New UNESCO Sites

When a landmark has a particular cultural, historical, geographical or scientific significance, it’s worth preserving for future generations to appreciate — thus the creation of the UNESCO organization in 1945.

These worthy landmarks are selected based on their importance to the collective interests of humanity and protected by the United Nations. Italy is the home to the greatest number of World Heritage Sites with 53, followed by China, Spain, France, Germany and India.

During the 41^st session of the World Heritage Committee, held in Krakow July 2–12, 21 new UNESCO World Heritage sites were added, bringing the total number to 1,073: 832 cultural, 206 natural and 35 mixed properties.

The 21 new properties, by country, are:

Angola

• Mbanza Kongo, 14^th-19^th-century vestiges of the capital of the former Kingdom of Kongo

Argentina
• The glacial Los Alerces National Park in the northern Patagonian Andes

Brazil
• The Valongo Wharf archaeological site in the former harbor area of central Rio de Janeiro

Cambodia
• The Sambor Prei Kuk temple site, identified as Ishanapura, the capital of the Chenla Empire of the late sixth and early seventh centuries

China
• Qinghai Hoh Xil, located in the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, that, at 14,764 feet above sea level, is the largest and highest plateau in the world
• Kulangsu, an island settlement dating back to 1903

Croatia, Italy, Montenegro
• Venetian Works of Defense, built between the 16th and 17th centuries, consisting of various fortifications, spanning more than 620 miles between the Lombard region of Italy and the eastern Adriatic Coast

Denmark
• Kujataa, a sub-Arctic farming landscape in the southern region of Greenland, where Norse hunters-gatherers arrived from Iceland in the 10^th century, representing the earliest introduction of farming to the Arctic and the Norse expansion of settlement beyond Europe

Eritrea
• Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, known for its well-preserved colonial Italian modernist architecture

France
• Taputapuatea on Raiatea Island at the center of the Polynesian triangle is the last part of the globe settled by humans and represents 1,000 years of mā’ohi civilization

Germany
• Swabian Jura, one of the areas where modern humans first arrived during the last ice age in Europe 43,000 years ago, includes six caves containing items dating from 43,000 to 33,000 years ago

India
• The historic, walled city of Ahmadabad, founded by Sultan Ahmad Shah in the 15^th century and located on the Sabarmati River

Iran
• Yazd, a historical city known for its Persian architecture, Zoroastrian fire temples and its unique qanat underground water system

Japan
• The sacred island of Okinoshima, including archaeological sites providing a chronological record of the evolution of rituals performed there from the fourth to the ninth centuries

Mongolia/Russia
• The landscapes of Dauria, an example of the Daurian Steppe eco-region, extending from eastern Mongolia into Russian Siberia and northeastern China, including grassland, forest, lakes and wetlands that serve as habitats for rare species of fauna

Palestine
• Hebron/Al Khalil’s old town, dating to the Mamluk period 1250–1517

Poland
• Tarnowskie Gory Lead-Silver-Zinc Mine and its underground water management system, a mining site located in southern Poland dating to the 19^th century

Russia
• The Assumption Cathedral and Monastery of the island town of Sviyazhsk, situated at the confluence of the Volga, the Sviyaga and the Shchuka rivers, founded by Ivan the Terrible in 1551

South Africa
• Khomani Cultural Landscape, located at the border with Botswana and Namibia, is a large expanse of sand containing evidence of human occupation from the Stone Age to the present

Turkey
• Aphrodisias consists of the temple of Aphrodite, dating back to the third century

United Kingdom
• The English Lake District in northwest England, a mountainous area formed by glaciers during the Ice Age