the Warriors' Temple, El Castillo and the circular observatory known as El Caracol.

Mexico: Pre-Hispanic Town of Uxmal. The Mayan town of Uxmal was founded c. A.D. 700 and had some 25,000 inhabitants. The layout of the buildings reveals a knowledge of astronomy. The Pyramid of the Soothsayer, as the Spaniards called it, dominates the ceremonial center, which has well-designed buildings decorated with a profusion of symbolic motifs and sculptures depicting Chaac, the god of rain. The ceremonial sites of Uxmal, Kabah, Labna and Sayil are considered the high points of Mayan art and architecture.

South Africa: Vredefort Dome. Vredefort Dome is a representative part of a larger meteorite impact structure, or astrobleme. Dating back 2,023 million years, it is the oldest astrobleme found on earth so far. With a radius of 190 km., it is also the largest and the most deeply eroded. Vredefort Dome bears witness to the worldís greatest known single energy release event, which caused devastating global change, including, according to some scientists, major evolutionary changes. It provides critical evidence of the earthís geological history and is crucial to our understanding of the evolution of the planet.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites. Stonehenge and Avebury are among the most famous groups of megaliths in the world. The two sanctuaries consist of circles of menhirs arranged in a pattern whose astronomical significance is still being explored. These holy places and the nearby Neolithic sites are an incomparable testimony to prehistoric times.

Aztec civilization

Mexico: Historic Center of Mexico City and Xochimilco. Built in the 16th century by the Spanish on the ruins of Tenochtitlan, the old Aztec capital, Mexico City is now one of the world's largest and most densely populated cities. It has ruins of five Aztec temples, a cathedral (the largest on the continent) and some fine 19th- and 20th-century public buildings such as the Palacio de las Bellas Artes. Xochimilco, near Mexico City has a network of canals and artificial islands that testify to the efforts of the Aztecs to build a habitat in the midst of an unfavorable environment.

Biodiversity

Australia: Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef contains the worldís largest collection of coral reefs, 1,500 species of fish, 4,000 species of mollusks, and is home to a number of endangered species.

Bangladesh: The Sundarbans. This mangrove forest lies on the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers, on the Bay of Bengal. The network of tidal waterways, mudflats and islands of salt-tolerant mangroves supports enormous biodiversity, including 260 bird species, the Bengal tiger, and threatened species such as the estuarine crocodile and the Indian python.

Brazil: Cerrado Protected Areas: Chapada dos Veadeiros and Emas National Parks. These two sites make up one of the world's oldest and most diverse tropical ecosystems. For millennia, these sites have served as a refuge for several species during periods of climate change, and will be important for maintaining biodiversity during future climate fluctuations.

Central African Republic: Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park. The vast savannahs of this park are home to species such as the black rhinoceros, elephants, cheetahs, leopards, wild dogs, red-fronted gazelles, and buffalo. The park is a World Heritage in Danger site because poaching by heavily-armed hunters may have reduced animal life by as much as 80%.

China: Mount Wuyi. This is the most outstanding area for biodiversity conservation in south-east China and a refuge for a large number of species. The serene beauty of the dramatic gorges of the Nine Bend River, with its numerous temples and monasteries, many now in ruins, provided the setting for the development and spread of neo-Confucianism.

China: Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas. This site features sections of the upper reaches of three of the great rivers of Asia: the Yangtze (Jinsha), Mekong and Salween. They run roughly parallel, north to south, through steep gorges which, in places, are 3,000 m deep and are bordered by glaciated peaks more than 6,000 m high. The site is an epicentre of Chinese biodiversity.

Colombia: Los KatÌos National Park. The park comprises low hills, forests and humid plains. An exceptional biological diversity is found in the park, which is home to many threatened animal species.

Côte d'Ivoire: Comoé National Park. One of the largest protected areas in West Africa, this park is characterized by its great plant diversity. Armed conflict, poachers and over-grazing by herds of cattle are threatening the Park, which is on the list of World Heritage in Danger.

Côte d'Ivoire: Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve. Mount Nimba rises above the surrounding savannah. Its slopes are covered by dense forest at the foot of grassy mountain pastures. They harbor an especially rich flora and fauna, with endemic species such as the viviparous toad and chimpanzees that use stones as tools. The site is on the list of World Heritage in Danger because of proposed iron-ore mining, and the arrival of large number of refugees.

Cuba: Alejandro de Humboldt National Park. Complex geology and varied topography have given rise to one of the most biologically diverse tropical island sites on earth. Many of the underlying rocks are toxic to plants so species have had to adapt to survive in these hostile conditions. This unique process of evolution has resulted in the development of many new species.

Ecuador: Gal·pagos Islands. The isolation of these islands has led to the development of unique species such as the land iguana and the giant tortoise. The islands are on the list of World Heritage in Danger because of threats from invasive species, growing tourism, and immigration.

Gabon: Ecosystem and Relict Cultural Landscape of Lopé-Okanda. At this site, tropical rainforest and savannah environments meet, with a great diversity of species, including endangered large mammals. The site illustrates biological processes of species adaptation to post-glacial climatic changes. It contains evidence of Neolithic and Iron Age habitations around hilltops, caves and shelters, evidence of iron-working and a remarkable collection of some 1,800 petroglyphs, or rock carvings. The property was a major migration route of Bantu and other peoples from West Africa along the River Ogooué valley north to the Congo forests and to central east and southern Africa.

Guinea: Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve. Mount Nimba rises above the surrounding savannah. Its slopes are covered by dense forest at the foot of grassy mountain pastures. They harbor an especially rich flora and fauna, with endemic species such as the viviparous toad and chimpanzees that use stones as tools. The site is on the list of World Heritage in Danger because of proposed iron-ore mining, and the arrival of large number of refugees.

India: Kaziranga National Park. This park is one of the last areas in eastern India undisturbed by a human presence. It is home to the world's largest population of one-horned rhinoceroses, tigers, elephants, panthers and bears, and thousands of birds.

Indonesia: Lorentz National Park. This is the largest protected area in South-East Asia, and the only one in the world that has a continuous, transect from snowcap to tropical marine environment, including extensive lowland wetlands. Located at the meeting-point of two colliding continental plates, the area has a complex geology with ongoing mountain formation as well as major sculpting by glaciation. The area also contains fossil sites which provide evidence of the evolution of life on New Guinea, and the highest level of biodiversity in the region.

Indonesia: Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra. The site is important for long term conservation of the distinctive wildlife of Sumatra, including many endangered species. The protected area is home to an estimated 10,000 plant species; more than 200 mammal species, including the unique Sumatran orangutan; and some 580 bird species.

Kenya: Lake Turkana National Parks. The most saline of Africa's large lakes, Turkana is an outstanding laboratory for the study of plant and animal communities. The three National Parks are stopovers for migrant waterfowl and are breeding grounds for the Nile crocodile, hippopotamus and a variety of snakes. The Koobi Fora fossil deposits are among the most important paleo-environments on the continent.

Madagascar: Rainforests of Atsinanana. The site is made up of six national park on the eastern part of the island. Having completed its separation from all other land masses more than 60 million years ago, Madagascar's plant and animal life evolved in isolation. The rainforests support a high level of biodiversity and threatened species, including at least 25 species of lemur.

Malaysia: Gunung Mulu National Park. The Park is important both for its high biodiversity and for its karst features. It contains seventeen vegetation zones, and 3,500 species of vascular plants, including 109 palm species. The park is dominated by Gunung Mulu, a 2,377 meter-high sandstone pinnacle. There are 295 km. of explored caves; the Sarawak Chamber is the largest known cave chamber in the world.

Malaysia: Kinabalu Park. The Park has a very wide range of habitats, from rich tropical lowland and hill rainforest to tropical mountain forest, sub-alpine forest and scrub on the higher elevations. It has been designated as a Center of Plant Diversity for Southeast Asia and is exceptionally rich in species with examples of flora from the Himalayas, China, Australia, Malaysia, as well as pan-tropical flora.

Mauritania: Banc d'Arguin National Park. The park has sand-dunes, coastal swamps, small islands and shallow Atlantic coastal waters. The contrast between the desert and the biodiversity of the marine zone has resulted in a land- and seascape of outstanding significance. Many migrating birds spend the winter there. Sea turtles and dolphins, used by fishermen to attract shoals of fish, can also be found.

Mexico: Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California. The site comprised of 244 islands, islets and coastal areas has been called a natural laboratory for the investigation of speciation. Moreover, almost all major oceanographic processes occurring in the planetís oceans are present in the property. The site is home to 695 vascular plant species and 891 fish species, 39% of the worldís total number of species of marine mammals and a third of the worldís marine cetacean species.

Mexico: Sian Ka'an. In the language of the Mayan peoples who once inhabited this region, Sian Ka'an means 'Origin of the Sky'. Located on the east coast of the Yucat·n peninsula, this biosphere reserve contains tropical forests, mangroves and marshes, as well as a large marine section intersected by a barrier reef. It provides a habitat for a remarkably rich flora and a fauna comprising more than 300 species of birds, as well as a large number of the region's characteristic terrestrial vertebrates.

Mongolia: Uvs Nuur Basin. The Uvs Nuur Basin takes its name from Uvs Nuur Lake, a large, shallow and very saline lake, important for migrating birds, waterfowl and seabirds. The site is made up of twelve protected areas representing the major biomes of eastern Eurasia. The steppe ecosystem supports a rich diversity of birds and the desert is home to a number of rare gerbil, jerboas and the marbled polecat. The mountains are an important refuge for the globally endangered snow leopard, mountain sheep (argali) and the Asiatic ibex.

New Zealand: New Zealand Sub-Antarctic Islands. The site consists of five island groups (the Snares, Bounty Islands, Antipodes Islands, Auckland Islands and Campbell Island) in the Southern Ocean south-east of New Zealand. The islands have a high level of biodiversity, wildlife population densities and endemism among birds, plants and invertebrates. A large and diverse population seabirds and penguins nest there. There are 126 bird species in total, including 40 seabirds of which five breed nowhere else in the world.

Niger: AÔr and Ténéré Natural Reserves. This is the largest protected area in Africa. It includes the volcanic rock mass of the AÔr, situated in the Saharan desert of Ténéré. The reserves boast an outstanding variety of landscapes, plant species and wild animals. Armed conflict and poaching have led to the site being placed on the list of World Heritage in Danger.

Niger: W National Park of Niger. The part of the park that lies in Niger is a transition zone between savannah and forest lands and represents important ecosystem characteristics of the West African Woodlands/Savannah Biogeographical Province. The site reflects the interaction between natural resources and humans since Neolithic times and illustrates the evolution of biodiversity in this zone.

Panama: Coiba National Park and its Special Zone of Marine Protection. The site includes Coiba Island, 38 smaller islands and the surrounding marine areas. Protected from the cold winds and effects of El NiÒo, Coibaís Pacific tropical moist forest maintains exceptionally high levels of endemism of mammals, birds and plants due to the ongoing evolution of new species. It is the last refuge for a number of threatened animals such as the crested eagle. It is also important for the transit and survival of pelagic fish and marine mammals.

Peru: Huascar·n National Park. Situated in the Cordillera Blanca, the world's highest tropical mountain range, Mount Huascar·n rises to 6,768 meters above sea-level. The deep ravines watered by numerous torrents, the glacial lakes and the variety of the vegetation make it a site of spectacular beauty. It is the home of such species as the spectacled bear and the Andean condor.

Peru: Man˙ National Park. This huge park has successive tiers of vegetation rising from 150 to 4,200 meters above sea-level. The tropical forest in the lower tiers is home to an unrivalled variety of animal and plant species. Some 850 species of birds have been identified and rare species such as the giant otter and the giant armadillo also find refuge there. Jaguars are often sighted in the park.

Peru: RÌo Abiseo National Park. There is a high level of endemism among the fauna and flora found in the rainforests of this park. The yellow-tailed woolly monkey, previously thought extinct, is found only in this area. Research has uncovered 36 previously unknown archaeological sites at altitudes of between 2,500 and 4,000 m, which give a good picture of pre-Inca society.

Philippines: Puerto-Princesa Subterranean River National Park. This park features a spectacular limestone karst landscape with an underground river. The river emerges directly into the sea, and its lower portion is subject to tidal influences. The area also represents a significant habitat for biodiversity conservation. The site contains a full 'mountain-to-sea' ecosystem.

Russian Federation: Natural System of Wrangel Island Reserve. Located well above the Arctic Circle, the site includes the mountainous Wrangel Island, Herald Island and surrounding waters. Wrangel was not glaciated during the Quaternary Ice Age resulting in exceptionally high levels of biodiversity for this region. The island boasts the worldís largest population of Pacific walrus and the highest density of ancestral polar bear dens. It is a major feeding ground for the gray whale migrating from Mexico and the northernmost nesting ground for 100 migratory bird species. It has twice as many kinds of vascular plants as any other arctic tundra territory.

Russian Federation: Uvs Nuur Basin. The Uvs Nuur Basin takes its name from Uvs Nuur Lake, a large, shallow and very saline lake, important for migrating birds, waterfowl and seabirds. The site is made up of twelve protected areas representing the major biomes of eastern Eurasia. The steppe ecosystem supports a rich diversity of birds and the desert is home to a number of rare gerbil, jerboas and the marbled polecat. The mountains are an important refuge for the globally endangered snow leopard, mountain sheep (argali) and the Asiatic ibex.

Russian Federation: Virgin Komi Forests. The Virgin Komi Forests cover tundra and mountain tundra areas in the Urals, as well as one of the most extensive areas of virgin boreal forest remaining in Europe. This vast area of conifers, aspens, birches, peat bogs, rivers and natural lakes illustrates natural processes affecting biodiversity in the taiga.

Russian Federation: Volcanoes of Kamchatka. This site has a high density of active volcanoes, and a wide range of related features. The interplay of active volcanoes and glaciers forms a dynamic landscape of great beauty. The sites contain great species diversity, including the world's largest known variety of salmonoid fish and exceptional concentrations of sea otter, brown bear and Stellar's sea eagle.

Russian Federation: Western Caucasus. The Western Caucasus is one of the few large mountain areas of Europe that has not experienced significant human impact. The site has a great diversity of ecosystems, with important endemic plants and wildlife, and is the place of origin and reintroduction of the mountain subspecies of the European bison.

Senegal: Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary. Situated in the Senegal river delta, the Djoudj Sanctuary is a wetland comprising a large lake surrounded by streams, ponds and backwaters. It forms a living but fragile sanctuary for some 1.5 million birds, such as the white pelican, the purple heron, the African spoonbill, the great egret and the cormorant.

Senegal: Niokolo-Koba National Park. Located in a well-watered area along the banks of the Gambia river, the gallery forests and savannahs of Niokolo-Koba National Park have a very rich fauna, among them Derby elands (largest of the antelopes), chimpanzees, lions, leopards and a large population of elephants, as well as many birds, reptiles and amphibians. The site is on the list of World Heritage in Danger because of poaching. And plans to build a dam on the Gambia River, just a few miles upstream, would stop the flooding of the grasslands, which is needed to sustain wildlife.

South Africa: Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park. The site has a variety of landforms, including coral reefs, long sandy beaches, coastal dunes, lake systems, swamps, and extensive reed and papyrus wetlands. The interplay of the park's environmental heterogeneity with major floods and coastal storms and a transitional geographic location between subtropical and tropical Africa has resulted in exceptional species diversity and ongoing speciation.

Sri Lanka: Sinharaja Forest Reserve. Sinharaja is the country's last viable area of primary tropical rainforest. More than 60% of the trees are endemic and many of them are considered rare. There is much endemic wildlife, especially birds, but the reserve is also home to over 50% of Sri Lanka's endemic species of mammals and butterflies, as well as many kinds of insects, reptiles and rare amphibians.

Suriname: Central Suriname Nature Reserve. The Reserve's primary tropical forest protects the upper watershed of the Coppename River and the headwaters of the Lucie, Oost, Zuid, Saramaccz, and Gran Rio rivers. It covers a range of topography and ecosystems. It has more than 5,000 vascular plant species. The Reserve's animals are typical of the region and include the jaguar, giant armadillo, giant river otter, tapir, sloths, eight species of primates and 400 bird species such as harpy eagle, Guiana cock-of-the-rock, and scarlet macaw.

Tanzania, United Republic of: Selous Game Reserve. Large numbers of elephants, black rhinoceroses, cheetahs, giraffes, hippopotamuses and crocodiles live in this immense sanctuary, which is relatively undisturbed by human impact. The park has a variety of vegetation zones, ranging from dense thickets to open wooded grasslands.

Tanzania, United Republic of: Serengeti National Park. On the vast plains of the Serengeti, there is an annual migration to permanent water holes of vast herds of herbivores (wildebeest, gazelles and zebras), followed by their predators.

Thailand: Thungyai-Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuaries. The sanctuaries contain examples of almost all the forest types of continental South-East Asia. They are home to a very diverse array of animals, including 77% of the large mammals (especially elephants and tigers), 50% of the large birds and 33% of the land vertebrates to be found in this region.

Uganda: Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Bwindi Park is known for its exceptional biodiversity, with more than 160 species of trees and over 100 species of ferns, many types of birds and butterflies, and many endangered species, including the mountain gorilla.

Uganda: Rwenzori Mountains National Park. The Park comprises the main part of the Rwenzori mountain chain, which includes Africa's third highest peak (Mount Margherita: 5,109 m). The region's glaciers, waterfalls and lakes make it one of Africa's most beautiful alpine areas. The park has many natural habitats of endangered species and a rich and unusual flora comprising, among other species, the giant heather.

United States: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. This site contains two of the most active volcanoes in the world, Mauna Loa (4,170 meters high) and Kilauea (1,250 meters high). Volcanic eruptions have created a constantly changing landscape, and the lava flows reveal surprising geological formations. Rare birds and endemic species can be found there, as well as forests of giant ferns.

Zimbabwe: Mana Pools National Park, Sapi and Chewore Safari Areas. On the banks of the Zambezi, great cliffs overhang the river and the floodplains. The area is home to a remarkable concentration of wild animals, including elephants, buffalo, leopards and cheetahs. An important concentration of Nile crocodiles is also be found in the area.

Bolshevik Revolution

Bridges

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar. Mostar, established in the 15th century, was long known for its Turkish houses and the Old Bridge. In the 1990 conflict, most of the town and the Old Bridge were destroyed. The Old Bridge and many houses have recently been reconstructed as a symbol of reconciliation, cooperation and co-existence of ethnic groups, cultures and religions.

France: Historic Center of Avignon: Papal Palace, Episcopal Ensemble and Avignon Bridge. In the 14th century, this city in the South of France was the seat of the papacy. The Palais des Papes, an austere-looking fortress dominates the city, the surrounding ramparts and the remains of a 12th-century bridge over the Rhone.

France: Pont du Gard (Roman Aqueduct). The Pont du Gard was built shortly before the Christian era to allow the aqueduct of NÓmes (which is almost 50 km long) to cross the Gard river. The Roman architects and hydraulic engineers who designed this bridge created a technical as well as an artistic masterpiece.

Spain: Vizcaya Bridge. Vizcaya Bridge was completed in 1893. The 45-meter-high bridge merges 19th-century ironñworking traditions with the then new lightweight technology of twisted steel ropes. It was the first bridge in the world to carry people and traffic on a high suspended gondola and is considered one of the outstanding architectural iron constructions of the Industrial Revolution.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Ironbridge Gorge. Ironbridge, a symbol of the Industrial Revolution, contains all the elements that led to rapid industrial development in this region in the 18th century, from the mines to the railway lines. Nearby, the blast furnace of Coalbrookdale, built in 1708, is a reminder of the discovery of coke. The bridge is the world's first to be constructed of iron.

Buddhism

China: Lushan National Park. Mount Lushan is one of the spiritual centers of Chinese civilization. Buddhist and Taoist temples, along with landmarks of Confucianism, where the most eminent masters taught, blend effortlessly into a strikingly beautiful landscape which has inspired countless artists who developed the aesthetic approach to nature found in Chinese culture.

China: Mogao Caves. Situated along the Silk Route, at the crossroads of trade as well as religious, cultural and intellectual influences, the 492 cells and cave sanctuaries in Mogao are famous for their statues and wall paintings, spanning 1,000 years of Buddhist art.

China: Mount Emei Scenic Area, including Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area. The first Buddhist temple in China was built here in the 1st century A.D. The addition of other temples turned the site into one of Buddhism's holiest sites. The most remarkable cultural treasure is the Giant Buddha of Leshan, carved out of a hillside in the 8th century. At 71 m high, it is the largest Buddha in the world.

China: Yungang Grottoes. The Yungang Grottoes, with their 252 caves and 51,000 statues, represent the outstanding achievement of Buddhist cave art in China in the 5th and 6th centuries.

India: Ajanta Caves. The first Buddhist cave monuments at Ajanta date from the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C. The paintings and sculptures of Ajanta are considered masterpieces of Buddhist religious art.

India: Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi. The site of Sanchi has Buddhist monuments (monolithic pillars, palaces, temples and monasteries) in different states of conservation, most of which date back to the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C. It is the oldest Buddhist sanctuary in existence and was a major Buddhist centre in India until the 12th century A.D.

India: Ellora Caves. These 34 monasteries and temples, dating from A.D. 600 to 1000, were dug side by side in the wall of a high basalt cliff. Not only is the Ellora complex a unique artistic and technological creation, but with its sanctuaries devoted to Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism, it illustrates the spirit of tolerance that was characteristic of ancient India.

Indonesia: Borobudur Temple Compounds. This famous Buddhist temple, dating from the 8th and 9th centuries, is located in central Java. The walls and balustrades are decorated with fine low reliefs, covering a total surface area of 2,500 sq. m. Around the circular platforms are 72 openwork stupas, each containing a statue of the Buddha. The monument was restored with UNESCO's help in the 1970s, but faces dangers from tourism and nearby commercial development.

Japan: Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara. Nara was the capital of Japan from 710 to 784. During this period the national government was consolidated and Nara emerged as a center of Japanese culture. The city's historic monuments ñ Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines and the excavated remains of the great Imperial Palace ñ provide a vivid picture of life in the Japanese capital in the 8th century.

Japan: Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range. Set in the dense forests of the Kii Mountains, three sacred sites - Yoshino and Omine, Kumano Sanzan, and Koyasan - linked by pilgrimage routes to the ancient capital cities of Nara and Kyoto, reflect the fusion of Shinto, rooted in the ancient tradition of nature worship in Japan, and Buddhism, which was introduced to Japan from China and the Korean peninsula. The sites and their surrounding forest landscape reflect a tradition of sacred mountains over 1,200 years.

Japan: Shrines and Temples of Nikko. The shrines and temples of Nikko, together with their natural surroundings, have for centuries been a sacred site known for its architectural and decorative masterpieces. They are closely associated with the history of the Tokugawa Shoguns.

Korea, Republic of: Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon, the Depositories for the Tripitaka Koreana Woodblocks. The Temple of Haeinsa, on Mount Kaya, is home to the Tripitaka Koreana, the most complete collection of Buddhist texts, engraved on 80,000 woodblocks between 1237 and 1248. The buildings of Janggyeong Pangeon, which date from the 15th century, were constructed to house the woodblocks, which are also revered as exceptional works of art.

Korea, Republic of: Seokguram Grotto and Bulguksa Temple. Established in the 8th century on the slopes of Mount T'oham, the Seokguram Grotto contains a monumental statue of the Buddha looking at the sea. With the surrounding portrayals of gods, Bodhisattvas and disciples, all realistically and delicately sculpted in high and low relief, it is considered a masterpiece of Buddhist art in the Far East. The Temple of Bulguksa (built in 774) and the Seokguram Grotto form a religious architectural complex of exceptional significance.

Nepal: Kathmandu Valley. The site contains seven groups of monuments and buildings: the Durbar Squares of Hanuman Dhoka (Kathmandu), Patan and Bhaktapur, the Buddhist stupas of Swayambhu and Bauddhanath, and the Hindu temples of Pashupati and Changu Narayan. The site has been threatened by uncontrolled urban development.

Nepal: Lumbini, the Birthplace of the Lord Buddha. Siddhartha Gautama, the Lord Buddha, was born in 623 B.C. in the famous gardens of Lumbini, which soon became a place of pilgrimage. The Indian emperor Ashoka, who erected one of his commemorative pillars there.

Pakistan: Buddhist Ruins of Takht-i-Bahi and Neighboring City Remains at Sahr-i-Bahlol. The Buddhist monastic complex of Takht-i-Bahi (Throne of Origins) was founded in the early 1st century. Owing to its location on the crest of a high hill, it escaped successive invasions and is still exceptionally well preserved. Nearby are the ruins of Sahr-i-Bahlol, a small fortified city dating from the same period.

Sri Lanka: Golden Temple of Dambulla. A sacred pilgrimage site for 22 centuries, this cave monastery, with its five sanctuaries, is the largest, best-preserved cave-temple complex in Sri Lanka. The Buddhist mural paintings (covering an area of 2,100 sq. meters) are of particular importance, as are the 157 statues.

Sri Lanka: Sacred City of Anuradhapura. This sacred city was established around a cutting from the 'tree of enlightenment', the Buddha's fig tree, brought there in the 3rd century B.C. by Sanghamitta, the founder of an order of Buddhist nuns. It flourished as the Ceylonese political and religious capital for 1,300 years, and was abandoned after an invasion in 993.

Sri Lanka: Sacred City of Kandy. This sacred Buddhist site was the last capital of the Sinhala kings whose patronage enabled the Dinahala culture to flourish for more than 2,500 years until the occupation of Sri Lanka by the British in 1815. It is also the site of the Temple of the Tooth Relic (the sacred tooth of the Buddha), which is a famous pilgrimage site.

Canals

Canada: Rideau Canal. This monumental early 19th-century canal spans the Rideau and Cataraqui rivers from Ottawa south to Kingston Harbor on Lake Ontario. It was built for military purposes at a time when Great Britain and the United States vied for control of the region. One of the first canals to be designed specifically for steam-powered vessels, it was protected by the construction of six ëblockhouses' and a fort. At the start of the project, in 1826, the British chose the so-called "slackwater" technology to avoid the need for extensive excavation. Instead, a series of dams were built to back up river water to a navigable depth and a chain of 47 massive locks were created.

France: Canal du Midi. This 360-km network of navigable waterways linking the Mediterranean and the Atlantic through 328 structures (locks, aqueducts, bridges, tunnels, etc.) is one of the most remarkable feats of civil engineering in modern times. Built between 1667 and 1694, it paved the way for the Industrial Revolution.

Caves

Hungary: Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst. The 712 caves currently identified at this site make up a typical temperate-zone karstic system. Because they display an extremely rare combination of tropical and glacial climatic effects, they make it possible to study geological history over tens of millions of years.

Slovakia: Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst. The variety of formations and the fact that they are concentrated in a restricted area means that the 712 caves currently identified make up a typical temperate-zone karstic system. Because they display an extremely rare combination of tropical and glacial climatic effects, they make it possible to study geological history over tens of millions of years.

Slovenia: äkocjan Caves. This exceptional system of limestone caves comprises collapsed dolines, some 6 km. of underground passages with a total depth of more than 200 meters, many waterfalls and one of the largest known underground chambers. The site, located in the Kras region (literally meaning Karst), is one of the most famous in the world for the study of karstic phenomena.

Spain: Archaeological Site of Atapuerca. The caves of the Sierra de Atapuerca contain a rich fossil record of the earliest human beings in Europe, from nearly one million years ago and extending up to the Common Era.

Turkey: Gˆreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia. In a spectacular landscape sculpted by erosion, the Gˆreme valley contains rock-hewn sanctuaries that provide unique evidence of Byzantine art in the post-Iconoclastic period. Dwellings, troglodyte villages and underground towns ñ the remains of a traditional human habitat dating back to the 4th century ñ can also be seen there.

United States: Carlsbad Caverns National Park. This karst landscape in the state of New Mexico comprises over 80 recognized caves. They are outstanding not only for their size but also for the profusion, diversity and beauty of their mineral formations. Lechuguilla Cave stands out from the others, providing an underground laboratory where geological and biological processes can be studied in a pristine setting.

United States: Mammoth Cave National Park. Mammoth Cave National Park, located in the state of Kentucky, has the world's largest network of natural caves and underground passageways, which are characteristic examples of limestone formations. The park and its underground network of more than 560 surveyed km of passageways are home to a varied flora and fauna, including a number of endangered species.

Viet Nam: Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. The karst formation of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park has evolved since the Palaeozoic (some 400 million years ago) and so is the oldest major karst area in Asia. Subject to massive tectonic changes, the Park contains spectacular formations including 65 km. of caves and underground rivers.

Cave art (see also Rock carvings/Rock paintings)

Algeria: Tassili n'Ajjer. This site has over 15,000 cave drawings and engraving recording climate change, animal migrations, and the evolution of human life at the edge of the Sahara, some dating from 6000 B.C.

Argentina: Cueva de las Manos, RÌo Pinturas. An exceptional collection of cave art, 9,500 to 13,000 years old, including stenciled hands, animals, and hunting scenes. They were created by one of the earliest hunter-gatherer communities in South America.

Brazil: Serra de Capivara National Park. Many of the rock shelters in the park are decorated with cave paintings, some over 25,000 years old.

China: Yungang Grottoes. The Yungang Grottoes, with their 252 caves and 51,000 statues, represent the outstanding achievement of Buddhist cave art in China in the 5th and 6th centuries.

France: Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the VézËre Valley. The valley contains 147 prehistoric sites dating from the Palaeolithic and 25 decorated caves. The cave paintings of the Lascaux Cave, discovered in 1940, are of great importance for the history of prehistoric art. The hunting scenes show some 100 animal figures, which are remarkable for their detail, rich colors and lifelike quality.

India: Ajanta Caves. The first Buddhist cave monuments at Ajanta date from the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C. The paintings and sculptures of Ajanta are considered masterpieces of Buddhist religious art.

Libyan Arab Jamahiriya: Rock-Art Sites of Tadrart Acacus. On the borders of Tassili N'Ajjer in Algeria, also a World Heritage site, this rocky massif has thousands of cave paintings in very different styles, dating from 12,000 B.C. to A.D. 100. They reflect changes in the fauna and flora, and also the different ways of life of the populations that succeeded one another in this region of the Sahara.

South Africa: uKhahlamba/Drakensberg Park. The Park has soaring basaltic buttresses, incisive dramatic cutbacks, and golden sandstone ramparts, rolling high altitude grasslands, pristine steep-sided river valleys and rocky gorges. The site's diversity of habitats protects a high level of endemic and globally threatened species, especially birds and plants. This spectacular natural site also contains many caves and rock-shelters with the largest group of paintings in sub-Saharan Africa, made by the San people over a period of 4,000 years. The rock paintings depict animals and human beings, and represent the spiritual life of the San people who no longer live in this region.

Spain: Altamira Cave. This prehistoric site in the province of Santander has stone implements and famous paintings in the great chamber (in ochre, red and black and depicting a variety of wild animals such as bison, horses, fawns and wild boar).

Christianity

Argentina: Jesuit Block and Estancias of CÛrdoba. This site contains the core buildings of the Jesuit system: the university, church, residence of the Society of Jesus, and the college. Along with farming estates and other secular buildings, it represents a unique religious, social and economic experiment carried out in South America in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Argentina: Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis. The ruins of these missions, built in a tropical forest in the land of the Guaranis, were built in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Belgium: Flemish Béguinages. The Béguines were women who dedicated their lives to God without retiring from the world. In the 13th century, they found the Béguinages, enclosed communities designed to meet their spiritual and material needs. Today the Béguinages bear witness to the cultural tradition of independent religious women.

Belgium: Notre-Dame Cathedral in Tournai. The cathedral is notable for its large Romanesque nave, sculpture, and a transept topped by five towers, all precursors of the Gothic style.

Bolivia: Jesuit Missions of the Chiquitos. These six settlements of Christianized Indians were inspired by the "ideal cities" of 16th century philosophers. The buildings mix Catholic architecture with local traditions.

Brazil: Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis. The ruins of these missions, built in a tropical forest in the land of the Guaranis, were built in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Czech Republic: Jewish Quarter and St Procopius' Basilica in TřebÌč. The Jewish Quarter, the old Jewish cemetery and the Basilica of St Procopius in TřebÌč are reminders of the co-existence of Jewish and Christian cultures from the Middle Ages to the 20th century.

Denmark: Jelling Mounds, Runic Stones and Church. The Jelling burial mounds and one of the runic stones are examples of pagan Nordic culture, while the other runic stone and the church illustrate the Christianization of the Danish people in the middle of the 10th century.

Egypt: Abu Mena. The church, baptistry, basilicas, public buildings, streets, monasteries, houses and workshops in this early Christian holy city were built over the tomb of the martyr Menas of Alexandria, who died in A.D. 296. An agricultural development program in the region has caused a rise in the water table, raising the risk of collapse of some buildings; the site is on the list of World Heritage in Danger.

Egypt: Saint Catherine Area. The Orthodox Monastery of St. Catherine stands at the foot of Mount Horeb where, the Old Testament records, Moses received the Tablets of the Law. The mountain is known and revered by Muslims as Jebel Musa. The entire area is sacred to three world religions: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. The Monastery, founded in the 6th century, is the oldest Christian monastery still in use.

Ethiopia: Rock-Hewn Churches, Lalibela. There are 11 medieval monolithic cave churches in this 13th-century site; nearby is a traditional village with circular-shaped dwellings. Lalibela is a high place of Ethiopian Christianity, still today a place of pilgrimage and devotion.

France: Cistercian Abbey of Fontenay. This stark Burgundian monastery was founded by St Bernard in 1119. With its church, cloister, refectory, sleeping quarters, bakery and ironworks, it is an excellent illustration of the ideal of self-sufficiency as practiced by the earliest communities of Cistercian monks.

France: Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France. Santiago de Compostela was the supreme goal for thousands of pious pilgrims who converged there from all over Europe throughout the Middle Ages. To reach Spain pilgrims had to pass through France, and the group of historical monuments included in this inscription marks out the four routes by which they did so.

France: Vézelay, Church and Hill. Founded in the 9th century, the Benedictine abbey of Vézelay acquired the relics of St. Mary Magdalene and since then it has been an important place of pilgrimage. 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 12th-century monastic church is a masterpiece of Burgundian Romanesque art and architecture.

Germany: Luther Memorials in Eisleben and Wittenberg. These places iare all associated with the lives of Martin Luther and his fellow-reformer Melanchthon. They include 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.

Germany: Wartburg Castle. It was during his exile at Wartburg Castle that Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German.

Greece: Historic Centre (Chor·) with the Monastery of Saint John "the Theologian" and the Cave of the Apocalypse on the Island of P·tmos. This island is said to be where St John the Theologian wrote both his Gospel and the Apocalypse. A monastery dedicated to the 'beloved disciple' was founded there in the late 10th century; it has been a place of pilgrimage and Greek Orthodox learning ever since.

Holy See: Historic Center of Rome, the Properties of the Holy See in that City Enjoying Extraterritorial Rights and San Paolo Fuori le Mura. Founded, according to legend, by Romulus and Remus in 753 B.C., Rome was first the center of the Roman Republic, then of the Roman Empire, and it became the capital of the Christian world in the 4th century. The site includes some of the major monuments of antiquity such as the Forums, the Mausoleum of Augustus, the Mausoleum of Hadrian, the Pantheon, Trajan's Column and the Column of Marcus Aurelius, as well as the religious and public buildings of papal Rome.

Holy See: Vatican City. The Vatican City, one of the most sacred places in Christendom, has a unique collection of artistic and architectural masterpieces. At its center is St Peter's Basilica, erected over the tomb of St Peter the Apostle. The Basilica is the largest religious building in the world, and contains works of Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo, Bernini and Maderna.

Hungary: Early Christian Necropolis of Pécs (Sopianae). In the 4th century, a series of decorated tombs were built as underground burial chambers with memorial chapels above the ground in the cemetery of the Roman town of Sopianae (modern Pécs). The tombs are important in artistic terms, since they are richly decorated with murals of outstanding quality depicting Christian themes.

Hungary: Millenary Benedictine Abbey of Pannonhalma and its Natural Environment. The first Benedictine monks settled here in 996. They went on to convert the Hungarians, to found the country's first school and, in 1055, to write the first document in Hungarian. From the time of its founding, this abbey, which still today houses a school and the monastic community, has promoted culture throughout central Europe.

India: Churches and Convents of Goa. The churches and convents of Goa, the former capital of the Portuguese Indies ñ particularly the Church of Bom Jesus, which contains the tomb of St Francis-Xavier ñ illustrate the evangelization of Asia.

Ireland: Skellig Michael. This monastic complex, perched since about the 7th century on the steep sides of the rocky island of Skellig Michael, some 12 km. off the coast of south-west Ireland, illustrates the very spartan existence of the first Irish Christians.

Italy: Assisi, the Basilica of San Francesco and Other Franciscan Sites. Assisi is the birthplace of Saint Francis, closely associated with the work of the Franciscan Order. Its medieval art masterpieces, such as the Basilica of San Francesco and paintings by Cimabue, Pietro Lorenzetti, Simone Martini and Giotto, have made Assisi central to the development of Italian and European art and architecture.

Italy: Historic Center of Rome, the Properties of the Holy See in that City Enjoying Extraterritorial Rights and San Paolo Fuori le Mura. Founded, according to legend, by Romulus and Remus in 753 B.C., Rome was first the center of the Roman Republic, then of the Roman Empire, and it became the capital of the Christian world in the 4th century. The site includes some of the major monuments of antiquity such as the Forums, the Mausoleum of Augustus, the Mausoleum of Hadrian, the Pantheon, Trajan's Column and the Column of Marcus Aurelius, as well as the religious and public buildings of papal Rome.

Italy: Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy. The nine Sacri Monti (Sacred Mountains) of northern Italy are groups of chapels and other architectural features created in the late 16th and 17th centuries and dedicated to different aspects of the Christian faith. In addition to their symbolic spiritual meaning, they have been integrated into the surrounding natural landscape of hills, forests and lakes.

Jerusalem: Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls. Jerusalem is a holy city for Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The Dome of the Rock, built in the 7th century, is decorated with beautiful geometric and floral motifs. It is recognized by all three religions as the site of Abraham's sacrifice. The Wailing Wall delimits the quarters of the different religious communities, while the Church of the Holy Sepulchre houses Christ's tomb. Jerusalem is exceptional in that there is no general agreement as to the political status of the city. It is on the List of World Heritage in Danger because of threats of destruction from uncontrolled urban development, tourism and lack of maintenance.

Lebanon: Ouadi Qadisha (the Holy Valley) and the Forest of the Cedars of God (Horsh Arz el-Rab). The Qadisha valley is one of the most important early Christian monastic settlements in the world. Its monasteries stand in dramatic positions in a rugged landscape. Nearby are the remains of the great forest of cedars of Lebanon, highly prized in antiquity for the construction of great religious buildings.

Mexico: Earliest 16th-Century Monasteries on the Slopes of Popocatepetl. These 14 monasteries stand on the slopes of Popocatepetl, to the south-east of Mexico City. They are good examples of the architectural style adopted by the first missionaries ñ Franciscans, Dominicans and Augustinians ñ who converted the indigenous populations to Christianity in the early 16th century.

Mexico: Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda of Querétaro. The five Franciscan missions of Sierra Gorda were built during the last phase of the conversion to Christianity of the interior of Mexico in the mid-18th century and became an important reference for the continuation of the evangelization of California, Arizona and Texas. The richly decorated church faÁades are of special interest as they represent an example of the joint creative efforts of the missionaries and the Indios.

Paraguay: Jesuit Missions of La SantÌsima Trinidad de Paran· and Jes˙s de Tavarangue. In addition to their artistic interest, these missions are a reminder of the Jesuits' Christianization of the RÌo de la Plata basin in the 17th and 18th centuries, with the accompanying social and economic initiatives.

Poland: Churches of Peace in Jawor and Swidnica. The Churches of Peace, the largest timber-framed religious buildings in Europe, were built in the former Silesia in the mid-17th century, amid the religious strife that followed the Peace of Westphalia. Constrained by the physical and political conditions, the Churches of Peace bear testimony to the quest for religious freedom.

Poland: Kalwaria Zebrzydowska: the Mannerist Architectural and Park Landscape Complex and Pilgrimage Park. The site is a cultural landscape of great spiritual significance, containing a series of symbolic places of worship relating to the Passion of Jesus Christ and the life of the Virgin Mary. Laid out at the beginning of the 17th century, it has remained virtually unchanged, and is still today a place of pilgrimage.

Portugal: Convent of Christ in Tomar. Originally designed as a monument symbolizing the Reconquest, the Convent of the Knights Templar of Tomar (transferred in 1344 to the Knights of the Order of Christ) came to symbolize just the opposite during the Manueline period ñ the opening up of Portugal to other civilizations.

Spain: Historic City of Toledo. Successively a Roman municipium, the capital of the Visigothic Kingdom, a fortress of the Emirate of Cordoba, an outpost of the Christian kingdoms fighting the Moors and, in the 16th century, the temporary seat of supreme power under Charles V, Toledo is the repository of more than 2,000 years of history. Its masterpieces are the product of heterogeneous civilizations in an environment where the existence of three major religions ñ Judaism, Christianity and Islam ñ was a major factor.

Spain: Poblet Monastery. This Cistercian abbey in Catalonia is one of the largest in Spain. At its center is a 12th-century church. The austere, majestic monastery has a fortified royal residence and contains the pantheon of the kings of Catalonia and Aragon.

Spain: Route of Santiago de Compostela. Santiago de Compostela was proclaimed the first European Cultural itinerary by the Council of Europe in 1987. This route from the French-Spanish border was ñ and still is ñ taken by pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela, encouraging cultural exchanges between the Iberian peninsula and the rest of Europe during the Middle Ages.

Spain: Royal Monastery of Santa MarÌa de Guadalupe. The monastery is a repository of four centuries of Spanish religious architecture. It symbolizes two significant events in world history that occurred in 1492: the Reconquest of the Iberian peninsula by the Catholic Kings and Christopher Columbus' arrival in the Americas. Its statue of the Virgin became a symbol of the Christianization of much of the New World.

Sweden: Birka and HovgÂrden. The Birka archaeological site on Bjˆrkˆ Island in Lake M‰lar was occupied in the 9th and 10th centuries. HovgÂrden is situated on the neighboring island of Adelsˆ. Together, they illustrate the elaborate trading networks of Viking-Age Europe and their influence on the history of Scandinavia. Birka was also the site of the first Christian congregation in Sweden, founded in 831.

Syrian Arab Republic: Ancient City of Bosra. Bosra, once the capital of the Roman province of Arabia, was an important stopover on the ancient caravan route to Mecca. A 2nd-century Roman theater, early Christian ruins and several mosques are found within its great walls.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Canterbury Cathedral, St. Augustine's Abbey, and St. Martin's Church. Canterbury has been the seat of the spiritual head of the Church of England for nearly five centuries. Canterbury's other monuments are the Church of St. Martin, the oldest church in England; the ruins of the Abbey of St. Augustine, a reminder of the saint's evangelizing role; and Christ Church Cathedral, a breathtaking mixture of Romanesque and Perpendicular Gothic, where Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered in 1170.

Citizenship/Civic values

United States: Independence Hall. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were signed in this building, setting forth universal principles of freedom and democracy which have been influential worldwide.

Climate change

Australia: Great Barrier Reef. Coral bleaching has affected the Great Barrier Reef; many scientists attribute this to global warming.

Denmark: Ilulissat Icefjord. Located on the west coast of Greenland, Ilulissat Icefjord is the sea mouth of Sermeq Kujalleq, one of the few glaciers through which the Greenland ice cap reaches the sea. Sermeq Kujalleq is one of the fastest (19-m per day) and most active glaciers in the world. Studied for over 250 years, it has helped develop our understanding of climate change and icecap glaciology.

Kenya: Mount Kenya National Park/Natural Forest. Mount Kenya is the second highest peak in Africa, and an ancient extinct volcano. There are 12 remnant glaciers on the mountain, all receding rapidly. The evolution and ecology of its afro-alpine flora also provide an outstanding example of ecological processes.

Mali: Timbuktu. Home of the prestigious Koranic Sankore University and other madrasas, Timbuktu was an intellectual and spiritual capital and a center for the propagation of Islam throughout Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries. Its three great mosques, Djingareyber, Sankore and Sidi Yahia, recall Timbuktu's golden age. Although continuously restored, these monuments are today under threat from desertification.

Spain: Garajonay National Park. Laurel forest covers some 70% of this park, situated in the middle of the island of La Gomera in the Canary Islands archipelago. The presence of springs and numerous streams assures a lush vegetation resembling that of the Tertiary, which, due to climatic changes, has largely disappeared from southern Europe.

Tanzania, United Republic of: Kilimanjaro National Park. At 5,895 meters, Kilimanjaro is the highest point in Africa. The snowy peak of this volcanic massif looms over the savannah. The mountain is encircled by forest, and numerous mammals, many of them endangered species, live in the park. The park is being threatened by climate change.

Colonialism

Brazil: Historic Center of the Town of Goi·s. This mining town is a testament to the occupation and colonization of central Brazil in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Colombia: Historic Center of Santa Cruz de Mompox. Founded in 1540, Mompox played a key role in the Spanish colonization of northern South America. Most of the buildings are still used for their original purposes, providing a picture of what a Spanish colonial city was like.

Cuba: Trinidad and the Valley de los Ingenios. Founded in the early 16th century in honor of the Holy Trinity, the city was a bridgehead for the conquest of the American continent. Its 18th- and 19th-century buildings were built in its days of prosperity from the sugar trade.

Dominican Republic: Colonial City of Santo Domingo. After Christopher Columbus's arrival on the island in 1492, Santo Domingo became the site of the first cathedral, hospital, customs house and university in the Americas. This colonial town, founded in 1498, was laid out on a grid pattern that became the model for almost all town planners in the New World.

Gambia: James Island and Related Sites. James Island and Related Sites present a testimony to the main periods of the encounter between Africa and Europe along the River Gambia, from pre-colonial and pre-slavery times to independence. The site is particularly significant for its relation to the beginning of the slave trade and its abolition. It also documents early access to the interior of Africa.

Haiti: National History Park-Citadel, Sans Souci, Ramiers. These Haitian monuments date from the beginning of the 19th century, when Haiti proclaimed its independence. The Palace of Sans Souci, the buildings at Ramiers and, in particular, the Citadel serve as universal symbols of liberty, being the first monuments to be constructed by black slaves who had gained their freedom.

Mauritius: Aapravasi Ghat. This site, in the district of Port Louis, is where the modern indentured labor diaspora began. In 1834, the British Government selected the island of Mauritius to be the first site for "the great experiment" in the use of "free" labor to replace slaves. Between 1834 and 1920, almost half a million indentured laborers arrived from India at Aapravasi Ghat to work in the sugar plantations of Mauritius, or to be transferred to Australia, Africa or the Caribbean. The buildings of Aapravasi Ghat are among the earliest explicit manifestations of what was to become a global economic system and one of the greatest migrations in history.

Mexico: Historic Center of Oaxaca and Archaeological Site of Monte Alb·n. Inhabited over a period of 1,500 years by a succession of peoples ñ Olmecs, Zapotecs and Mixtecs ñ the terraces, dams, canals, pyramids and artificial mounds of Monte Alb·n were literally carved out of the mountain and are the symbols of a sacred topography. The nearby city of Oaxaca, which is built on a grid pattern, is a good example of Spanish colonial town planning.

Morocco: Portuguese City of Mazagan (El Jadida). The Portuguese fortification of Mazagan, now part of the city of El Jadida, was built as a colony on the Atlantic coast in the early 16th century. It was taken over by the Moroccans in 1769. The bastions and ramparts are an early example of Renaissance military design. As one of the early settlements of the Portuguese explorers in West Africa on the route to India, the city is an example of the interchange of influences between European and Moroccan cultures.

Netherlands: Historic Area of Willemstad, Inner City and Harbor, Netherlands Antilles. The people of the Netherlands established a trading settlement at a natural harbor on the Caribbean island of CuraÁao in 1634. The town has several historic districts, reflecting European urban-planning concepts, and styles from the Spanish and Portuguese colonial towns with which Willemstad engaged in trade.

Nicaragua: Ruins of LeÛn Viejo. LeÛn Viejo is one of the oldest Spanish colonial settlements in the Americas. It did not develop and so its ruins are outstanding testimony to the social and economic structures of the Spanish Empire in the 16th century.

Panama: Archaeological Site of Panam· Viejo and Historic District of Panam·. Founded in 1519, Panam· Viejo is the oldest European settlement on the Pacific coast of the Americas. It was laid out on a rectilinear grid, showing the European idea of a planned town. The SalÛn BolÌvar was the venue for the unsuccessful attempt made by SimÛn Bolivar in 1826 to establish a multinational continental congress.

Peru: City of Cuzco. Situated in the Peruvian Andes, Cuzco developed, under the Inca ruler Pachacutec, into a complex urban center with distinct religious and administrative function, surrounded by areas for agricultural, artisan and industrial production. When the Spaniards conquered it in the 16th century, they preserved the basic structure but built Baroque churches and palaces over the ruins of the Inca city.

Peru: Historic Center of Lima. Although severely damaged by earthquakes, this 'City of the Kings' was, until the middle of the 18th century, the capital and most important city of the Spanish dominions in South America. Many of its buildings, such as the Convent of San Francisco, are the result of collaboration between local craftspeople and others from the Old World.

Saint Kitts and Nevis: Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park. Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park is an outstanding, well-preserved example of 17th- and 18th-century military architecture in a Caribbean context. Designed by the British and built by African slave labor, the fortress is testimony to European colonial expansion, the African slave trade and the emergence of new societies in the Caribbean.

Senegal: Island of Saint-Louis. Founded as a French colonial settlement in the 17th century, Saint-Louis was the capital of Senegal from 1872 to 1957. The location of the town on an island at the mouth of the Senegal River, its regular town plan, the system of quays, and the characteristic colonial architecture give Saint-Louis its distinctive appearance and identity.

Sri Lanka: Old Town of Galle and its Fortifications. Founded in the 16th century by the Portuguese, Galle reached the height of its development in the 18th century, before the arrival of the British. It is the best example of a fortified city built by Europeans in South and South-East Asia, showing the interaction between European architectural styles and South Asian traditions.

Suriname: Historic Inner City of Paramaribo. Paramaribo is a former Dutch colonial town from the 17th and 18th centuries. The original and highly characteristic street plan of the historic center remains intact. Its buildings illustrate the gradual fusion of Dutch architectural influence with traditional local techniques and materials.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd. The castles of Beaumaris and Harlech and the fortified complexes of Caernarfon and Conwy are located in the former principality of Gwynedd, in north Wales. These well-preserved monuments are examples of the colonization and defense works carried out throughout the reign of Edward I (1272ñ1307).

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Historic Town of St. George and Related Fortifications, Bermuda. The town, founded in 1612, is the earliest English urban settlement in the New World. Its fortifications illustrate the development of English military engineering from the 17th to the 20th century, being adapted to take account of the development of artillery over this period.

Uruguay: Historic Quarter of the City of Colonia del Sacramento. Founded by the Portuguese in 1680 on the RÌo de la Plata, the city was of strategic importance in resisting the Spanish. After being disputed for a century, it was finally lost by its founders. The well-preserved urban landscape illustrates the successful fusion of the Portuguese, Spanish and post-colonial styles.

Confucianism

China: Temple and Cemetery of Confucius and the Kong Family Mansion in Qufu. The temple, cemetery and family mansion of Confucius, the great philosopher, politician and educator of the 6thñ5th centuries B.C., are located at Qufu. The cemetery contains Confucius' tomb and the remains of more than 100,000 of his descendants.

Korea, Republic of: Jongmyo Shrine. Jongmyo is the oldest and most authentic of the Confucian royal shrines to have been preserved. Dedicated to the forefathers of the Choson dynasty (1392ñ1910), the shrine has existed in its present form since the 16th century and houses tablets bearing the teachings of members of the former royal family. Ritual ceremonies linking music, song and dance still take place there.

Crusades

France: Vézelay, Church and Hill. Founded in the 9th century, the Benedictine abbey of Vézelay acquired the relics of St. Mary Magdalene and since then it has been an important place of pilgrimage. 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 12th-century monastic church is a masterpiece of Burgundian Romanesque art and architecture.

Israel: Old City of Acre. Acre is a historic walled port-city with continuous settlement from the Phoenician period. The present city is characteristic of a fortified town dating from the Ottoman 18th and 19th centuries, with the citadel, mosques, khans and baths. The remains of the Crusader town, dating from 1104 to 1291, lie almost intact, both above and below today's street level.

Syrian Arab Republic. Crac des Chevaliers and Qal'at Salah El-Din. The two castles represent significant examples of the evolution of fortified architecture in the Near East during the time of the Crusades (11th to 13th century). The Crac des Chevaliers was built by the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem from 1142 to 1271, with further construction by the Mamluks in the late 13th century. Eight round towers were built by the Hospitallers and a massive square tower added by the Mamluks. The Qalíat Salah El-Din (Fortress of Saladin), even though partly in ruins, retains features from its Byzantine beginnings in the 10th century, the Frankish transformations in the late 12th century and fortifications added by the Ayyubids dynasty (late 12th to mid-13th century).

Dams

Egypt: Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae. This outstanding archaeological area contains such monuments as the Temples of Ramses II at Abu Simbel and the Sanctuary of Isis at Philae. These were saved from flooding due to the Aswan Dam project and the rising waters of the Nile by the International Campaign launched by UNESCO, in 1960 to 1980; this initiated the idea of World Heritage.

Democracy

South Africa: Robben Island. Robben Island was used at various times between the 17th and 20th centuries as a prison, a hospital for socially unacceptable groups and a military base. Its buildings, particularly those of the late 20th century such as the maximum security prison for political prisoners, witness the triumph of democracy and freedom over oppression and racism.

Desertification

Deserts

Mauritania: Ancient Ksour of Ouadane, Chinguetti, Tichitt and Oualata. Founded in the 11th and 12th centuries to serve caravans crossing the Sahara, these trading and religious centers became focal points of Islamic culture. The houses with patios crowded along narrow streets around a mosque with a square minaret illustrate a traditional way of life centered on the nomadic culture of the western Sahara.

South Africa: Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape. This mountainous desert area is communally owned and managed by the semi-nomadic pastoral Nama people. They follow seasonal migration patterns that have persisted for as much as two millennia in Southern Africa. The property includes grazing grounds, stockposts (bases used by herders as they move their sheep and cattle on a seasonal basis) and Nama houses, small hemispherical portable structures, consisting of a wooden frame of intersecting wooden hoops, covered over with fine mats of braided local rushes. The Nama collect medicinal plants and have a strong oral tradition associated with different parts of the landscape.

Economics

Austria: Hallstatt-Dachstein Salzkammergut Cultural Landscape. Human activity in the magnificent natural landscape of the Salzkammergut began as early as the 2nd millennium B.C., with economic activity based on the salt deposits continuing through the mid-20th century.

Brazil: Historic Center of the Town of Olinda. Founded in the 16th century by the Portuguese, the town's history is linked to the sugar cane industry.

Brazil: Historic Town of Ouro Preto. The town was the focal point of Brazil's gold rush in the 18th century; its influence declined with the exhaustion of the mines in the 19th century.

China: Historic Center of Macao. Macao, a lucrative port of strategic importance in the development of international trade, was under Portuguese administration from the mid 16th century until 1999, when it came under Chinese sovereignty. The site bears testimony to one of the earliest and longest-lasting encounters between China and the West based on the vibrancy of international trade.

Japan: Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine and its Cultural Landscape. The site has remains of large-scale mines, refining sites and mining settlements worked between the 16th and 20th centuries. The site also features transportation routes used to transport silver ore to port towns, from where it was shipped to Korea and China. The quantity and quality of the silver mined contributed substantially to the overall economic development of Japan and southeast Asia in the 16th and 17th centuries, and prompted the mass production of silver and gold in Japan.

Ecosystems--Coastal and marine

Argentina: PenÌnsula Valdés. An important site for the conservation of sea mammals, including the southern right whale, southern sea lions, and southern elephant seals. Orcas have developed a unique hunting strategy to adapt to local coastal conditions.

Australia: Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef contains the world's largest collection of coral reefs, as well as many species of fish and molluscs. It is also the habitat of the ìsea cowî and the large green turtle, which are threatened with extinction.

Australia: Shark Bay, Western Australia. This area has the largest sea grass beds in the world, a dugong (sea cow) population, and stromatolites (colonies of algae that form hard dome-like deposits. It is also home to five species of endangered mammals.

Belize: Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System. The largest barrier reef in the northern hemisphere, this system is the home of various threatened species, including marine turtles, manatees and the American marine crocodile.

Brazil: Brazilian Atlantic Islands: Fernando de Noronha and Atol das Rocas Reserves. The rich waters around these islands are important for the breeding and feeding of dolphins, tuna, sharks, turtles and marine mammals.

Colombia: Malpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuary. The site includes Malpelo island and the surrounding marine environment. This vast marine park, the largest no-fishing zone in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, is a major source of nutrients resulting in great marine biodiversity. It is the habitat for internationally threatened species of sharks, giant grouper, billfish, and short-nosed ragged-toothed shark.

Costa Rica: Cocos Island National Park. This is the only island in the tropical eastern Pacific with a tropical rainforest. Its position as the first point of contact with the northern equatorial counter-current, and the interactions between the island and the surrounding marine ecosystem, make the area an ideal laboratory for the study of biological processes. Sharks, rays, tuna and dolphins can be viewed here.

India: Sundarbans National Park. The Sundarbans covers 10,000 sq. km. of land and water (more than half of it in India, the rest in Bangladesh) in the Ganges delta. It contains the world's largest mangrove forests. Many rare or endangered species live in the park, including tigers, aquatic mammals, birds and reptiles.

Japan: Shiretoko. The site includes the land from the central part of the Shiretoko Peninsula to its tip and the surrounding marine area. It is an example of the interaction of marine and terrestrial ecosystems, as well as extraordinary ecosystem productivity influenced by seasonal sea ice at the lowest latitude in the northern hemisphere. It has many marine and terrestrial species, some of them endangered and endemic, such as the Blackistonís Fish owl and the Viola kitamiana plant. The site is globally important for threatened sea birds and migratory birds, a number of salmonid species, and for marine mammals including the Stellerís sea lion, and some cetacean species.

Mexico: Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino. Located in the central part of the peninsula of Baja California, the sanctuary contains some exceptionally interesting ecosystems. The coastal lagoons of Ojo de Liebre and San Ignacio are important reproduction and wintering sites for the grey whale, harbor seal, California sea lion, northern elephant-seal blue whale, and four species of the endangered marine turtle.

Panama: Darien National Park. Forming a bridge between two continents, Darien National Park contains a variety of habitats ñ sandy beaches, rocky coasts, mangroves, swamps, and lowland and upland tropical forests rich in wildlife. Two Indian tribes live in the park.

Philippines: Tubbataha Reef Marine Park. The site is a unique example of an atoll reef with a very high density of marine species; the North Islet serves as a nesting site for birds and marine turtles. It is an excellent example of a pristine coral reef with a spectacular 100 meter perpendicular wall, extensive lagoons and two coral islands.

Saint Lucia: Pitons Management Area. The site includes the Pitons, two volcanic spires rising side by side from the sea (770 meters and 743 meters high respectively), linked by the Piton Mitan ridge. The volcanic complex includes a geothermal field with sulphurous fumeroles and hot springs. Coral reefs cover almost 60% of siteís marine area. The site is home to a range of sea life, including hawksbill turtles, whale sharks and pilot whales. The dominant terrestrial vegetation is tropical moist forest grading to subtropical wet forest with small areas of dry forest and wet elfin woodland on the summits. The Pitons are home to 148 plant species and 27 bird species.

Seychelles: Aldabra Atoll. The atoll is comprised of four large coral islands which enclose a shallow lagoon; the group of islands is itself surrounded by a coral reef. Due to difficulties of access and the atoll's isolation, Aldabra has been protected from human influence and thus retains some 152,000 giant tortoises, the world's largest population of this reptile.

Solomon Islands: East Rennell. East Rennell makes up the southern third of Rennell Island, the southernmost island in the Solomon Island group in the western Pacific. Rennell is the largest raised coral atoll in the world. A major feature of the island is Lake Tegano, which was the former lagoon on the atoll. The lake is brackish and contains many rugged limestone islands and endemic species.

Spain: Ibiza, Biodiversity and Culture. Ibiza provides an example of the interaction between the marine and coastal ecosystems. The dense prairies of oceanic Posidonia (seagrass), an important species found only in the Mediterranean basin, support a diversity of marine life. The archaeological sites at Sa Caleta (settlement) and Puig des Molins (necropolis) testify to the important role played by the island in the Mediterranean economy in protohistory, particularly during the Phoenician-Carthaginian period. The fortified Upper Town (Alta Vila) is an outstanding example of Renaissance military architecture.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Gough and Inaccessible Islands. The site is one of the least-disrupted island and marine ecosystems in the cool temperate zone. The spectacular cliffs of each island, towering above the ocean, are free of introduced mammals and homes to one of the world's largest colonies of sea birds.

United States: Redwood National and State Parks. Redwood National Park comprises a region of coastal mountains bordering the Pacific Ocean north of San Francisco. It is covered with a magnificent forest of sequoia redwood trees, the tallest trees in the world. The marine and land life are equally remarkable, in particular the sea lions, the bald eagle and the endangered California brown pelican.

Ecosystems--Fresh water

Brazil: Central Amazon Conservation Complex. This is the largest protected area in the Amazon Basin, rich in biodiversity. The lakes and channels are constantly evolving, and are home to the largest array of electric fish in the world, as well as endangered species such as the Amazonian manatee, the black caiman, and two species of river dolphin.

Brazil: Pantanal Conservation Area. This area represents one of the world's largest freshwater wetland ecosystems. The headwaters of two major river systems, the Cuiab· and the Paraguay Rivers, are located here.

Bulgaria: Srebarna Nature Reserve. This freshwater lake adjacent to the Danube is the breeding ground for over 100 species of birds, many of them rare or endangered. Some 80 other species migrate and seek refuge here each winter.

India: Keoladeo National Park. This is one of the major wintering areas for large numbers of aquatic birds from Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, China and Siberia. Some 364 species of birds, including the rare Siberian crane, have been recorded in the park.

Romania: Danube Delta. The waters of the Danube, which flow into the Black Sea, form the largest and best preserved of Europe's deltas. The Danube delta hosts over 300 species of birds as well as 45 freshwater fish species in its numerous lakes and marshes.

Russian Federation: Lake Baikal. Situated in south-east Siberia, Lake Baikal is the oldest (25 million years) and deepest (1,700 meters) lake in the world. It contains 20% of the world's total unfrozen freshwater reserve. Known as the 'Galapagos of Russia', its age and isolation have produced one of the world's richest and most unusual freshwater faunas, which is of exceptional value to evolutionary science.

Spain: DoÒana National Park. The park, on the bank of the Guadalquivir river at its estuary on the Atlantic Ocean, has a great diversity of biotopes, especially lagoons, marshlands, fixed and mobile dunes, scrub woodland and maquis. It is home to five threatened bird species. It is one of the largest heronries in the Mediterranean region and is the wintering site for more than 500,000 water fowl each year.

Tunisia: Ichkeul National Park. The Ichkeul lake and wetland are a major stopover point for hundreds of thousands of migrating birds, such as ducks, geese, storks and pink flamingoes, who come to feed and nest there. Ichkeul is the last remaining lake in a chain that once extended across North Africa.

United States: Everglades National Park. This site at the southern tip of Florida has been called 'a river of grass flowing imperceptibly from the hinterland into the sea'. The exceptional variety of its water habitats has made it a sanctuary for a large number of birds and reptiles, as well as for threatened species such as the manatee. The site has suffered ecological damage from nearby urban growth, pollution from fertilizers, mercury poisoning of fish and wildlife, and a fall in water levels caused by flood protection measures. In addition, on 24 August 1992, Hurricane Andrew altered much of Florida Bay and its ecological systems.

Ecosystems--Terrestrial

Australia: Greater Blue Mountains Area. This area is home to eucalyptus forests that show the evolution and adaptation of the species, along with other rare and threatened plant species.

Australia: Kakadu National Park. The park is a complex of ecosystems, including tidal flats, floodplains, lowlands and plateaus. It is home to a number of rare species.

Belarus: Belovezhskaya Pushcha/Bialowieza Forest. This immense forest is home to rare mammals such as the wolf, lynx, otter and European Bison.

Bolivia: Noel Kempff Mercado National Park. The park contains many habitats, from savannah to upland evergreen Amazonian forests. The park contains thousands of plant species, hundreds of bird species, and many endangered vertebrates.

Brazil: Atlantic Forest South-East Reserves. The site displays the biological wealth and evolutionary history of the last remaining Atlantic forests.

Cameroon: Dja Faunal Reserve. This is one of the largest and best-protected rainforests in Africa, with 90% of its area undisturbed. The reserve is noted for its biodiversity, wide variety of primates, and 107 mammal species, 5 of which are threatened.

China: Huanglong Scenic and Historic Interest Area. The Huanglong valley is made up of snow-capped peaks and the easternmost of all the Chinese glaciers. Diverse forest ecosystems can be found here, as well as spectacular limestone formations, waterfalls and hot springs. The area also is home to endangered animals, including the giant panda and the Sichuan golden snub-nosed monkey.

China: Jiuzhaigou Valley Scenic and Historic Interest Area. The valley includes a series of diverse forest ecosystems. Its superb landscapes are particularly interesting for their series of narrow conic karst land forms and spectacular waterfalls. Some 140 bird species also inhabit the valley, as well as a number of endangered plant and animal species, including the giant panda and the Sichuan takin.

Costa Rica: Area de ConservaciÛn Guanacaste. This site contains important natural habitats for the conservation of biological diversity, including the best dry forest habitats from Central America to northern Mexico.

Ecuador: Sangay National Park. The park illustrates a spectrum of ecosystems, ranging from tropical rainforests to glaciers, and including two active volcanoes. Its isolation has encouraged the survival of indigenous species such as the mountain tapir and the Andean condor.

Japan: Shirakami-Sanchi. Situated in the mountains of northern Honshu, this trackless site includes the last virgin remains of the cool-temperate forest of Siebold's beech trees that once covered the hills and mountain slopes of northern Japan. The black bear, the serow and 87 species of birds can be found in this forest.

Japan: Yakushima. Located in the interior of Yaku Island, Yakushima exhibits a rich flora, with some 1,900 species and subspecies, including ancient specimens of the sugi (Japanese cedar). It also contains a remnant of a warm-temperate ancient forest that is unique in this region.

Madagascar: Tsingy de Bemaraha Strict Nature Reserve. Tsingy de Bemaraha Strict Nature Reserve comprises karstic landscapes and limestone uplands cut into impressive 'tsingy' peaks and a 'forest' of limestone needles, the spectacular canyon of the Manambolo river, rolling hills and high peaks. The undisturbed forests, lakes and mangrove swamps are the habitat for rare and endangered lemurs and birds.

Poland: Belovezhskaya Pushcha/Bialowieza Forest. This immense forest is home to rare mammals such as the wolf, lynx, otter and European Bison.

Portugal: Laurisilva of Madeira. The Laurisilva of Madeira is the largest surviving area of laurel forest and is believed to be 90% primary forest. It contains a unique suite of plants and animals, including many endemic species such as the Madeiran long-toed pigeon.

Russian Federation: Central Sikhote-Alin. The Sikhote-Alin mountain range contains one the richest and most unusual temperate forests of the world. In this mixed zone between taiga and subtropics, southern species such as the tiger and Himalayan bear cohabit with northern species such as the brown bear and lynx. The site stretches from the peaks of Sikhote-Alin to the Sea of Japan and is important for the survival of many endangered species such as the Amur tiger.

Russian Federation: Golden Mountains of Altai. The Altai mountains form the major mountain range in the western Siberia biogeographic region. The region represents a complete sequence of altitudinal vegetation zones, from steppe, forest-steppe, mixed forest, subalpine vegetation to alpine vegetation. The site is also an important habitat for endangered animal species such as the snow leopard.

Seychelles: Vallée de Mai Nature Reserve. On the small island of Praslin, the reserve has the vestiges of a natural palm forest. The famous coco de mer, from a palm-tree once believed to grow in the depths of the sea, is the largest seed in the plant kingdom.

Slovakia: Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians. These forests, spanning the border between Slovakia and Ukraine, are an example of undisturbed, pure stands of European beech across a variety of environmental conditions. They contain an invaluable genetic reservoir of beech and many species associated with, and dependent on, these forest habitats. They also represent an outstanding example of the re-colonization and development of terrestrial ecosystems after the last ice age, a process which is still ongoing.

South Africa: Cape Floral Region Protected Areas. The Cape Floral Region is one of the richest areas for plants in the world. It represents less than 0.5% of the area of Africa but is home to nearly 20% of the continentís flora. The site displays outstanding ecological and biological processes associated with the Fynbos vegetation, which is unique to the Cape Floral Region.

Switzerland: Jungfrau-Aletsch-Beitschhorn. This is the most glaciated part of the Alps, containing Europe's largest glacier and a range of classic glacial features such as U-shaped valleys, cirques, horn peaks and moraines. It provides an outstanding geological record of the uplift and compression that formed the High Alps. The diversity of flora and wildlife is represented in a range of Alpine and sub-Alpine habitats and plant colonization in the wake of retreating glaciers provides an outstanding example of plant succession.

Thailand: Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex. The site is home to more than 800 species of fauna, including 112 mammal species (among them two species of gibbon), 392 species of birds and 200 reptiles and amphibians. It is internationally important for the conservation of globally threatened and endangered mammal, bird and reptile species.

Ukraine: Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians. These forests, spanning the border between Slovakia and Ukraine, are an example of undisturbed, pure stands of European beech across a variety of environmental conditions. They contain an invaluable genetic reservoir of beech and many species associated with, and dependent on, these forest habitats. They also represent an outstanding example of the re-colonization and development of terrestrial ecosystems after the last ice age, a process which is still ongoing.

United States: Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This park is home to more than 3,500 plant species, including almost as many trees (130 natural species) as in all of Europe. Many endangered animal species are also found there, including what is probably the greatest variety of salamanders in the world. Since the park is relatively untouched, it gives an idea of temperate flora before human influence.

Education

Morocco: Medina of Fez. Founded in the 9th century and home to the oldest university in the world, Fez reached its height in the 13thñ14th centuries, when it replaced Marrakesh as the capital of the kingdom. The principal monuments in the medina ñ madrasas, fondouks, palaces, residences, mosques and fountains - date from this period. Although the political capital of Morocco was transferred to Rabat in 1912, Fez has retained its status as the country's cultural and spiritual center.

Spain: University and Historic Precinct of Alcal· de Henares. Founded by Cardinal Jiménez de Cisneros in the early 16th century, Alcal· de Henares was the world's first planned university city. It was the original model for the Civitas Dei (City of God), the ideal urban community which Spanish missionaries brought to the Americas. It also served as a model for universities in Europe and elsewhere.

Yemen: Historic Town of Zabid. Zabid's domestic and military architecture and its urban plan make it an outstanding archaeological and historical site. Besides being the capital of Yemen from the 13th to the 15th century, the city played an important role in the Arab and Muslim world for many centuries because of its Islamic university. It is on the List of World Heritage in Danger because of deterioration of the historic buildings, 40% of which have been replaced by concrete buildings.

Endangered species

Australia: Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef is home to endangered species such as the ìsea cowî and the large green turtle.

Brazil: IguaÁu National Park. The park shares one of the world's largest waterfalls (2700 meters in diameter) with Iguazu National Park in Argentina. The park is home to many endangered species, including the giant otter and the giant anteater.

China: Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries. Home to more than 30% of the highly endangered giant panda, the Sanctuaries are its largest contiguous habitat. Other globally endangered animals such as the red panda, the snow leopard and clouded leopard are found here.

Côte d'Ivoire: Taï National Park. This park is one of the last major remnants of the primary tropical forest of West Africa. Its rich natural flora, and threatened mammal species such as the pygmy hippopotamus and 11 species of monkeys, are of great scientific interest.

Democratic Republic of the Congo: Garamba National Park. The park's immense savannahs, grasslands and woodlands are home to four large mammals: the elephant, giraffe, hippopotamus and the endangered white rhinoceros (of which only some 30 individuals remain). The Park is on the list of World Heritage in Danger.

Democratic Republic of the Congo: Kahuzi-Biega National Park. This vast tropical forest park with two extinct volcanoes, Kahuzi and Biega, is home to one of the last groups of mountain gorillas (consisting of only some 250 individuals). The Park is on the list of World Heritage in Danger because war and refugees have damaged park facilities, and led to fire, poaching and illegal removal of timber.

Democratic Republic of the Congo: Okapi Wildlife Reserve. The reserve contains threatened species of primates and birds and about 5,000 of the estimated 30,000 okapi surviving in the wild. It is on the list of World Heritage in Danger because of armed conflict which led to looting of park facilities and the killing of elephants in this site. There have also been reports of illegal gold mining.

Democratic Republic of the Congo: Salonga National Park. This is Africa's largest tropical rainforest reserve. At the heart of the central basin of the Congo river, the park is isolated and accessible only by water. It is the habitat of many endangered species, such as the dwarf chimpanzee, the Congo peacock, the forest elephant and the African slender-snouted or 'false' crocodile. The site is on the list of World Heritage in Danger because of threats from poaching and armed conflict.

Democratic Republic of the Congo: Virunga National Park. The Park includes an outstanding diversity of habitats, including swamps, steppes, mountain snowfields, lava plains and savannahs on the slopes of volcanoes. The endangered mountain gorilla is found in the park, as well as hippopotamuses and birds from Siberia that spend the winter there. The Park is a World Heritage in Danger site, because refugees from the war in neighboring Rwanda have moved into the park; poaching and cutting wood for fuel has become a threat to the Park.

Ethiopia: Simien National Park. Massive erosion over the years on the Ethiopian plateau has created a spectacular landscapes, with jagged mountain peaks, deep valleys and sharp precipices. The park is home to extremely rare animals such as the Gelada baboon, the Simien fox and the Walia ibex, a goat found nowhere else in the world. These species have been threatened by increasing human population, road construction and agriculture. The Park is on the list of World Heritage in Danger.

India: Manas Wildlife Sanctuary. In the foothills of the Himalayas, the Manas sanctuary is home to a great variety of wildlife, including many endangered species, such as the tiger, pygmy hog, Indian rhinoceros and Indian elephant. The site is on the list of World Heritage in Danger, because armed conflict and poaching have leg to a reduction in some species.

India: Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National Parks. Dominated by the Himalayan peak of Nanda Devi, which rises to over 7,800 m, the park has remained more or less intact because of its inaccessibility. It is the habitat of several endangered mammals, especially the snow leopard, Himalayan musk deer and bharal. The Valley of Flowers National Park is known for its meadows of alpine flowers, and is also home to rare and endangered animals, including the Asiatic black bear, snow leopard, brown bear and blue sheep.

Indonesia: Ujung Kulon National Park. This national park includes the Ujung Kulon peninsula, several offshore islands, and the natural reserve of Krakatoa. It is of interest for the study of inland volcanoes, and it contains the largest area of lowland rainforests in the Java plain. Several species of endangered plants and animals can be found there, the Javan rhinoceros being the most seriously under threat.

Nepal: Royal Chitwan National Park. At the foot of the Himalayas, Chitwan is one of the few remaining undisturbed vestiges of the 'Terai' region, which formerly extended over the foothills of India and Nepal. It has a particularly rich flora and fauna. One of the last populations of single-horned Asiatic rhinoceros lives in the park, which is also one of the last refuges of the Bengal tiger.

Nepal: Sagarmatha National Park. Sagarmatha is an exceptional area with dramatic mountains, glaciers and deep valleys, dominated by Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world (8,848 m). Several rare species, such as the snow leopard and the lesser panda, are found in the park. The presence of the Sherpas, with their unique culture, adds further interest to this site.

New Zealand: Te Wahipounamu - South West New Zealand. The landscape in this park has been shaped by glaciers into fjords, rocky coasts, towering cliffs, lakes and waterfalls. Two-thirds of the park is covered with southern beech and podocarps, some of which are over 800 years old. The kea, the only alpine parrot in the world, lives in the park, as does the rare and endangered takahe, a large flightless bird.

United States: Olympic National Park. Located in north-west Washington State, Olympic National Park is renowned for the diversity of its ecosystems. Glacier-clad peaks interspersed with extensive alpine meadows are surrounded by an extensive old growth forest, among which is the best example of intact and protected temperate rainforest in the Pacific Northwest. The park also includes 100 km. of wilderness coastline, the longest undeveloped coast in the contiguous United States, and is rich in native and endemic animal and plant species, including critical populations of the endangered northern spotted owl, marbled murrelet and bull trout.

Energy

Egypt: Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae. This outstanding archaeological area contains such monuments as the Temples of Ramses II at Abu Simbel and the Sanctuary of Isis at Philae. These were saved from flooding due to the Aswan Dam project and the rising waters of the Nile by the International Campaign launched by UNESCO, in 1960 to 1980; this initiated the idea of World Heritage.

Germany: Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Essen. The complex consists of the complete infrastructure of a historical coal-mining site. It is evidence of the evolution and decline of an essential industry over the past 150 years.

Netherlands: Ir.D.F Woudagemaal (D.F. Wouda Steam Pumping Station). The Wouda Pumping Station at Lemmer in the province of Friesland opened in 1920. It is the largest steam-pumping station ever built and is still in operation. It represents the high point of the contribution made by Netherlands engineers and architects in protecting their people and land against the natural forces of water.

Spain: Las Médulas. In the 1st century A.D. the Roman Imperial authorities began to exploit the gold deposits of this region in north-west Spain, using a technique based on hydraulic power. After two centuries of working the deposits, the Romans withdrew, leaving a devastated landscape. The dramatic traces of this remarkable ancient technology are visible everywhere as sheer faces in the mountainsides.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Blaenavon Industrial Landscape. The area around Blaenavon is evidence of the pre-eminence of South Wales as the world's major producer of iron and coal in the 19th century. All the necessary elements can still be seen - coal and ore mines, quarries, a primitive railway system, furnaces, workers' homes, and the social infrastructure of their community.

Enlightenment, Age of (Europe)

France: Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans. Construction of the Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans, near BesanÁon, began in 1775 during the reign of Louis XVI. It was the first major achievement of industrial architecture, reflecting the ideal of progress of the Enlightenment. This vast, semicircular complex was designed to permit a rational and hierarchical organization of work.

Germany: Classical Weimar. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries this small town witnessed a remarkable cultural flowering, attracting many writers and scholars, notably Goethe and Schiller.

Germany: Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wˆrlitz. This is an exceptional example of landscape design and planning of the Age of the Enlightenment, the 18th century.

Germany: Museumsinsel (Museum Island), Berlin. The museum as a social phenomenon owes its origins to the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century. The five museums on the Museumsinsel in Berlin, built between 1824 and 1930, show the evolution of approaches to museum design over the course of the 20th century.

Germany: Town of Bamberg. From the 10th century onwards, this town became an important link with the Slav peoples. From the 12th century onwards, the architecture of Bamberg strongly influenced northern Germany and Hungary. In the late 18th century it was the center of the Enlightenment in southern Germany, with eminent philosophers and writers such as Hegel and Hoffmann living there.

Italy: 18th Century Royal Palace at Caserta with the Park, the Aqueduct of Vanvitelli, and the San Leucio Complex. The monumental complex at Caserta, created by the Bourbon king Charles III in the mid-18th century to rival Versailles and the Royal Palace in Madrid, is exceptional for the way in which it brings together a magnificent palace with its park and gardens, as well as natural woodland, hunting lodges and a silk factory. It is an eloquent expression of the Enlightenment in material form, integrated into, rather than imposed on, its natural setting.

Erosion

Lithuania: Curonian Spit. Human habitation of this elongated sand dune peninsula dates back to prehistoric times. Throughout this period it has been threatened by the natural forces of wind and waves. Its survival to the present day has been made possible only as a result of ceaseless human efforts to combat the erosion of the Spit, dramatically illustrated by continuing stabilization and reforestation projects.

Peru: Chan Chan Archaeological Zone. The Chimu Kingdom, with Chan Chan as its capital, reached its height in the 15th century, not long before falling to the Incas. The planning of this huge city, the largest in pre-Columbian America, reflects a strict political and social strategy, marked by the city's division into nine 'citadels' or 'palaces' forming autonomous units. The site is on the List of World Heritage in Danger because its adobe, or earthen, structures have been damaged by erosion from wind and rain.

Russian Federation: Curonian Spit. Human habitation of this elongated sand dune peninsula dates back to prehistoric times. Throughout this period it has been threatened by the natural forces of wind and waves. Its survival to the present day has been made possible only as a result of human efforts to combat the erosion, dramatically illustrated by continuing stabilization and reforestation projects.

United States: Grand Canyon National Park. Carved out by the Colorado river, the Grand Canyon (nearly 1,500 meters deep) is the most spectacular gorge in the world. Located in the state of Arizona, it cuts across the Grand Canyon National Park. Its horizontal strata retrace the geological history of the past 2 billion years. There are also prehistoric traces of human adaptation to a particularly harsh environment.

Evolution

China: Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian. Scientific work at this site has uncovered remains of the "Peking Man", who lived in the Middle Pleistocene, and homo sapiens. The site is reminder of both prehistoric societies in Asia, and of the process of evolution.

Ecuador: Gal·pagos Islands. The isolation of these volcanic islands has led to the development of unique species such as the land iguana and the giant tortoise, which inspired Charles Darwin's theories of evolution. The islands are on the list of World Heritage in Danger because of threats from invasive species, growing tourism, and immigration.

Egypt: Wadi Al-Hitan (Whale Valley). This area contains invaluable fossil remains of the earliest, and now extinct, suborder of whales, the archaeoceti. These fossils represent one of the major stories of evolution: the emergence of the whale as an ocean-going mammal from a previous life as a land-based animal.

Ethiopia: Lower Valley of the Awash. The Awash valley contains important palaeontological sites. The remains found here, the oldest of which date back at least 4 million years, provide evidence of human evolution. The most spectacular discovery came in 1974, when 52 fragments of a skeleton enabled the famous Lucy to be reconstructed.

Ethiopia: Lower Valley of the Omo. The lower valley of the Omo is renowned the world over for the discovery of many fossils, especially Homo gracilis, which has been important in the study of human evolution.

Germany: Messel Pit Fossil Site. Messel Pit is the richest site in the world for understanding the living environment of the Eocene, between 57 million and 36 million years ago. It provides unique information about the early stages of the evolution of mammals and includes exceptionally well-preserved mammal fossils.

Indonesia: Komodo National Park. These volcanic islands are home to around 5,700 giant lizards, whose appearance and aggressive behavior have led to them being called 'Komodo dragons'. They exist nowhere else in the world and are of interest to scientists studying evolution.

Indonesia: Sangiran Early Man Site. Excavations here from 1936 to 1941 led to the discovery of hominid fossils. Later, 50 fossils of Meganthropus palaeo and Pithecanthropus erectus/Homo erectus were found ñ half of all the world's known hominid fossils. Inhabited for the past one and a half million years, Sangiran is one of the key sites for the understanding of human evolution.

Malawi: Lake Malawi National Park. The National Park is home to many hundreds of fish species, nearly all endemic. Its importance for the study of evolution is comparable to that of the finches of the Galapagos Islands.

Tanzania, United Republic of: Ngorongoro Conservation Area. A large permanent concentration of wild animals can be found in the huge and perfect crater of Ngorongoro. Nearby, the crater of Empakaai, filled by a deep lake, and the active volcano of Oldonyo Lenga can be seen. Excavations carried out in the Olduvai gorge, not far from there, have resulted in the discovery of one of our more distant ancestors, Homo habilis. Laitoli Site, which also lies within the area, is one of the main localities of early hominid footprints, dating back 3.6 million years.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Henderson Island. Henderson Island, which lies in the eastern South Pacific, is one of the few atolls in the world whose ecology has been practically untouched by humans. Its isolated location provides the ideal context for studying the dynamics of evolution and natural selection. It is notable for the 10 plants and four land birds that are endemic to the island.

Exploration

Ghana: Forts and Castles, Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions. The remains of fortified trading-posts, erected between 1482 and 1786, can still be seen along the coast of Ghana between Keta and Beyin. They were links in the trade routes established by the Portuguese in many areas of the world during their era of great maritime exploration.

Portugal: Monastery of the Hieronymites and Tower of Belém in Lisbon. Standing at the entrance to Lisbon harbor, the Monastery of the Hieronymites ñ construction of which began in 1502 ñ exemplifies Portuguese art at its best. The nearby Tower of Belém, built to commemorate Vasco da Gama's expedition, is a reminder of the great maritime discoveries that laid the foundations of the modern world.

Forests (see also Rainforests)

Australia: Greater Blue Mountains Area. This area is home to eucalyptus forests that show the evolution and adaptation of the species, along with other rare and threatened plant species.

Belarus: Belovezhskaya Pushcha/Bialowieza Forest. This immense forest is home to rare mammals such as the wolf, lynx, otter and European Bison.

Brazil: Atlantic Forest South-East Reserves. The site displays the biological wealth and evolutionary history of the last remaining Atlantic forests.

Poland: Belovezhskaya Pushcha/Bialowieza Forest. This immense forest is home to rare mammals such as the wolf, lynx, otter and European Bison.

Forts/Fortifications/Fortified cities

Canada: Historic District of Old Québec. Founded by the French explorer Champlain in the 17th century, this is the only North American city to have preserved its ramparts, along with bastions, gates and other defensive works.

China: The Great Wall. In 220 B.C., under Qin Shi Huang, sections of earlier fortifications were joined to form a united defense system against invasions from the north. Construction continued up to the Ming dynasty (1368ñ1644), when the Great Wall became the world's largest military structure.

Colombia: Port, Fortresses and Group of Monuments, Cartagena. Situated in a bay in the Caribbean Sea, Cartagena has the most extensive fortifications in South America.

Cuba: San Pedro de la Roca Castel, Santiago de Cuba. Commercial and political rivalries in the Caribbean region in the 17th century led to the construction of this massive series of fortifications on a rocky promontory, built to protect the important port of Santiago. This complex of forts, magazines, bastions and batteries is the most complete, best-preserved example of Spanish-American military architecture.

Finland: Fortress of Suomenlinna. Built in the second half of the 18th century by Sweden on a group of islands located at the entrance of Helsinki's harbour, this fortress is an example of European military architecture of the time.

France: Historic Fortified City of Carcassonne. Since the pre-Roman period, a fortified settlement has existed on the hill where Carcassonne now stands. In its present form it is an outstanding example of a medieval fortified town.

France: Provins, Town of Medieval Fairs. The fortified medieval town of Provins bears witness to early developments in the organization of international trading fairs and the wool industry.

Germany: Wartburg Castle. Although it has retained some original sections from the feudal period, the form it acquired during the 19th-century reconstitution gives a good idea of what this fortress might have been at the height of its military power. It was during his exile at Wartburg Castle that Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German.

Greece: Old Town of Corfu. This town on the Island of Corfu at the entrance of the Adriatic Sea has its roots in the 8th century BC. The three forts of the town, designed by renowned Venetian engineers, were used for four centuries to defend the maritime trading interests of the Republic of Venice against the Ottoman Empire. In the course of time, the forts were repaired and partly rebuilt several times.

India: Agra Fort. This 16th-century Mughal monument is known as the Red Fort of Agra. The powerful fortress of red sandstone encloses the imperial city of the Mughal rulers, with palaces, audience halls and mosques.

Iran (Islamic Republic of): Bam and its Cultural Landscape. The origins of Bam can be traced to the 6th to 4th century B.C. It is at the crossroads of important trade routes, and from the 7th to 11th centuries was known for its silk and cotton garments. Life in the oasis was made possible by the underground irrigation canals, the qanāts, of which Bam has preserved some of the earliest evidence in Iran. The Citadel of Bam is an example of a fortified medieval town built using mud layers. Nearly destroyed in an earthquake in December 2003, the site is on the list of World Heritage in Danger.

Israel: Masada. Masada is a rugged natural fortress, of majestic beauty, in the Judaean Desert overlooking the Dead Sea. It is a symbol of the ancient kingdom of Israel, its violent destruction and the last stand of Jewish patriots in the face of the Roman army, in 73 A.D.

Italy: City of Verona. The historic city of Verona was founded in the 1st century B.C. It flourished under the rule of the Scaliger family in the 13th and 14th centuries and as part of the Republic of Venice from the 15th to 18th centuries. Verona has preserved a remarkable number of monuments from antiquity, the medieval and Renaissance periods, and represents an outstanding example of a military stronghold.

Japan: Himeji-jo. Himeji-jo is the finest surviving example of early 17th-century Japanese castle architecture, comprising 83 buildings with highly developed systems of defense and ingenious protection devices dating from the beginning of the Shogun period.

Jordan: Quseir Amra. Built in the early 8th century, this exceptionally well-preserved desert castle was both a fortress with a garrison and a residence of the Umayyad caliphs. The most outstanding features of this small pleasure palace are the reception hall and the hammam, both richly decorated with figurative murals that reflect the secular art of the time.

Korea, Republic of: Hwaseong Fortress. When the Choson emperor Chongjo moved his father's tomb to Suwon at the end of the 18th century, he surrounded it with strong defensive works, laid out by an influential military architect of the period, who brought together the latest developments in the field from both East and West. The massive walls, extending for nearly 6 km., still survive.

Lithuania: Kernavė Archaeological Site (Cultural Reserve of Kernavė). The Kernavė Archaeological Site illustrates some 10 millennia of human settlements in this region. The site includes the town of Kernavė, forts (including five hill forts), some unfortified settlements, burial sites and other archaeological, historical and cultural monuments from the late Palaeolithic period to the Middle Ages. Although the town was destroyed by the Teutonic Order in the late 14th century, the site remained in use till the modern times.

Luxembourg: City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and Fortifications. Because of its strategic position, Luxembourg was, from the 16th century until 1867, one of Europe's greatest fortified sites. It was repeatedly reinforced as it passed from one great European power to another: the Holy Roman Emperors, the House of Burgundy, the Habsburgs, the French and Spanish kings, and finally the Prussians. Until their partial demolition, the fortifications were a fine example of military architecture spanning several centuries.

Mexico: Archaeological Monuments Zone of Xochicalco. Xochicalco is an exceptionally well-preserved example of a fortified political, religious and commercial center from the troubled period of 650ñ900 that followed the break-up of the great Mesoamerican states such as Teotihuacan, Monte Alb·n, Palenque and Tikal.

Mexico: Historic Fortified Town of Campeche. Campeche is a typical example of a harbor town from the Spanish colonial period. The historic center has kept its outer walls and system of fortifications, designed to defend this Caribbean port against attacks from the sea.

Morocco: Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou. The ksar, a group of earthen buildings surrounded by high walls, is a traditional pre-Saharan habitat. The houses crowd together within the defensive walls, which are reinforced by corner towers.

Morocco: Medina of Essaouira (formerly Mogador). Essaouira is an exceptional example of a late-18th-century fortified town, built according to the principles of contemporary European military architecture in a North African context. Since its foundation, it has been a major international trading seaport, linking Morocco and its Saharan hinterland with Europe and the rest of the world.

Mozambique: Island of Mozambique. The fortified city of Mozambique is located on this island, a former Portuguese trading-post on the route to India. Its remarkable architectural unity is due to the consistent use, since the 16th century, of the same building techniques, building materials (stone or macuti) and decorative principles.

Netherlands: Defense Line of Amsterdam. Extending 135 km. around the city of Amsterdam, this defense line (built between 1883 and 1920) is the only example of a fortification based on the principle of controlling the waters. The network of 45 armed forts and an intricate system of canals and locks together form an outstanding example of hydraulic engineering.

Oman: Bahla Fort. The oasis of Bahla owes its prosperity to the Banu Nebhan, the dominant tribe in the area from the 12th to the end of the 15th century. The ruins of the immense fort, with its walls and towers of unbaked brick and its stone foundations, is a remarkable example of this type of fortification and attests to the power of the Banu Nebhan.

Pakistan: Rohtas Fort. Following his defeat of the Mughal emperor Humayun in 1541, Sher Shah Suri built a strong fortified complex at Rohtas, a strategic site in the north of what is now Pakistan. It was never taken by storm and has survived intact to the present day. The massive walls, which extend for more than 4 km., are lined with bastions and pierced by monumental gateways. The Fort is an example of early Muslim military architecture in Central and South Asia.

Panama: Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Panama: Portobelo-San Lorenzo. These forts, examples of 17th- and 18th-century military architecture, form part of the defense system built by the Spanish Crown to protect transatlantic trade.

Portugal: Central Zone of the Town of Angra do Heroismo in the Azores. Situated on one of the islands in the Azores archipelago, this was an obligatory port of call from the 15th century until the advent of the steamship in the 19th century. The 400-year-old San Sebasti„o and San Jo„o Baptista fortifications are unique examples of military architecture. Damaged by an earthquake in 1980, Angra is now being restored.

Romania: Dacian Fortresses of the Orastie Mountains. Built in the 1st centuries B.C. and A.D. under Dacian rule, these fortresses show an unusual fusion of military and religious architecture from the classical world and the late European Iron Age. The six defensive works, the nucleus of the Dacian Kingdom, were conquered by the Romans at the beginning of the 2nd century A.D.

Romania: Historic Center of Sighişoara. Founded by German craftsmen and merchants known as the Saxons of Transylvania, Sighişoara is a small, fortified medieval town which played a strategic and commercial role on the fringes of central Europe for several centuries.

Russian Federation: Citadel, Ancient City and Fortress Buildings of Derbent. The site was part of the northern lines of the Sasanian Persian Empire, which extended east and west of the Caspian Sea. The fortification was built in stone. It consisted of two parallel walls that formed a barrier from the seashore up to the mountain. The town of Derbent was built between these two walls.

Russian Federation: Ensemble of the Novodevichy Convent. The Novodevichy Convent, built in the 16th and 17th centuries, was part of a chain of monastic ensembles that were integrated into the defense system of the city. The Convent was used by women of the Tsarís family and of the aristocracy. The Convent is a notable example of Russian architecture, and has an important collection of paintings and artifacts.

Russian Federation: Historic and Architectural Complex of the Kazan Kremlin. Built on an ancient site, the Kazan Kremlin dates from the Muslim period of the Golden Horde and the Kazan Khanate. It was conquered by Ivan the Terrible in 1552 and became the Christian See of the Volga Land. It is the only surviving Tatar fortress in Russia and an important place of pilgrimage.

Spain: Historic Walled Town of Cuenca. Built by the Moors in a defensive position at the heart of the Caliphate of Cordoba, Cuenca is a well-preserved medieval fortified city. Conquered by the Castilians in the 12th century, it became a royal town and bishopric. It is home to Spain's first Gothic cathedral, and the famous casas colgadas (hanging houses), suspended from sheer cliffs overlooking the Huécar river.

Spain: Ibiza, Biodiversity and Culture. The fortified Upper Town (Alta Vila) is an outstanding example of Renaissance military architecture.

Sweden: Hanseatic Town of Visby. A former Viking site on the island of Gotland, Visby was the main center of the Hanseatic League in the Baltic region from the 12th to the 14th century. Its 13th-century ramparts and more than 200 warehouses and wealthy merchants' dwellings from the same period make it the best-preserved fortified commercial city in northern Europe.

Switzerland: Three Castles, Defensive Wall and Ramparts of the Market Town of Bellinzone. The Bellinzone site consists of a group of fortifications grouped around the castle of Castelgrande, which stands on a rocky peak looking out over the entire Ticino valley. Running from the castle, a series of fortified walls protect the ancient town and block the passage through the valley. A second castle (Montebello) forms an integral part of the fortifications, while a third but separate castle (Sasso Corbaro) was built on an isolated rocky promontory south-east of the other fortifications.

Tunisia: Medina of Sousse. Sousse was an important commercial and military port during the Aghlabid period (800ñ909) and is a typical example of a town dating from the first centuries of Islam. With its kasbah, ramparts, medina (with the Great Mosque), Bu Ftata Mosque and typical ribat (both a fort and a religious building), Sousse was part of a coastal defense system.

Turkmenistan: Parthian Fortresses of Nisa. The site was one of the earliest and most important cities of the Parthian Empire, a major power from the mid 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD. Excavations have been carried out at the Royal citadel, now known as Old Nisa, a tell shaped like an irregular pentagon and surrounded by a high defensive earth rampart with more than 40 rectangular towers. The ancient town, known as New Nisa, is surrounded by powerful walls, up to 9 meters high on all sides. This powerful empire formed a barrier to Roman expansion while serving as an important communication and trading center.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Frontiers of the Roman Empire. The site consists of sections of the border line of the Roman Empire at its greatest extent in the 2nd century A.D., part of what is known as the ìRoman Limesî. All together, the Limes stretched over 5,000 km. from the Atlantic coast of northern Britain, through Europe to the Black Sea, and from there to the Red Sea and across North Africa to the Atlantic coast. Vestiges include remains of the ramparts, walls and ditches, watchtowers, forts, and civilian settlements.

United State: La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site in Puerto Rico. Between the 15th and 19th centuries, a series of defensive structures was built at this strategic point in the Caribbean Sea to protect the city and the Bay of San Juan. They represent a fine display of European military architecture adapted to harbor sites on the American continent.

Yemen: Old Walled City of Shibam. Surrounded by a fortified wall, the 16th-century city of Shibam is one of the oldest and best examples of urban planning based on the principle of vertical construction. Its impressive tower-like structures rise out of the cliff and have given the city the nickname of 'the Manhattan of the desert'.

Fossils

Argentina: Ischigualasto/Talampaya Natural Parks. These parks contain the most complete continental fossil record known from the Triassic Period.

Australia: Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh/Naracoorte). These sites show key stages in the evolution of Australia's mammals.

Australia: Willandra Lakes Region. The fossil remains of a series of lakes and sand formations that date from the Pleistocene can be found here.

Canada: Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks. The contiguous national parks of Banff, Jasper, Kootenay and Yoho, along with several provincial parks, form a striking mountain landscape with lakes, glaciers, waterfalls, and limestone caves. The Burgess Shale Fossil site, known for its fossil remains of soft-bodies marine animals, is also found there.

Canada: Dinosaur Provincial Park. This park contains fossils of 35 species of dinosaurs dating back 75 million years.

Canada: Miguasha National Park. The fossils in this park are an outstanding example of the Devonian Period known as the "Age of Fishes". It has the best-preserved fossil specimens of the lobe-finned fishes that gave rise to the first four-legged, air-breathing terrestrial vertebrates.

South Africa: Fossil Hominid Sites of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Dromdraai, and Environs. In 1924 the Taung Skull - a specimen of the species Australopithecus africanus - was found here. Makapan Valley, also in the site, has traces of human occupation and evolution dating back some 3.3 million years. Fossils found here have identified several specimens of early hominids, including specimens of Paranthropus, dating back between 4.5 million and 2.5 million years, as well as evidence of the domestication of fire 1.8 million to 1 million years ago.

Switzerland: Monte San Giorgio. This pyramid-shaped, wooded mountain (1,096 meters above sea level) is regarded as the best fossil record of marine life from the Triassic Period (245ñ230 million years ago). The sequence records life in a tropical lagoon environment, including reptiles, fish, bivalves, ammonites, echinoderms and crustaceans, and some land-based fossils including reptiles, insects and plants.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Dorset and East Devon Coast. The cliff exposures along the Dorset and East Devon coast provide an almost continuous sequence of rock formations spanning the Mesozoic Era, or some 185 million years of the earth's history. The area's important fossil sites and coastal geomorphologic features have contributed to the study of earth sciences for over 300 years.

Geography

Belarus, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Sweden, Ukraine: Struve Geodetic Arc. The Arc is the first accurate measuring of a long segment of a meridian, helping establish the size and shape of the planet. This important step in the development of earth sciences was carried out as a collaboration between scientists from different countries.

Geology

Algeria: Tassili n'Ajjer. In addition to an extraordinary collection of cave art, this site has geological formations of scenic interest, with eroded sandstones forming "forests of rock".

Australia: Macquarie Island. This is the only place in the world where rocks from the earth's mantle (6 km. below the ocean floor) are being exposed above sea level. There are examples of pillow basalts and other extrusive rocks.

Australia: Purnululu National Park. This park contains unique sandstone beehives and cones, eroded over 20 million years.

Australia: Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. The park contains Uluru, or Ayers Rock, and the rock domes of Kata Tjuta. The formations are part of the traditional belief system of the Anangu Aboriginal people.

Canada: Gros Morne National Park. This park on the west coast of Newfoundland provides a rare example of the process of continental drift, where deep ocean crust and the rocks of the earth's mantle lie exposed.

Canada: Nahanni National Park. This park contains deep canyons, waterfalls, and a unique limestone cave system. It is also home to wolves, caribou, grizzly bears, Dall's sheep and mountain goats.

China: South China Karst. The South China Karst region extends over a surface of half a million square kilometers. It is made up of three clusters: Libo Karst, Shilin Karst and Wulong Karst, with stone forests, pinnacle shapes, cone and tower karsts, giant dolines, natural bridges, and caves.

China: Wulingyuan Scenic and Historic Interest Area. The site is has more than 3,000 narrow sandstone pillars and peaks, many over 200 m high. Between the peaks lie ravines and gorges with streams, pools and waterfalls, some 40 caves, and two large natural bridges.

Croatia: Plitvice Lakes National Park. The waters flowing over the limestone and chalk have, over thousands of years, deposited travertine barriers, creating natural dams which in turn have created a series of beautiful lakes, caves and waterfalls. These geological processes continue today.

Cuba: Desembarco del Granma National Park. With its uplifted marine terraces and ongoing development of karst topography, the Park represents a globally significant example of geomorphologic and physiographic features and ongoing geological processes. The area includes spectacular terraces and cliffs, as well as some of the most pristine and impressive coastal cliffs bordering the western Atlantic.

Finland: Kvarken Archipelago/High Coast. The High Coast has been shaped by the combined processes of glaciation, glacial retreat and the emergence of new land from the sea. The Kvarken Archipelago features unusual ridged washboard moraines formed by the melting of the continental ice sheet, 10,000 to 24,000 years ago. The Archipelago is continuously rising from the sea in a process of rapid glacio-isostatic uplift, whereby the land, previously weighed down under the weight of a glacier, lifts at rates that are among the highest in the world.

France: Gulf of Porto: Calanche of Piana, Gulf of Girolata, Scandola Reserve. The nature reserve occupies the Scandola peninsula, an impressive, porphyritic rock mass. The vegetation is an outstanding example of scrubland.

France: Pyrénées - Mont Perdu. This outstanding mountain landscape, which spans the contemporary national borders of France and Spain, is centered around the peak of Mount Perdu, a calcareous massif. The site has two of Europe's largest and deepest canyons on the Spanish side and three major cirque walls on the more abrupt northern slopes with France.

Korea, Republic of: Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes. The site includes: Geomunoreum, a fine lave tube system of caves; the fortress-like Seongsan Ilchulbong tuff cone, rising out of the ocean, a dramatic landscape; and Mount Hallasan, the highest in Korea, with its waterfalls, multi-shaped rock formations, and lake-filled crater.

Oman: Aflaj Irrigation Systems of Oman. The origins of this system of irrigation may date back to 500 A.D. In Arabic, "aflaj" means to divide into shares; equitable sharing of a scarce resource to ensure sustainability remains the hallmark of this irrigation system. Using gravity, water is channeled from underground sources or springs to support agriculture and domestic use, often over many kilometers. The fair and effective management and sharing of water in villages and towns is still underpinned by mutual dependence and communal values and guided by astronomical observations. The system is still in use today, but is threatened by the lowering level of the underground water table.

Spain: Pyrénées - Mont Perdu. This mountain landscape, which spans the contemporary national borders of France and Spain, is centered around the peak of Mount Perdu, a calcareous massif that rises to 3,352 meters. It includes two of Europe's largest and deepest canyons on the Spanish side and three major cirque walls on the more abrupt northern slopes with France. The site is also a pastoral landscape reflecting an agricultural way of life once widespread in the upland regions of Europe but now surviving only in this part of the Pyrénées.

Sweden: Kvarken Archipelago/High Coast. The irregular topography of the High Coast has been largely shaped by the combined processes of glaciation, glacial retreat and the emergence of new land from the sea. Since the last retreat of the ice from the High Coast 9,600 years ago, the uplift has been in the order of 285 meters which is the highest known 'rebound'. The Kvarken Archipelago has 5,600 islands and islets. It features unusual ridged washboard moraines, "De Greer moraines", formed by the melting of the continental ice sheet, 10,000 to 24,000 years ago. The Archipelago is continuously rising from the sea in a process of rapid glacio-isostatic uplift, whereby the land, previously weighed down under the weight of a glacier, lifts at rates that are among the highest in the world. As a consequence of the advancing shoreline, islands appear and unite, peninsulas expand, lakes evolve from bays and develop into marshes and peat fens.

Sweden: Laponian Area. The Arctic Circle region of northern Sweden is the home of the Saami, or Lapp people. It is the largest area in the world (and one of the last) with an ancestral way of life based on the seasonal movement of livestock. Every summer, the Saami lead their herds of reindeer towards the mountains through a natural landscape now threatened by the advent of motor vehicles. Historical and ongoing geological processes can be seen in the glacial moraines and changing water courses.

Turkey: Hierapolis-Pamukkale. Deriving from springs in a cliff almost 200 meters high, calcite-laden waters have created at Pamukkale (Cotton Palace) an unreal landscape, made up of mineral forests, petrified waterfalls and a series of terraced basins. At the end of the 2nd century B.C. the dynasty of the Attalids, the kings of Pergamon, established the thermal spa of Hierapolis. The ruins of the baths, temples and other Greek monuments can be seen at the site.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast. The Giant's Causeway lies at the foot of the basalt cliffs along the sea coast on the edge of the Antrim plateau in Northern Ireland. It is made up of some 40,000 massive black basalt columns sticking out of the sea. The dramatic sight has inspired legends of giants striding over the sea to Scotland. Geological studies of these formations show that they were caused by volcanic activity during the Tertiary, some 50ñ60 million years ago.

United States: Yellowstone National Park. The vast natural forest of Yellowstone National Park covers nearly 9,000 sq. km. Yellowstone contains half of all the world's known geothermal features, with more than 10,000 examples. It also has the world's largest concentration of geysers (more than 300 geyers, or 2/3 of all those on the planet). Established in 1872, Yellowstone is equally known for its wildlife, such as grizzly bears, wolves, bison and wapitis.

United States: Yosemite National Park. Yosemite National Park lies in the heart of California. With its 'hanging' valleys, many waterfalls, cirque lakes, polished domes, moraines and U-shaped valleys, it provides an excellent overview of all kinds of granite relief fashioned by glaciation. At 600ñ4,000 meters, a great variety of flora and fauna can also be found here.

Venezuela: Canaima National Park. Roughly 65% of the park is covered by table mountain (tepui) formations. The tepuis constitute a unique biogeological entity and are of great geological interest. The sheer cliffs and waterfalls, including the world's highest (1,000 meters), form a spectacular landscape.

Viet Nam: Ha Long Bay. Ha Long Bay, in the Gulf of Tonkin, includes some 1,600 islands and islets, forming a spectacular seascape of limestone pillars. Because of their precipitous nature, most of the islands are uninhabited and unaffected by a human presence.

Geometry

Mexico: Pre-Hispanic City of Teotihuacan. The holy city of Teotihuacan ('the place where the gods were created') was built between the 1st and 7th centuries A.D. Its enormous monuments ñ in particular, the Temple of Quetzalcoatl and the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon - are laid out on geometric and symbolic principles. Teotihuacan was one of the most powerful cultural centers in Mesoamerica. Recent controversy over construction of a Wal-Mart near the complex raised issues of the conflict between preservation and development.

Glaciers

Argentina: Los Glaciares. This National Park features towering mountains, glacial lakes, and three glaciers.

Canada: Kluane/Wrangell-St. Elias/Glacier Bay/Tatshenshini-Alsek. This complex of glaciers and high peaks is the largest non-polar icefield in the world. The parks are also home to grizzly bears, caribou, and Dall's sheep.

Canada: Waterton Glacier International Peace Park. In 1932, Waterton Lakes National Park (Canada) and Glacier National Park (United States) combined to form the world's first International Peace Park. The park is exceptionally rich in plant and mammal species as well as prairie, forest, and alpine and glacial features.

Montenegro: Durmitor National Park. The park was formed by glaciers and is traversed by rivers and underground streams. Along the Tara river canyon, which has the deepest gorges in Europe, the dense pine forests are home to unique local plants.

Norway: West Norwegian Fjords - Geirangerfjord and NÊr¯yfjord. These two fjords, among the worldís longest and deepest, are considered as archetypical fjord landscapes and among the most scenically outstanding anywhere. Their narrow and steep-sided crystalline rock walls rise up to 1,400 m. from the Norwegian Sea and extend 500 m. below sea level. The sheer walls of the fjords have numerous waterfalls while free flowing rivers cross their deciduous and coniferous forests to glacial lakes, glaciers and rugged mountains.

United States: Kluane/Wrangell-St. Elias/Glacier Bay/Tatshenshini-Alsek. This complex of glaciers and high peaks is the largest non-polar icefield in the world. The parks are also home to grizzly bears, caribou, and Dall's sheep.

United States: Waterton Glacier International Peace Park. In 1932, Waterton Lakes National Park (Canada) and Glacier National Park (United States) combined to form the world's first International Peace Park. The park is exceptionally rich in plant and mammal species as well as prairie, forest, and alpine and glacial features.

Global warming (see Climate_change)

Government

France: Belfries of Belgium and France. The belfries showcase Roman, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles. They were erected as a sign of communal independence obtained by charter -- a symbol of freedom.

France: Place Stanislas, Place del la CarriËre and Place d'Alliance in Nancy. Nancy, the temporary residence of a king without a kingdom ñ Stanislas Leszczynski, later to become Duke of Lorraine ñ is paradoxically the oldest and most typical example of a modern capital where an enlightened monarch proved to be sensitive to the needs of the public.

Iceland: ﬁingvellir National Park. ﬁingvellir (Thingvellir) is the National Park where the Althing - an open-air assembly, which represented the whole of Iceland - was established in 930 and continued to meet until 1798. Over two weeks a year, the assembly set laws - seen as a covenant between free men - and settled disputes.

Russian Federation: Kremlin and Red Square, Moscow. The Kremlin (built between the 14th and 17th centuries by outstanding Russian and foreign architects) was the residence of the Great Prince and also a religious center. At the foot of its ramparts, on Red Square, St Basil's Basilica is one of the most beautiful Russian Orthodox monuments.

Viet Nam: Complex of Hué Monuments. Established as the capital of unified Viet Nam in 1802, Hué was not only the political but also the cultural and religious center under the Nguyen dynasty until 1945. The Perfume River winds its way through the Capital City, the Imperial City, the Forbidden Purple City and the Inner City, giving this unique feudal capital a setting of great natural beauty.

Greece, ancient

Greece: Acropolis, Athens. Illustrating the civilizations, myths and religions that flourished in Greece over a period of more than 1,000 years, the Acropolis is the site of four of the greatest masterpieces of classical Greek art ñ the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the Erechtheum and the Temple of Athena Nike.

Greece: Archeological Site of Delphi. The sanctuary of Delphi, where the oracle of Apollo spoke, was the site of the omphalos, the 'navel of the world'. Delphi in the 6th century B.C. was the religious centre and symbol of unity of the ancient Greek world.

Greece: Archeological Site of Epidaurus. The cult of Asclepius first began in Epidaurus in the 6th century B.C., but the principal monuments, particularly the theatre ñ considered one of the purest masterpieces of Greek architecture ñ date from the 4th century. The vast site is a tribute to the healing cults of Greek and Roman times, with temples and hospital buildings devoted to its gods.

Greece: Archeological Sites of Mycenae and Tiryns. These sites are the ruins of the greatest cities of the Mycenaean civilization, which dominated the eastern Mediterranean from the 15th-12th century B.C. and influenced the development of classical Greek culture. The cities are linked to the Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, which have influenced European art and literature for more than three millennia.

Greece: Archeological Site of Olympia. In the 10th century B.C., Olympia became a centre for the worship of Zeus. The Altis ñ the sanctuary to the gods ñ has one of the highest concentrations of masterpieces from the ancient Greek world. In addition to temples, there are the remains of all the sports structures erected for the Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia every four years beginning in 776 B.C.

Greece: Archeological Site of Vergina. The city of Aigai, the ancient first capital of the Kingdom of Macedonia, was discovered in the 19th century near Vergina, in northern Greece. The remains include the monumental palace, decorated with mosaics and painted stuccoes, and the burial ground. One of the royal tombs is identified as that of Philip II, who conquered all the Greek cities, paving the way for his son Alexander and the expansion of the Hellenistic world.

Greece: Delos. According to Greek mythology, Apollo was born on this tiny island in the Cyclades archipelago. Apollo's sanctuary attracted pilgrims from all over Greece and Delos was a prosperous trading port. The island bears traces of the succeeding civilizations in the Aegean world, from the 3rd millennium B.C. to the palaeochristian era.

Greece: Pythagoreion and Heraion of Samos. Many civilizations have inhabited this small Aegean island since the 3rd millennium B.C. The remains of Pythagoreion, an ancient fortified port with Greek and Roman monuments and a spectacular tunnel-aqueduct, as well as the Heraion, temple of the Samian Hera, can still be seen.

Greece: Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae. This famous temple to the god of healing and the sun was built towards the middle of the 5th century B.C. The temple, which has the oldest Corinthian capital yet found, combines the Archaic and Doric styles.

Italy: Archaeological Area of Agrigento. Founded as a Greek colony in the 6th century B.C., Agrigento became a leading city in the Mediterranean world. The remains of Doric temples dominate the ancient town, much of which lies intact under today's fields and orchards. Selected excavated areas throw light on the later Hellenistic and Roman town and the burial practices of its early Christian inhabitants.

Italy: Syracuse and the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica. The Necropolis of Pantalica contains over 5,000 tombs cut into the rock near open stone quarries, most of them dating from the 13th to 7th century B.C. Ancient Syracuse includes the nucleus of the cityís foundation as Ortygia by the Greeks in the 8th century B.C. The site of the city, which Cicero described as ìthe greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of allî, retains vestiges such as the Temple of Athena (5th century B.C., later transformed to serve as a cathedral), a Greek theatre, a Roman amphitheatre, a fort and more.

Lebanon: Baalbek. This Phoenician city, where a triad of deities was worshipped, was known as Heliopolis during the Hellenistic period. It retained its religious function during Roman times, when the sanctuary of the Heliopolitan Jupiter attracted thousands of pilgrims. Baalbek, with its colossal structures, is one of the finest examples of Imperial Roman architecture at its apogee.

Libyan Arab Jamahiriya: Archaeological Site of Cyrene. A colony of the Greeks of Thera, Cyrene was one of the principal cities in the Hellenic world. It was Romanized and remained a great capital until the earthquake of 365.

Hanseatic League

Estonia: Historic Center (Old Town) of Tallinn. The city dates to the 13th century, when a castle was built there by knights of the Teutonic Order. It developed as a center of the Hanseatic League. It is a well-preserved example of a medieval northern European trading city.

Germany: Hanseatic City of L¸beck. This city ñ the former capital of the Hanseatic League ñ was founded in the 12th century and prospered until the 16th century as the major trading centre for northern Europe. It has remained a centre for maritime commerce to this day.

Germany: Mines of Rammelsberg and Historic Town of Goslar. Situated near the Rammelsberg mines, Goslar held an important place in the Hanseatic League because of the rich Rammelsberg metallic ore deposits. Its medieval historic centre has some 1,500 half-timbered houses dating from the 15th to the 19th century.

Hinduism

India: Great Living Chola Temples. These three temples were built by kings of the Chola Empire, which stretched over all of South India and the neighbouring islands. The temples testify to the Cholas brilliant achievements in architecture, sculpture, painting, and bronze casting.

India: Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram. This group of sanctuaries was carved out of rock along the Coromandel coast in the 7th and 8th centuries. It is known especially for its rathas (temples in the form of chariots), mandapas (cave sanctuaries), giant open-air reliefs such as the famous 'Descent of the Ganges', and the temple of Rivage, with thousands of sculptures to the glory of Shiva.

India: Sun Temple, Kon‚rak. This 13th century Brahman sanctuary is a monumental representation of the sun god Surya's chariot; its 24 wheels are decorated with symbolic designs and it is led by a team of six horses.

Indonesia: Prambanan Temple Compounds. Built in the 10th century, this is the largest temple compound dedicated to Shiva in Indonesia. There are three temples decorated with reliefs illustrating the epic of the Ramayana, dedicated to the three great Hindu divinities (Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma) and three temples dedicated to the animals who serve them.

Lao People's Democratic Republic. Vat Phou and Associated Ancient Settlements within the Champasak Cultural Landscape. The Champasak cultural landscape, including the Vat Phou Temple complex, is a remarkably well-preserved planned landscape more than 1,000 years old. It was shaped to express the Hindu vision of the relationship between nature and humanity, using an axis from mountain top to river bank to lay out a geometric pattern of temples, shrines and waterworks extending over some 10 km.

Viet Nam: My Son Sanctuary. Between the 4th and 13th centuries a unique culture which owed its spiritual origins to Indian Hinduism developed on the coast of contemporary Viet Nam. This is graphically illustrated by the remains of a series of impressive tower-temples located in a dramatic site that was the religious and political capital of the Champa Kingdom for most of its existence.

Holocaust

Poland: Auschwitz Concentration Camp. The fortified walls, barbed wire, platforms, barracks, gallows, gas chambers and cremation ovens show the conditions within which the Nazi genocide took place in the former concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest in the Third Reich. According to historical investigations, 1.5 million people, among them a great number of Jews, were systematically starved, tortured and murdered in this camp, the symbol of humanity's cruelty to its fellow human beings in the 20th century.

Human rights

Senegal: Island of Gorée. From the 15th to the 19^th century, the Island of Gorée was the largest slave trading center on the African coast.

United States: Statue of Liberty. Made in Paris by the French sculptor Bartholdi, in collaboration with Gustave Eiffel (who was responsible for the steel framework), this towering monument to liberty was a gift from France on the centenary of American independence in 1886. Standing at the entrance to New York Harbor, it has welcomed millions of immigrants to the United States ever since.

Immigration

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Liverpool - Maritime Mercantile City. Liverpool was one of the worldís major trading centers in the 18th and 19th centuries. It played an important role in the growth of the British Empire and became the major port for the mass movement of people, e.g. slaves and emigrants from northern Europe to America. Liverpool was a pioneer in the development of modern dock technology, transport systems, and port management.

Inca civilization

Argentina: Quebrada de Humahuaca. This valley shows evidence of use as a major cultural and trade route. It includes traces of prehistoric hunter-gatherer communities, the Inca Empire, and the fight for independence.

Peru: Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu stands 2,430 meters above sea-level, in the middle of a tropical mountain forest, in an extraordinarily beautiful setting. It was probably the most amazing urban creation of the Inca Empire at its height; its giant walls, terraces and ramps seem as if they have been cut naturally in the continuous rock escarpments.

Indigenous peoples (see also Native Americans)

Australia: Kakadu National Park. This park has been inhabited for 40,000 years. Cave paintings, rock carvings, and archeological sites record the way of life of the region's peoples, from prehistoric hunter-gatherers to the Aboriginal people who still live there.

Australia: Tasmanian Wilderness. The steep gorges in these parks were created by glaciers. The area is home to one of the last expanses of temperate rainforests in the world. Remains found in limestone caves indicate human occupation of the area for more that 20,000 years.

Canada: Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. For nearly 6,000 years, aboriginal people of the North American plains killed buffalo by chasing them over a cliff, then carving their carcasses in the camp below. The park has remains of marked trails, and a tumulus where vast quantities of buffalo skeletons can be found.

Canada: SGang Gwaay. Remains of houses, and carved mortuary and memorial poles commemorate the Haida people's art, way of life, and relationship to the land and sea.

Costa Rica: Talamanca Range-La Amistad Reserves/La Amistad National Park. This site's unique location has allowed the fauna and flora of North and South America to interbreed. Tropical rainforests cover most of the area. Four different Indian tribes inhabit this property.

Panama: Talamanca Range-La Amistad Reserves/La Amistad National Park. The location of this unique site has allowed the fauna and flora of North and South America to interbreed. Tropical rainforests cover most of the area. Four different Indian tribes inhabit this property.

Industry

Finland: Verla Groundwood and Board Mill. The Verla Groundwood and Board Mill and its residential area is a well-preserved example of the small-scale rural industrial settlements associated with pulp, paper and board production that flourished in northern Europe and North America in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Germany: Vˆlklingen Ironworks. Although they have recently gone out of production, they are the only intact example, in the whole of western Europe and North America, of an integrated ironworks that was built and equipped in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Italy: Crespi D'Adda. Crespi d'Adda is an outstanding example of the 19th- and early 20th-century 'company towns' built in Europe and North America by enlightened industrialists to meet the workers' needs. The site is still remarkably intact and is partly used for industrial purposes, although changing economic and social conditions now threaten its survival.

Norway: R¯ros Mining Town. The history of R¯ros, which stands in a mountainous setting, is linked to the copper mines: they were developed in the 17th century and exploited for 333 years until 1977. Completely rebuilt after its destruction by Swedish troops in 1679, the city has some 80 wooden houses with dark pitch-log facades, giving the town a medieval appearance.

Slovakia: Historic Town of Bansk· ätiavnica and the Technical Monuments in its Vicinity. This old medieval mining center grew into a town with Renaissance palaces, 16th-century churches, elegant squares and castles. The urban centre blends into the surrounding landscape, which contains vital relics of the mining and metallurgical activities of the past.

Sweden: Englesberg Ironworks. Sweden's production of superior grades of iron made it a leader in this field in the 17th and 18th centuries. This site is the best-preserved and most complete example of this type of Swedish ironworks.

Sweden: Mining Area of the Great Copper Mountain in Falun. The site illustrates the activity of copper production in this region since at least the 13th century. The 17th-century planned town of Falun, together with the industrial and domestic remains of a number of settlements, provide a vivid picture of what was for centuries one of the world's most important mining areas.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape. Much of the landscape of Cornwall and West Devon was transformed in the 18th and early 19th centuries as a result of the rapid growth of pioneering copper and tin mining. Its deep underground mines, engine houses, foundries, new towns, smallholdings, ports and harbors, and ancillary industries together reflect prolific innovation which, in the early 19th century, enabled the region to produce two thirds of the worldís supply of copper.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Derwent Valley Mills. The site contains a series of 18th- and 19th- century cotton mills and its industrial landscape. The modern factory owes its origins to the mills at Cromford, where Richard Arkwright's inventions were first put into industrial-scale production. The workers' housing associated with this and the other mills remains intact.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: New Lanark. New Lanark is a model industrial community set in a sublime Scottish landscape, created by philanthropist and Utopian idealist Robert Owen in the early 19th century. The imposing cotton mill buildings, the spacious and well-designed workers' housing, and the dignified educational institute and school still testify to Owen's humanism.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Saltaire. Saltaire, West Yorkshire, is a complete and well-preserved industrial village of the second half of the 19th century. Its textile mills, public buildings and workers' housing are built in a harmonious style of high architectural standards and the urban plan survives intact, giving a vivid impression of Victorian philanthropic paternalism.

Industrial Revolution

International organizations

Montenegro: Natural and Culturo-Historical Region of Kotor. In the Middle Ages, this natural harbor on the Adriatic coast was an important artistic and commercial center with famous schools of masonry and iconography. Many of the monuments (including four Romanesque churches and the town walls) were seriously damaged by the 1979 earthquake but the town has been restored, largely with UNESCO's help.

Inventions

Belgium: Plantin-Moretus House-Workshops-Museum Complex. This printing plant and publishing house in Antwerp date from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. It is associated with the history of invention and the spread of typography.

Sweden: Varberg Radio Station. The Varberg Radio Station (built in 1922-24) is an exceptionally well preserved monument to early wireless transatlantic communication. The site is an outstanding example of the development of telecommunications and is the only surviving example of a major transmitting station based on pre-electronic technology.

Islam

Algeria: Al Qal'a of Beni Hammad: This site, the ruins of a fortified Islamic city founded in 1007 and demolished in 1152, has one of the largest mosques in Algeria.

Algeria: Kasbah of Algiers. An example of a "medina", or Islamic city, on the Mediterranean. The traditional urban structure includes the citadel, mosques and Ottoman-style palaces.

Bangladesh: Historic Mosque City of Bagerhat. Located at the meeting point of the Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers, this city contains an exceptional number of mosques and Islamic monuments.

Egypt: Islamic Cairo. Within the modern urban area of Cairo lies one of the world's oldest Islamic cities, with famous mosques, madrasas, hammams and fountains. Founded in the 10th century, it became the new centre of the Islamic world, reaching its golden age in the 14th century.

India: Taj Mahal. An immense mausoleum of white marble, built in Agra between 1631 and 1648 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife, the Taj Mahal is the jewel of Muslim art in India and a universally admired masterpiece of the world's heritage.

Tunisia: Kairouan. Founded in 670, Kairouan flourished under the Aghlabid dynasty in the 9th century. Despite the transfer of the political capital to Tunis in the 12th century, Kairouan remained the Maghreb's principal holy city. Its rich architectural heritage includes the Great Mosque, with its marble and porphyry columns, and the 9th-century Mosque of the Three Gates.

Tunisia: Medina of Tunis. Under the Almohads and the Hafsids, from the 12th to the 16th century, Tunis was considered one of the greatest and wealthiest cities in the Islamic world. Some 700 monuments, including palaces, mosques, mausoleums, madrasas and fountains, testify to this remarkable past.

Yemen: Old City of Sana'a. Sana'a has been inhabited for more than 2,500 years. In the 7th and 8th centuries the city became a major center for the propagation of Islam. This religious and political heritage can be seen in the 103 mosques, 14 hammams and over 6,000 houses, all built before the 11th century. Sana'a's many-storeyed tower-houses built of rammed earth (pisé) add to the beauty of the site.

Islands

Australia: Fraser Island. This is the largest sand island in the world, with remnants of rainforests and freshwater dune lakes.

Australia: Heard and McDonald Islands. These are the only volcanically active subantarctic islands, showing glacial and geomorphic processes. They also have pristine island ecosystems, without alien species and human impact.

Australia: Lord Howe Island Group. These isolated islands, created from volcanic activity 2000 meters below the sea, have spectacular landforms and are home to a number of species of birds.

Ecuador: Gal·pagos Islands. The isolation of these volcanic islands has led to the development of unique species such as the land iguana and the giant tortoise. The islands are on the list of World Heritage in Danger because of threats from invasive species, growing tourism, and immigration.

Netherlands: Schokland and Surroundings. Schokland was a peninsula that by the 15th century had become an island. Occupied and then abandoned as the sea encroached, it had to be evacuated in 1859. But following the draining of the Zuider Zee, it has, since the 1940s, formed part of the land reclaimed from the sea. Schokland has vestiges of human habitation going back to prehistoric times. It symbolizes the age-old struggle of the people of the Netherlands against the encroachment of the waters.

Norway: Vega¯yan - The Vega Archipelago. The cultural landscape of these islands, just south of the Arctic Circle, illustrates a distinctive, frugal way of life based on fishing and the harvesting of the down of eider ducks, in an inhospitable environment. There are fishing villages, quays, warehouses, eider houses (built for eider ducks to nest in), farming landscapes, lighthouses and beacons. The Vega Archipelago reflects the way fishermen/farmers have, over the past 1500 years, maintained a sustainable living and celebrates the contribution of women to eiderdown harvesting.

Spain: Teide National Park. Located on the island of Tenerife, the Park features the Teide-Pico Viejo stratovolcano, the highest peak in Spain, and the world's third tallest volcanic structure. Teide illustrates the geological processes that form oceanic islands.

Jainism

Judaism

Slovakia: Bardejov Town Conservation Reserve. Bardejov is a small but well-preserved example of a fortified medieval town, which typifies the urbanization in this region. Among other features, it also contains a small Jewish quarter around a fine 18th-century synagogue.

Lakes

Hungary: Fertˆ/Neusiedler Cultural Landscape. This area has been the meeting place of different cultures for eight millennia. Its varied landscape is the result of an evolutionary symbiosis between human activity and the physical environment. The remarkable rural architecture of the villages surrounding the lake and several 18th- and 19th-century palaces adds to the area's considerable cultural interest.

Land management

Andorra: Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley. An example of a sustainable living environment, created in harmony with the high Pyrenees. It includes a communal system of land management that has survived over 700 years.

Netherlands: Droogmakerij de Beemster (Beemster Polder). The Beemster Polder, dating from the early 17th century, is the oldest area of reclaimed land in the Netherlands. It has preserved intact its well-ordered landscape of fields, roads, canals, dykes and settlements, laid out in accordance with classical and Renaissance planning principles.

Landforms (see Caves, Deserts, Glaciers, Islands, Lakes, Mountains, Plateaus, Rivers, Volcanoes, Waterfalls)

Landscape, cultural

Austria: Fertˆ/Neusiedlersee Cultural Landscape. This area has been a meeting place between cultures for eight millennia, with both rural architecture and palaces adding to the cultural interest.

Austria: Wachau Cultural Landscape. This scenic stretch of the Danube preserves significant examples of architecture, urban planning, and agricultural use.

China: Mount Taishan. The sacred Mount Tai was the object of an imperial cult for nearly 2,000 years, and the artistic masterpieces found there are in perfect harmony with the natural landscape. It symbolizes ancient Chinese civilizations and beliefs.

China: Mountain Resort and its Outlying Temples, Chengde. The Mountain Resort (the Qing dynasty's summer palace), was built between 1703 and 1792. It is a vast complex of palaces and administrative and ceremonial buildings. Temples of various architectural styles and imperial gardens blend harmoniously into a landscape of lakes, pastureland and forests.

Czech Republic: Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape. Between the 17th and 20th centuries, the ruling dukes of Liechtenstein created a striking landscape, combining Baroque architecture, the classical and neo-Gothic style of the castles of Lednice and Valtice, and English romantic principles of landscape architecture. At 200 sq. km, it is one of the largest artificial landscapes in Europe.

France: The Loire Valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes. The Loire Valley is an outstanding cultural landscape of great beauty, containing historic towns and villages, great architectural monuments (the ch‚teaux), and cultivated lands formed by many centuries of interaction between their population and the physical environment, primarily the river Loire itself.

Germany: Dresden Elbe Valley. The low meadows of this 18th and 19th century cultural landscape are crowned by the Pillnitz Palace and the center of Dresden with its numerous monuments and parks from the 16th to the 20th centuries. Some terraced slopes along the river are still used for viticulture. Pressures of development and construction have led the site to be included on the list of World Heritage in Danger.

Italy: Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park with the Archeological sites of Paestum and Velia, and the Certosa di Padula. The sanctuaries and settlements along three eastñwest mountain ridges portray the area's role as a major trade route, and for cultural and political interaction during the prehistoric and medieval periods. Remains of two cities from classical times, Paestum and Velia, are found there.

Italy: Costiera Amalfitana. The Amalfi coast is an area of great physical beauty and natural diversity. There are a number of towns such as Amalfi and Ravello with significant architectural and artistic works. The rural areas show how the inhabitants have adapted their use of the land to the diverse nature of the terrain, which ranges from terraced vineyards and orchards on the lower slopes to wide upland pastures.

Italy: Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands (Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto). The Ligurian coast between Cinque Terre and Portovenere is a cultural landscape of scenic and cultural value. The layout of the small towns and the shaping of the surrounding landscape, overcoming the disadvantages of a steep, uneven terrain, show the continuous history of human settlement in this region over the past millennium.

Italy: Val d'Orcia. The landscape of Val d'Orcia was re-drawn when it was integrated in the territory of the city-state in the 14th and 15th centuries to reflect an idealized model of good governance and to create an aesthetically pleasing picture. The landscape's distinctive features -- flat chalk plains out of which rise almost conical hills with fortified settlements on top -- inspired many artists, and exemplify well-managed Renaissance agricultural landscapes.

New Zealand: Tongariro National Park. The mountains at the heart of this park have cultural and religious significance for the Maori people and symbolize the spiritual links between this community and its environment. The park has active and extinct volcanoes, a diverse range of ecosystems and some spectacular landscapes.

Nigeria: Sukur Cultural Landscape. The Sukur Cultural Landscape, with the Palace of the Hidi (Chief) on a hill dominating the villages below, the terraced fields and their sacred symbols, and the extensive remains of a former flourishing iron industry, is a remarkably intact physical expression of a society and its spiritual and material culture.

Romania: Villages with Fortified Churches in Transylvania. The seven villages inscribed, founded by the Transylvanian Saxons, are characterized by a specific land-use system, settlement pattern and organization of the family farmstead that have been preserved since the late Middle Ages. They are dominated by their fortified churches, which illustrate building styles from the 13th to the 16th century.

Spain: Aranjuez Cultural Landscape. The Aranjuez cultural landscape illustrates relationships between nature and human activity, between watercourses and geometric landscape design, between the rural and the urban, between forests and palatial architecture.

Landscape design

China: Classical Gardens of Suzhou. Classical Chinese garden design, which seeks to recreate natural landscapes in miniature, is exemplified in the nine gardens in the historic city of Suzhou. Dating from the 11th-19th century, the gardens reflect the profound metaphysical importance of natural beauty in Chinese culture in their meticulous design.

China: Summer Palace, an Imperial Garden in Beijing. The Summer Palace is a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is harmoniously combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges.

Czech Republic: Gardens and Castle at KroměřÌû. This site is an exceptionally complete and well-preserved example of a European Baroque princely residence and its gardens.

Germany: Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wˆrlitz. This is an exceptional example of landscape design and planning of the Age of the Enlightenment, the 18th century.

Germany: Muskauer Park/Park Muzakowski. The park pioneered new approaches to landscape design and influenced the development of landscape architecture in Europe and America. Designed as a ëpainting with plantsí, it used local plants to enhance the inherent qualities of the existing landscape.

Italy: Botanical Garden (Orto Botanico), Padua. The world's first botanical garden was created in Padua in 1545. It still preserves its original layout ñ a circular central plot, symbolizing the world, surrounded by a ring of water. It continues to serve as a center for scientific research.

Italy: Villa d'Este, Tivoli. The Villa d'Este in Tivoli, with its palace and garden, is an illustration of Renaissance culture at its most refined. Its innovative design along with the architectural components in the garden (fountains, ornamental basins, etc.) make this a unique example of an Italian 16th-century garden. It was an early model for the development of European gardens.

Korea, Republic of: Changdeokgung Palace Complex. In the early 15th century, the Emperor T'aejong ordered the construction of a new palace at an auspicious site. The complex, consisting of a number of official and residential buildings set in a garden adapted to the uneven topography of the site, is an example of blending architecture harmoniously with the surrounding landscape.

Poland: Muskauer Park/Park Muzakowski. The park pioneered new approaches to landscape design and influenced the development of landscape architecture in Europe and America. Designed as a ëpainting with plantsí, it used local plants to enhance the inherent qualities of the existing landscape.

Sweden: SkogskyrkogÂrden. This Stockholm cemetery was created between 1917 and 1920. The design blends vegetation and architectural elements, taking advantage of irregularities in the site to create a landscape that is finely adapted to its function.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Blenheim Palace. Blenheim Palace, near Oxford, stands in a romantic park created by the famous landscape gardener 'Capability' Brown. It was presented by the English nation to John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough, in recognition of his victory in 1704 over French and Bavarian troops. Built between 1705 and 1722 and characterized by an eclectic style and a return to national roots, it is a perfect example of an 18th-century princely dwelling.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. This historic landscape garden illustrates significant periods of the art of gardens from the 18th to the 20th centuries. The gardens house botanic collections of conserved plants, living plants and documents. Since their creation in 1759, the gardens have contributed greatly to the study of plant diversity and economic botany.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Studley Royal Park including the ruins of Fountains Abbey. A striking landscape was created around the ruins of the Cistercian Fountains Abbey and Fountains Hall Castle, in Yorkshire. The 18th-century landscaping, gardens and canal, the 19th-century plantations and vistas, and the neo-Gothic castle of Studley Royal Park, make this an outstanding site.

Languages

Literature/Lore

Denmark: Kronborg Castle. The Royal castle of Kronborg at Helsing¯r (Elsinore) played a key role in the history of northern Europe in the 16th-18th centuries. Work began on the construction of this outstanding Renaissance castle in 1574, and its defenses were reinforced in the late 17th century. It is world-renowned as Elsinore, the setting of Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Germany: Classical Weimar. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries this small town witnessed a remarkable cultural flowering, attracting many writers and scholars, notably Goethe and Schiller.

Mathematics

Maya civilization

Guatemala: Archeological Park and Ruins of Quirigua. Quirigua was inhabited since the 2nd century A.D. Its ruins contain some outstanding 8th-century monuments and a series of carved stelae and sculpted calendars that are an essential source for the study of Mayan civilization.

Guatemala: Tikal National Park. In the heart of the jungle, surrounded by lush vegetation, lies one of the major sites of Mayan civilization, inhabited from the 6th century B.C. to the 10th century A.D. The ceremonial center contains superb temples and palaces, and public squares accessed by means of ramps.

Honduras: Maya Site of Cop·n. Discovered in 1570, the ruins of Cop·n, one of the most important sites of the Mayan civilization, were not excavated until the 19th century. The ruined citadel and imposing public squares reveal the three main stages of development before the city was abandoned in the early 10th century.

Mexico: Ancient Maya City of Calakmul, Campeche. Calakmul, an important Maya site set deep in the tropical forest of the Tierras Bajas of southern Mexico, played a key role in the history of this region for more than twelve centuries. Its imposing structures and its characteristic overall layout are remarkably well preserved and give a vivid picture of political and spiritual life in an ancient Maya capital.

Mexico: Pre-Hispanic City and National Park of Palenque. A prime example of a Mayan sanctuary of the classical period, Palenque was at its height between A.D. 500 and 700. The elegance and craftsmanship of the buildings, as well as the lightness of the sculpted reliefs with their Mayan mythological themes, attest to the creative genius of this civilization.

Medicine/Health

Middle Ages (Europe)

France: Provins, Town of Medieval Fairs. The fortified medieval town of Provins bears witness to early developments in the organization of international trading fairs and the wool industry.

Germany: Collegiate Church, Castle, and Old Town of Quedlinburg. Quedlinburg has been a prosperous trading town since the Middle Ages. The number and high quality of the timber-framed buildings make Quedlinburg an exceptional example of a medieval European town. The Collegiate Church of St Servatius is one of the masterpieces of Romanesque architecture.

Poland: Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork. This 13th-century fortified monastery is a particularly fine example of a medieval brick castle. It later fell into decay, but was meticulously restored in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Many of the conservation techniques now accepted as standard were evolved here. Following severe damage in the Second World War it was once again restored.

Poland: Cracow's Historic Center. The historic center of Cracow, the former capital of Poland, is situated at the foot of the Royal Wawel Castle. The 13th-century merchants' town has Europe's largest market square and numerous historical houses, palaces and churches with their magnificent interiors. There are also remnants of 14th-century fortifications, the medieval site of Kazimierz with its ancient synagogues in the southern part of town, Jagellonian University and the Gothic cathedral where the kings of Poland were buried.

Poland: Medieval Town of Toruń. Toruń owes its origins to the Teutonic Order, which built a castle there in the mid-13th century as a base for the conquest and evangelization of Prussia. It soon developed a commercial role as part of the Hanseatic League. Its many buildings from the 14th and 15th centuries include the house of Copernicus.

Portugal: Historic Center of Guimar„es. The historic town of Guimar„es is associated with the emergence of the Portuguese national identity in the 12th century. It is a well-preserved and authentic example of the evolution of a Medieval settlement into a modern town.

Serbia: Stari Ras and Sopoćani. On the outskirts of Stari Ras, the first capital of Serbia, this group of medieval monuments consists of fortresses, churches and monasteries. The monastery at Sopoćani is a reminder of the contacts between Western civilization and the Byzantine world.

Switzerland: Old City of Berne. Founded in the 12th century on a hill site surrounded by the Aare river, Berne developed over the centuries in line with a an exceptionally coherent planning concept. The buildings in the Old City, dating from a variety of periods, include 15th-century arcades and 16th-century fountains. Most of the medieval town was restored in the 18th century but it has retained its original character.

Migration

Mountains

Bulgaria: Pirin National Park. These limestone mountains, with glacial lakes, waterfalls, caves and pine forests, are home to many unique species. The unique landscapes are of great aesthetic value.

Music

Austria: Historic Center of the City of Salzburg. The city is known for its Gothic and Baroque art and architecture, as well as for being the home of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Native Americans

Canada: SGang Gwaay. Remains of houses, and carved mortuary and memorial poles commemorate the Haida people's art, way of life, and relationship to the land and sea.

United States: Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. Cahokia Mounds, near St. Louis, Missouri, is the largest pre-Columbian settlement north of Mexico. It was occupied primarily during the Mississippian period (800ñ1400), and includes some 120 mounds. It is a striking example of a complex chiefdom society, with many satellite mound centers and numerous outlying hamlets and villages. This agricultural society may have had a population of 10ñ20,000 at its peak between 1050 and 1150.

United States: Chaco Culture. For over 2,000 years, Pueblo peoples occupied a vast region of the south-western United States. Chaco Canyon, a major center of ancestral Pueblo culture between 850 and 1250, was a focus for ceremonials, trade and political activity for the prehistoric Four Corners area. Chaco is remarkable for its monumental public and ceremonial buildings and its distinctive architecture ñ it has an ancient urban ceremonial center that is unlike anything constructed before or since.

United States: Mesa Verde National Park. A great concentration of ancestral Pueblo Indian dwellings, built from the 6th to the 12th century, can be found on the Mesa Verde plateau in south-west Colorado at an altitude of more than 2,600 m. Some 4,400 sites have been recorded, including villages built on the Mesa top. There are also imposing cliff dwellings, built of stone and comprising more than 100 rooms.

United States: Pueblo de Taos. Situated in the valley of a small tributary of the Rio Grande, this adobe settlement ñ consisting of dwellings and ceremonial buildings ñ represents the culture of the Pueblo Indians of Arizona and New Mexico.

Natural disasters

Natural resources

Brazil: Historic Center of the Town of Diamantina. This colonial village set in the mountains recalls the exploits of diamond prospectors in the 18th century.

Brazil: Historic Town of Ouro Preto. The town was the focal point of Brazil's gold rush in the 18th century; its influence declined with the exhaustion of the mines in the 19th century.

Chile: Sewell Mining Town. The town was built in the early 20th century to house workers at what was the world's largest underground copper mine. Because the terrain was too steep for wheeled vehicles, the town was built around a central staircase that rose from the railway station.

Nomads

Orthodox Christianity

Macedonia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of: Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid Region. Situated on the shores of Lake Ohrid, the town of Ohrid is one of the oldest human settlements in Europe. Built mainly between the 7th and 19th centuries, it has the oldest Slav monastery (St Pantelejmon) and more than 800 Byzantine-style icons dating from the 11th to the end of the 14th century, one of the most important collection of icons in the world.

Russian Federation: Architectural Ensemble of the Trinity Sergius Lavra in Sergiev Posad. This working Orthodox monastery has military features that are typical of the 15th to the 18th century. The main church of the Lavra, the Cathedral of the Assumption, contains the tomb of Boris Godunov. Among the treasures of the Lavra is the famous icon, The Trinity, by Andrei Rublev.

Russian Federation: Cultural and Historic Ensemble of the Solovetsky Islands. The Solovetsky archipelago comprises six islands in the White Sea. They have been inhabited since the 5th century B.C. and traces of human presence from the 5th millennium B.C. can be found there. It has been the site of monastic activity since the 15th century, and there are several churches dating from the 16th to the 19th century.

Russian Federation: Historic Monuments of Novgorod and Surroundings. Situated on the ancient trade route between Central Asia and northern Europe, Novgorod was Russia's first capital in the 9th century. Surrounded by churches and monasteries, it was a center for Orthodox spirituality as well as Russian architecture. Its medieval monuments and the 14th-century frescoes of Theophanes the Greek illustrate the development of its remarkable architecture and cultural creativity.

Ukraine: Kiev: Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings, Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Designed to rival Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, Kiev's Saint-Sophia Cathedral symbolizes the 'new Constantinople', capital of the Christian principality of Kiev, which was created in the 11th century in a region evangelized after the baptism of St Vladimir in 988. The spiritual and intellectual influence of Kiev-Pechersk Lavra contributed to the spread of Orthodox thought and the Orthodox faith in the Russian world from the 17th to the 19th century.

Ottoman Empire

Albania: Museum-City of Gjirokastra: A rare example of a well-preserved Ottoman town, with a 13th century citadel and characteristic "kule" (tower houses).

Pagan cultures

Palaces

Austria: Palace and Gardens of Schˆnbrunn. This was the residence of the Hapsburg Emperors from the 18th century until 1918. It has outstanding examples of Baroque decorative art.

Serbia: Gamzigrad-Romuliana, Palace of Galerius. This Late Roman fortified palace compound was commissioned by Emperor Caius Valerius Galerius Maximianus, in the late 3rd and early 4th century. It was known as Felix Romuliana, named after the Emperor's mother. The site consists of fortifications, a palace, basilicas, temples, hot baths, memorial complex, and a tetrapylon.

Peace

Japan: Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome). This dome was the only structure left standing after the explosion of the atomic bomb on August 6, 1945. It expresses the hope for world peace and the elimination of nuclear weapons.

Plateaus

Pollution

Population

Pre-colonial civilizations (Africa)

Gambia: Stone Circles of Senegambia. These four large groups of stone circles date from between 3rd century BC and 16th century AD. Together with their associated burial mounds, they present a vast sacred landscape that reflects a prosperous and highly organized society. The stones were quarried with iron tools and skillfully shaped into almost identical seven-ton pillars, on average about two meters high.

Ghana: Asante Traditional Buildings. These are the last material remains of the great Asante civilization, which reached its high point in the 18th century. Since the dwellings are made of earth, wood and straw, they are vulnerable to the onslaught of time and weather.

Madagascar: Royal Hill of Ambohimanga. The Royal Hill of Ambohimanga consists of a royal city and burial site, and an ensemble of sacred places. It is associated with strong feelings of national identity, and has maintained its spiritual and sacred character both in ritual practice and the popular imagination for the past 500 years. It remains a place of worship to which pilgrims come from Madagascar and elsewhere.

Malawi: Chongoni Rock Art Area. This area has the richest concentration of rock art in Central Africa. They reflect the comparatively scarce tradition of farmer rock art, as well as paintings by BaTwa hunter-gatherers who inhabited the area from the Late Stone Age. The symbols in the rock art, which are strongly associated with women, still have cultural relevance amongst the Chewa, and the sites are actively associated with ceremonies and rituals.

Nigeria: Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove. Regarded as the abode of the goddess of fertility Osun, one of the pantheon of Yoruba gods, the landscape of the grove and its meandering river is dotted with sanctuaries and shrines, sculptures and art works in honour of Osun and other Yoruba deities. The Grove, which is now seen as a symbol of identity for all Yoruba people, is probably the last sacred grove in Yoruba culture. It testifies to the once widespread practice of establishing sacred groves outside all settlements.

Senegal: Stone Circles of Senegambia. These four large groups of stone circles date from between 3rd century BC and 16th century AD. Together with their associated burial mounds, they present a vast sacred landscape that reflects a prosperous and highly organized society. The stones were quarried with iron tools and skillfully shaped into almost identical seven-ton pillars, on average about two meters high.

Tanzania, United Republic of: Kondoa Rock Art Sites. On the eastern slopes of the Masai escarpment bordering the Great Rift Valley are natural rock shelters, overhanging slabs of sedimentary rocks fragmented by rift faults, whose vertical planes have been used for rock paintings over at least two millennia. The spectacular collection of images provide a unique testimony to the changing socio-economic base of the area from hunter-gatherer to agro-pastoralist societies, and the beliefs and ideas associated with them. Some of the shelters are still considered to have ritual associations with the people who live nearby reflecting their beliefs, rituals and cosmological traditions.

Zimbabwe: Matobo Hills. The area has many distinctive rock landforms. The large boulders provide natural shelters and have been associated with human occupation from the early Stone Age right through to early historical times, and intermittently since. They also feature an outstanding collection of rock paintings. The local community still uses the shrines and sacred places of the Matobo Hills.

Pre-Hispanic civilizations (the Americas) (See also Aztec Civilization, Inca Civilization, Maya Civilization)

Bolivia: Fuerte de Samaipata. The site includes a hill with many carvings and a huge sculpted rock, believed to be the ceremonial and religious center of this pre-Hispanic settlement.

Bolivia: Tiwanaku: Spiritual and Political Center of the Tiwanaku Culture. The monumental remains illustrate the importance of Tiwanaku, the capital city of a powerful empire in the southern Andes, which reach its height between 500 and 900 A.D.

Colombia: National Archeological Park of Tierradentro. Several monumental statues of human figures can be seen in the park, which also contains many hypogea dating from the 6th to the 10th century. These huge underground tombs are decorated with motifs of the internal decor of homes of the period. They reveal the social complexity and cultural wealth of a pre-Hispanic society in the northern Andes.

Colombia: San Agust Ìn Archeological Park. The largest group of religious monuments and megalithic sculptures in South America stands in a wild, spectacular landscape. Gods and mythical animals are skillfully represented in styles ranging from abstract to realist. These works of art display the creativity and imagination of a northern Andean culture that flourished from the 1st to the 8th century.

El Salvador: Joya de Cerén. This site was a pre-Hispanic farming community that was buried under a volcanic eruption c. A.D. 600. The well-preserved remains provide an insight into the daily lives of the Central American populations who worked the land at that time.

Mexico: Archeological Zone of Paquimé, Casas Grandes. Paquimé, Casas Grandes which reached its apogee in the 14th and 15th centuries, played a key role in trade and cultural contacts between the Pueblo culture of the south-western United States and northern Mexico and the more advanced civilizations of Mesoamerica. The extensive remains are clear evidence of a culture which was perfectly adapted to its physical and economic environment, but which suddenly vanished at the time of the Spanish Conquest.

Mexico: Rock Paintings of the Sierra de San Francisco. From 100 B.C. to A.D. 1300, the Sierra de San Francisco was home to a people who have now disappeared but who left one of the most outstanding collections of rock paintings in the world. They are remarkably well-preserved because of the dry climate and the inaccessibility of the site. Showing human figures and many animal species and illustrating the relationship between humans and their environment, the paintings reveal a highly sophisticated culture.

Peru: Chavin (Archaeological Site). Chavin gave its name to the culture that developed between 1500 and 300 B.C. in this high valley of the Peruvian Andes. This former place of worship is one of the earliest and best-known pre-Columbian sites. Its appearance is striking, with the complex of terraces and squares, surrounded by structures of dressed stone, and the mainly zoomorphic ornamentation.

Prehistoric peoples

Azerbaijan: Gobustan Rock Art Cultural Landscape. The site has an outstanding collection of some 6,000 rock engravings bearing testimony to 4000 years of rock art. The site also features the remains of settlements and burials, all reflecting an intensive human settlement by dwellers who lived in the area during the wet period that followed the last ice age, from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Middle Ages.

Cyprus: Choirokoitia. The Neolithic settlement of Choirokoitia, occupied from the 7th to the 4th millennium B.C., is one of the most important prehistoric sites in the eastern Mediterranean. Finds from its excavations illustrate the evolution of human society in this region.

India: Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka. Within massive sandstone outcrops n the foothills of the Vindhyan Mountains, are five clusters of natural rock shelters with paintings that appear to date from the Mesolithic Period right through to the historical period. The cultural traditions of the inhabitants of the twenty-one villages adjacent to the site bear a strong resemblance to those represented in the rock paintings.

Ireland: Archaeological Ensemble of the Bend of the Boyne. The three main prehistoric sites of the Br˙ na BÛinne Complex, Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, are located on the bank of the River Boyne. This is Europe's largest and most important concentration of prehistoric megalithic art. The monuments there had social, economic, religious and funerary functions.

Korea, Republic of: Gochang, Hwasun, and Ganghwa Dolmen Sites. The prehistoric cemeteries at Gochang, Hwasun, and Ganghwa contain many hundreds of examples of dolmens - tombs from the 1st millennium B.C. constructed of large stone slabs. They form part of the Megalithic culture, found in many parts of the world, but nowhere in such a concentrated form.

Malta: Hal Saflieni Hypogeum. The Hypogeum is an enormous subterranean structure excavated c. 2500 B.C., using cyclopean rigging to lift huge blocks of coralline limestone. Perhaps originally a sanctuary, it became a necropolis in prehistoric times.

Namibia: Twyfelfontein or /Ui-//aes. The site has one of the largest concentrations of petroglyphs (rock engravings) in Africa, representing rhinoceroses, elephants, ostriches, and giraffes, as well as drawings of human and animal footprints. The property also includes six painted rock shelters with motifs of human figures in red ochre; stone artefacts, ostrich eggshell beads, and schist pendants found here date from the Late Stone Age. Some images are believed to illustrate the ritual transformation of humans into animals -- for example, the ëLion Man', a lion with five toes on each paw. The imagery suggests the rock art was linked to the belief system and ritual practices of hunter-gatherers who dominated the area until the arrival of pastoralists around 1000 AD.

Norway: Rock Art of Alta. This group of petroglyphs in the Alta Fjord, near the Arctic Circle, bears the traces of a settlement dating from c. 4200 to 500 B.C. They illustrate the environment and human activities on the fringes of the Far North in prehistoric times.

Oman: Archaeological Sites of Bat, Al-Khutm and Al-Ayn. The protohistoric site of Bat, together with its neighboring sites, forms the most complete collection of settlements and necropolises from the 3rd millennium B.C. in the world.

Sweden: Rock Carvings in Tanum. The rock carvings in Tanum are a unique artistic achievement not only for their rich and varied motifs (depictions of humans and animals, weapons, boats and other subjects) but also for their cultural and chronological unity. They reveal the life and beliefs of people in Europe during the Bronze Age and are remarkable for their large numbers and outstanding quality.

Thailand: Ban Chiang Archaeological Site. Ban Chiang is considered the most important prehistoric settlement so far discovered in South-East Asia. It marks an important stage in human cultural, social and technological evolution. The site presents the earliest evidence of farming in the region and of the manufacture and use of metals.

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Heart of Neolithic Orkney. The group of Neolithic monuments on Orkney consists of a large chambered tomb (Maes Howe), two ceremonial stone circles (the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar) and a settlement (Skara Brae), together with a number of unexcavated burial, ceremonial and settlement sites. The group constitutes a major prehistoric cultural landscape which gives a graphic depiction of life in this remote archipelago in the far north of Scotland some 5,000 years ago.

Protestant Reformation

Germany: Wartburg Castle. It was during his exile at Wartburg Castle that Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German.

Rainforests

Argentina: Iguazu National Park. This park, with its spectacular waterfall, is home to many species of rainforest plants, and animals such as tapirs, giant anteaters, ocelots and jaguars.

Australia: Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves. This site, along Australia's Great Escarpment, has shield volcanic craters and a number of rare and threatened rainforest species.

Australia: Wet Tropics of Queensland. This tropical rainforest has a variety of plants, marsupials and singing birds, including many rare and endangered species.

Brazil: Discovery Coast Atlantic Forest Reserves. This coastal rainforest is among the world's richest in terms of biodiversity, and reveals a pattern of evolution that is important for conservation.

Honduras: RÌo Pl·tano Biosphere Reserve. The reserve is one of the few remains of a tropical rainforest in Central America and has an abundant and varied plant and wildlife. In its mountainous landscape, over 2,000 indigenous people have preserved their traditional way of life. The site has suffered threats from logging of precious tree species, uncontrolled commercial hunting of animals, and pressures from farmers and ranchers to use Reserve lands.

Refugees

Religion, other

Japan: Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu. Five hundred years of Ryukyuan history (12th-17th century) are represented by this group of sites and monuments. The ruins of the castles, on imposing elevated sites, are evidence of the social structure of that period, while the sacred sites provide mute testimony to the rare survival of an ancient form of religion into the modern age.

Renaissance (Europe)

Italy: Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta. Ferrara became an intellectual and artistic center during the Italian Renaissance in the 15th and 16th centuries. Here, Piero della Francesca, Jacopo Bellini and Andrea Mantegna decorated the palaces of the House of Este. The humanist concept of the 'ideal city' came to life here in the neighbourhoods built from 1492 onwards by Biagio Rossetti according to the new principles of perspective. This marked the birth of modern town planning.

Italy: Historic Center of the City of Pienza. In Pienza, Renaissance town-planning concepts were first put into practice after Pope Pius II decided, in 1459, to transform the look of his birthplace. He chose the architect Bernardo Rossellino to apply a new vision of urban space; this was realized in the superb square known as Piazza Pio II and the buildings around it.

Italy: Historic Center of Florence. Built on the site of an Etruscan settlement, Florence, the symbol of the Renaissance, rose to economic and cultural pre-eminence under the Medici in the 15th and 16th centuries. Its 600 years of extraordinary artistic activity can be seen in the 13th-century cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore), the Church of Santa Croce, the Uffizi and the Pitti Palace, the work of great masters such as Giotto, Brunelleschi, Botticelli and Michelangelo.

Italy: Historic Center of Urbino. The small hill town of Urbino experienced a great cultural flowering in the 15th century, attracting artists and scholars from all over Italy and beyond, and influencing cultural developments elsewhere in Europe. Owing to its economic and cultural stagnation from the 16th century onwards, it has preserved its Renaissance appearance to a remarkable extent.

Poland: Old City of Zamość. Zamosc was founded in the 16th century on the trade route linking western and northern Europe with the Black Sea. Modeled on Italian theories of the 'ideal city', Zamość is a perfect example of a late-16th-century Renaissance town. It has retained its original layout and fortifications and a large number of buildings that combine Italian and central European architectural traditions.

Rivers

Canada: Wood Buffalo National Park. The park has the world's largest inland delta, located at the mouth of the Peace and Athabasca Rivers. It is home to North America's largest population of buffalo, and is the natural nesting place of the whooping crane.

France: Paris, Banks of the Seine. From the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower, from the Place de la Concorde to the Grand and Petit Palais, the evolution of Paris and its history can be seen from the River Seine. The Cathedral of Notre-Dame and the Sainte Chapelle are architectural masterpieces while Haussmann's wide squares and boulevards influenced late 19th- and 20th-century town planning the world over.

Rock carvings/Rock paintings (see also Cave art)

Botswana: Tsodilo. With one of the highest concentrations of rock art in the world, Tsodilo provides a unique record of human activities and environmental change. Local communities respect Tsodilo as a place of worship inhabited by ancestral spirits.

Bulgaria: Madara Rider. This carving on a 100 meter high cliff represents a knight triumphing over a lion. Madara was the principal sacred place of the First Bulgarian Empire, before Bulgaria's conversion to Christianity.

India: Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka. Within massive sandstone outcrops in the foothills of the Vindhyan Mountains, are five clusters of natural rock shelters with paintings that appear to date from the Mesolithic Period right through to the historical period. The cultural traditions of the inhabitants of the twenty-one villages adjacent to the site bear a strong resemblance to those represented in the rock paintings.

Italy: Rock Drawings in Valcamonica. This site has one of the world's greatest collections of prehistoric petroglyphs ñ more than 140,000 symbols and figures carved in the rock over a period of 8,000 years, with themes of agriculture, navigation, war and magic.

Kazakhstan: Petroglyphs within the Archaeological Landscape of Tamgaly. This collection of some 5,000 petroglyphs (rock carvings) dates from the second half of the second millennium BC to the beginning of the 20th century. They are testimonies to the husbandry, social organization and rituals of pastoral peoples. The huge number of ancient burial grounds include stone enclosures with boxes and cists (middle and late Bronze Age), and mounds (kurgans) of stone and earth built above tombs (early Iron Age to the present). The central canyon has a dense concentration of engravings and what are believed to be altars, suggesting that these places were used for sacrificial offerings.

Portugal: Prehistoric Rock-Art Sites in the Côa Valley. This exceptional concentration of rock carvings from the Upper Palaeolithic (22,000ñ10,000 B.C.) is the most outstanding example of early human artistic activity in this form anywhere in the world.

Spain: Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. The late prehistoric rock-art sites of the Mediterranean seaboard of the Iberian peninsula form an exceptionally large group. Here the way of life during a critical phase of human development is vividly and graphically depicted in paintings whose style and subject matter are unique.

Roman Empire

Algeria: Djémila. An example of Roman town planning adapted to a mountain location, with a forum, temples, basilicas, triumphal arches, and houses.

Algeria: Timgad. An example of Roman town planning, with an orthogonal design and two perpendicular routes running through the city.

France: Historic Site of Lyons. Lyons was founded by the Romans in the 1st century B.C. as the capital of the Three Gauls and has continued to play a major role in Europe's political, cultural and economic development ever since.

France: Roman Theater and its Surroundings and the "Triumphal Arch" of Orange. The ancient theatre of Orange is one of the best preserved of all the great Roman theatres. Built between A.D. 10 and 25, the Roman arch is one of the most beautiful surviving examples of a provincial triumphal arch from the reign of Augustus. It is decorated with low reliefs commemorating the establishment of the Pax Romana.

Germany: Frontiers of the Roman Empire. The site consists of sections of the border line of the Roman Empire at its greatest extent in the 2nd century A.D., part of what is known as the ìRoman Limesî, which include remains of ramparts, walls and ditches, watchtowers, forts, and civilian settlements. All together, the Limes stretched over 5,000 km. from the Atlantic coast of northern Britain, through Europe to the Black Sea, and from there to the Red Sea and across North Africa to the Atlantic coast.

Germany: Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St. Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier. Trier was a Roman colony from the 1st century A.D. and then a great trading center beginning in the next century. It became one of the capitals of the Tetrarchy at the end of the 3rd century, when it was known as the 'second Rome'.

Italy: Villa Adriana (Tivoli). The Villa Adriana (at Tivoli, near Rome) is an exceptional complex of classical buildings created in the 2nd century A.D. by the Roman emperor Hadrian. It combines the best elements of the architectural heritage of Egypt, Greece and Rome in the form of an 'ideal city'.

Lebanon: Tyre. According to legend, purple dye was invented in Tyre. This great Phoenician city ruled the seas and founded prosperous colonies such as Cadiz and Carthage, but its historical role declined at the end of the Crusades. There are important archaeological remains, mainly from Roman times.

Libyan Arab Jamahiriya: Archaeological Site of Leptis Magna. Leptis Magna was enlarged and embellished by Septimius Severus, who was born there and later became emperor. It was one of the most beautiful cities of the Roman Empire, with its imposing public monuments, harbor, market-place, storehouses, shops and residential districts.

Libyan Arab Jamahiriya: Archaeological Site of Sabratha. A Phoenician trading-post that served as an outlet for African products, Sabratha was part of the short-lived Numidian Kingdom of Massinissa before being Romanized and rebuilt in the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D.

Morocco: Archaeological Site of Volubilis. Founded in the 3rd century B.C., this town became an important outpost of the Roman Empire. Extensive remains of many fine buildings survive in the archaeological site, located in a fertile agricultural area. Volubilis was later briefly to become the capital of Idris I, founder of the Idrisid dynasty, who is buried at nearby Moulay Idris.

Spain: Archaeological Ensemble of Mérida. Mérida was founded in 25 B.C. at the end of the Spanish Campaign. The well-preserved remains of the old city include a large bridge over the Guadiana, an amphitheatre, a theatre, a vast circus and an exceptional water-supply system.

Spain: Archaeological Ensemble of T·rraco. T·rraco (modern-day Tarragona) was a major administrative and mercantile city in Roman Spain and the center of the Imperial cult for all the Iberian provinces.

Spain: Old Town of Segovia and its Aqueduct. The Roman aqueduct of Segovia, probably built c. A.D. 50, is remarkably well preserved. This impressive construction, with its two tiers of arches, forms part of the setting of the magnificent historic city of Segovia. Other important monuments include the Alc·zar, begun around the 11th century, and the 16th-century Gothic cathedral.

Spain: Roman Walls of Lugo. The walls of Lugo were built in the later part of the 3rd century to defend the Roman town of Lucus. The entire circuit survives intact and is the finest example of late Roman fortifications in western Europe.

Tunisia: Amphitheater of El Jem. The impressive ruins of the largest colosseum in North Africa, a huge amphitheater which could hold up to 35,000 spectators, are found in the small village of El Jem. This 3rd-century monument illustrates the grandeur and extent of Imperial Rome.

Tunisia: Dougga/Thugga. Before the Roman annexation of Numidia, the town of Thugga was the capital of an important Libyco-Punic state. It flourished under Roman and Byzantine rule, but declined in the Islamic period. The impressive ruins that are visible today give some idea of the resources of a small Roman town on the fringes of the empire.

Science

Settlement, human

Sweden: Church Village of Gammelstad, LuleÂ. Gammelstad is the best-preserved example of a 'church village', a unique kind of village formerly found throughout northern Scandinavia. The 424 wooden houses, huddled round the early 15th-century stone church, were used only on Sundays and at religious festivals to house worshippers from the surrounding countryside who could not return home the same day because of the distance and difficult traveling conditions.

Shinto religion

Japan: Itsukushima Shinto Shrine. The island of Itsukushima, in the Seto inland sea, has been a holy place of Shintoism since the 6th century. The present shrine dates from the 13th century. The shrine plays on the contrasts in color and form between mountains and sea and illustrates the Japanese concept of scenic beauty, which combines nature and human creativity.

Slavery/Slave trade

Brazil: Historic Center of Salvador de Bahia. As the first capital of Brazil, from 1549 to 1763, Salvador de Bahia blended European, African and Amerindian cultures. From 1558, it was the first slave market in the New World, with slaves used to work on the sugar plantations.

Senegal: Island of Gorée. From the 15th to the 19^th century, the Island of Gorée was the largest slave trading center on the African coast.

United States: Independence Hall. While universal principles of freedom and democracy were articulated here in the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution, the building was also used for Fugitive Slave Act trials.

Sports

Sustainable development/Sustainability

Taoism

Technology

Austria: Semmering Railway. The Semmering Railway, built in the mid-1800's, is an incredible feat of civil engineering that opened areas of great natural beauty to residential and recreational use. Its tunnels and viaducts are still in use today.

Belgium: The Four Lifts on the Canal du Centre and their Environs, La LouviËre and Le Roeulx (Hainault). These four hydraulic boat lifts, built in the 19th century, are not only high quality industrial monuments -- they are also still working.

Belgium: Neolithic Flint Mines at Spiennes (Mons). These are the largest and earliest concentrations of mines in Europe, remarkable for the different technologies used for extraction.

Bolivia: City of PotosÌ. In the 16th century, this area was the world's largest industrial complex. The extraction of silver ore relied on a series of hydraulic mills.

China: Old Town of Lijiang. The Old Town of Lijiang, which is perfectly adapted to the uneven topography of this key commercial and strategic site, has retained a historic townscape of high quality and authenticity. Lijiang also possesses an ancient water-supply system of great complexity and ingenuity that still functions effectively today.

India: Mountain Railways of India. Still operational today, these hill passenger railways crossing regions of great beauty are outstanding examples of bold, ingenious engineering solutions for the problem of establishing an effective rail link through a rugged, mountainous terrain. They were significant in facilitating population movement and the social-economic development in the British colonial era.

Netherlands: Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout. The technology for draining land for agriculture and settlement in the Netherlands began in the Middle Ages and continues to the present day. The Kinderdijk-Elshout site includes all the typical features associated with this technology ñ dykes, reservoirs, pumping stations, administrative buildings and a series of beautifully preserved windmills.

Tombs

Democratic People's Republic of Korea: Complex of Koguryo Tombs. The site dates from the later period of the Koguryo Kingdom, which spanned parts of China and the Korean peninsula between the 3rd century BC and 7th century AD. The tombs, probably for members of the royal family, have beautiful wall paintings which are almost the only remains of this culture.

India: Humayun's Tomb, Delhi. This tomb, built in 1570, is of particular cultural significance as it was the first garden-tomb on the Indian subcontinent. It inspired several major architectural innovations, culminating in the construction of the Taj Mahal.

Italy: Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tarquinia. These two large Etruscan cemeteries reflect different types of burial practices from the 9th to the 1st century BC. Some of the tombs are monumental, cut in rock and topped by impressive tumuli (burial mounds). Many feature carvings on their walls, others have wall paintings of outstanding quality.

Pakistan: Historical Monuments of Thatta. The capital of three dynasties and later ruled by the Mughal emperors of Delhi, Thatta was constantly embellished from the 14th to the 18th century. The city remains and its necropolis provide a unique view of civilization in Sind.

Tourism

Trade

France: Provins, Town of Medieval Fairs. The fortified medieval town of Provins bears witness to early developments in the organization of international trading fairs and the wool industry.

Israel: Incense route - Desert Cities in the Negev. The four Nabatean towns of Haluza, Mamshit, Avdat and Shivta, along with associated fortresses and agricultural landscapes in the Negev Desert, are spread along routes linking them to the Mediterranean end of the Incense and Spice route. Together they reflect the hugely profitable trade in frankincense and myrrh from south Arabia to the Mediterranean, which flourished from the 3rd century B.C. until to 2nd century A.D.

Oman: Land of Frankincense. The frankincense trees of Wadi Dawkah and the remains of the caravan oasis of Shisr/Wubar and the affiliated ports of Khor Rori and Al-Balid vividly illustrate the trade in frankincense that flourished in this region during ancient and medieval times.

Tanzania, United Republic of: Ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani and Ruins of Songo Mnara. The remains of these two great East African ports are on two small islands near the coast. From the 13th to the 16th century, the merchants of Kilwa dealt in gold, silver, pearls, perfumes, Arabian crockery, Persian earthenware and Chinese porcelain; much of the trade in the Indian Ocean thus passed through their hands. Deterioration has led to the site being placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

Turkmenistan: State Historical and Cultural Park "Ancient Merv". Merv is the oldest and best-preserved of the oasis-cities along the Silk Route in Central Asia. The remains in this vast oasis span 4,000 years of human history. A number of monuments are still visible, particularly from the last two millennia.

Viet Nam: Hoi An Ancient Town. The site is a well-preserved example of a South-East Asian trading port dating from the 15th to the 19th century. Its buildings and its street plan reflect both indigenous and foreign influences.

Zimbabwe: Khami Ruins National Monument. Khami, which developed after the capital of Great Zimbabwe had been abandoned in the mid-16th century, is of great archaeological interest. The discovery of objects from Europe and China shows that Khami was a major center for trade over a long period of time.

Transportation

United States history

Urban/Town planning (see also Forts/Fortified cities)

Algeria: Djémila. An example of Roman town planning adapted to a mountain location, with a forum, temples, basilicas, triumphal arches, and houses.

Algeria: M'Zab Valley. Created in the 10th century, these five fortified cities a perfectly adapted to the environment, and are designed for community living while respecting the structure of the family. It is a source of inspiration for today's urban planners.

Algeria: Timgad. An example of Roman town planning, with an orthogonal design and two perpendicular routes running through the city.

Brazil: Historic Center of S„o LuÌs. The late 17th center of this town, founded by the French and occupied by the Dutch before coming under Portuguese rule, has preserved the original rectangular street plan in its entirety.

Brazil: Historic Center of the Town of Olinda. Founded in the 16th century by the Portuguese, the town's history is linked to the sugar cane industry. Rebuilt after being looted by the Dutch in the 18th century, the town is a harmonious balance between churches, gardens, convents, chapels and other buildings.

China: Ancient Villages in Southern Anhui -- Xidi and Hongcun. These two traditional villages preserve the appearance of non-urban settlements of a type that largely disappeared or was transformed during the last century in China. Their street plan, their architecture and decoration, and the integration of houses with comprehensive water systems are unique.

Cuba: Urban Historic Center of Cienfuegos. This colonial town was founded in 1819 in the Spanish territory but was settled by immigrants of French origin. It became a trading place for sugar cane, tobacco and coffee. Cienfuegos an outstanding example of an architectural ensemble representing the new ideas of modernity, hygiene and order in urban planning as developed in Latin America from the 19th century.

Ecuador: Historic Center of Santa Ana de los RÌos de Cuenca. This colonial town was founded in 1557 on the rigorous planning guidelines issued 30 years earlier by the Spanish king Charles V. It still observes the formal orthogonal town plan that it has respected for 400 years.

France: Le Havre, the City Rebuilt by Auguste Perret. The city of Le Havre, on the English Channel in Normandy, was severely bombed during the Second World War. The destroyed area was rebuilt according to the plan of a team headed by Auguste Perret, from 1945 to 1964. It combines the earlier pattern of the town with the new ideas of town planning and construction technology. It is a post-war example of urban planning and architecture based on the use of prefabrication, a modular grid, and the innovative use of concrete.

France: Strasbourg - Grand Óle. Surrounded by two arms of the River Ill, the Grande Ile (Big Island) is the historic centre of the Alsatian capital. The cathedral, the four ancient churches and the Palais Rohan ñ former residence of the prince-bishops - form a district that is characteristic of a medieval town and illustrates Strasbourg's evolution from the 15th to the 18th century.

Italy: Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta. Ferrara became an intellectual and artistic center during the Italian Renaissance in the 15th and 16th centuries. Here, Piero della Francesca, Jacopo Bellini and Andrea Mantegna decorated the palaces of the House of Este. The humanist concept of the 'ideal city' came to life here in the neighborhoods built from 1492 onwards by Biagio Rossetti according to the new principles of perspective. This marked the birth of modern town planning.

Lebanon: Anjar. The city of Anjar was founded by Caliph Walid I at the beginning of the 8th century. The ruins reveal a very regular layout, reminiscent of the palace-cities of ancient times, and are a unique testimony to city planning under the Umayyads.

Spain: Renaissance Monumental Ensembles of ⁄beda and Baeza. The urban morphology of the two small cities of ⁄beda and Baeza in southern Spain dates back to the Moorish 9th century and to the Reconquista in the 13th century. An important development took place in the 16th century, when the cities were subject to renovation along the lines of the emerging Renaissance.

Spain: San CristÛbal de La Laguna. Located in the Canary Islands, the city has two nuclei: the original, unplanned Upper Town; and the Lower Town, the first ideal 'city-territory' laid out according to philosophical principles.

Sweden: Naval Port of Karlskrona. Karlskrona is an outstanding example of a late-17th-century European planned naval city. The original plan and many of the buildings have survived intact, along with installations that illustrate its subsequent development up to the present day.

Urbanization

Vikings

Canada: L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site. The remains of wood-framed peat-turf buildings are evidence of an 11th century Viking settlement, the first European presence in North America.

Volcanoes

Australia: Heard and McDonald Islands. These are the only volcanically active sub-Antarctic islands, showing glacial and geomorphic processes. They also have pristine island ecosystems, without alien species and human impact.

Dominica: Morne Trois Pitons National Park. This national park is named for the 1,342-m-high volcano known as Morne Trois Pitons. It has 50 fumaroles, hot springs, three freshwater lakes, a 'boiling lake' and five volcanoes, along with the richest biodiversity in the Lesser Antilles.

Italy: Isole Eolie (Aeolian Islands). The Aeolian Islands provide an outstanding record of volcanic island-building and destruction, and ongoing volcanic phenomena. The islands have provided the science of vulcanology with examples of two types of eruption (Vulcanian and Strombolian) and thus have featured prominently in the education of geologists for more than 200 years.

War/Armed conflict

Waterfalls

Argentina: Iguazu National Park. A semicircular waterfall, 80 meters high and 2700 meters in diameter, is at the heart of this park.

Zambia: Mosi-oa-Tunya/Victoria Falls. These are among the most spectacular waterfalls in the world. The Zambezi river, which is more than 2 km. wide at this point, plunges down a series of basalt gorges and raises an iridescent mist that can be seen more than 20 km. away.

Zimbabwe: Mosi-oa-Tunya/Victoria Falls. These are among the most spectacular waterfalls in the world. The Zambezi river, which is more than 2 km. wide at this point, plunges down a series of basalt gorges and raises an iridescent mist that can be seen more than 20 km. away.

Womenís issues

World War I

World War II

Poland: Historic Center of Warsaw. During the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944, more than 85% of Warsaw's historic center was destroyed by Nazi troops. After the war, a five-year reconstruction campaign by its citizens resulted in today's meticulous restoration of the Old Town, with its churches, palaces and market-place.

Zoroastrianism

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