This section includes the complete and up-to-date list of every property included in the United Nations World Heritage List. It also includes the criteria for inclusion as a natural or cultural property.
Every property is listed by country, including date of inclusion and which criteria each property meets.
An interview with \JUNESCO\j Director-General, Federico Mayor is also included in this part.
Click on the \INext Page\i button to move into this part.
\BDetailed information on some Major World Heritage Sites\b
This part includes detailed information from a number of major World Heritage Sites. These include:
\JAngkor\j, in \JCambodia\j. Written by Claude Jacques and reprinted from the \IUNESCO World Heritage Review\i magazine.
\JMystery of the Mayas\j -- a look at the many mysteries surrounding this early Central American civilization. Written by Miguel Rivera Dorado and reprinted from the \IUNESCO World Heritage Review\i magazine.
\JPilgrim Route to Santiago de Compostela\j - one of the oldest Christian pilgrimage routes in Europe that goes beyond the religious phenomenon, becoming an extremely important artistic route. Written by Jaime Cobreros and reprinted from the \JUNESCO\j World Heritage Review magazine.
\JWorld Heritage Site in danger: Virunga\j, one of the oldest national parks in Africa. Written by Jim Thorsell and reprinted from the \IUNESCO World Heritage Review\i magazine.
\JWetlands\j, a look at the reason for including wetlands as part of the World Heritage list. Reprinted from the \IUNESCO World Heritage Review\i magazine.
\JNew World Heritage Sites\j, a summary of the new sites around the world.
Click on the entry of your choice to move to that part.
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"What is the World Heritage Convention?",2,0,0,0
What do the Pyramids of \JEgypt\j and the Grand \JCanyon\j of \JColorado\j have in common? Or Mont Saint-Michel and the Taj Mahal? Or even Machu Picchu of the ancient Incas in the \JAndes\j and the Ngorongoro Crater in East Africa? Without a doubt very little, except that they are all monuments and sites whose splendour enriches each and every one of us. Their disappearance would thus be an irreparable loss.
These monuments and sites are recorded together with many others on the World Cultural and Natural Heritage List (469 sites by 8 December 1995). The ancient Greeks referred to the Seven Wonders of the World. Today, practically all of these have disappeared, leaving no trace. But there remain in the world today many more than those Seven Wonders; irreplaceable testimonies of past civilizations and natural landscapes of great beauty and significance, their preservation concerns us all.
That is the objective of the "Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage". This International Convention to which there are 146 States was adopted by the General Conference of \JUNESCO\j in 1972. Its primary mission is to define the world-wide natural and cultural heritage and to draw up a List of sites and monuments considered to be of such exceptional interest and such universal value that their protection is the responsibility of all mankind. The aim of the Convention is therefore to promote co-operation among all nations and peoples in order to contribute effectively to this protection.
The Convention is thus profoundly original in its conception. It embodies some important new ideas linking together the conservation of nature and of culture which until recently had rarely been seen in conjunction with each other. For a long time, nature and culture were perceived as opposing elements in that man was supposed to conquer a hostile nature, while culture symbolized spiritual values.
However, nature and culture are of course complementary; the cultural identity of different peoples has been forged in the environment in which they live and frequently, the most beautiful man-made works owe part of their beauty to their natural surroundings. Moreover, some of the most spectacular natural sites bear the imprint of centuries of human activity. Sadly, in our modern world, cultural monuments and natural sites appear to be equally threatened by degradation.
The Convention thus assumes and affirms the existence of a World Heritage which belongs to all mankind. We can clearly sense this common heritage in monuments, which reflect not only that culture which conceived them but the aspirations of all humanity. In the same way, certain sites of natural beauty, including those that are far away, seem to belong in a particular way to each and every one of us. The Convention tries to define this shared heritage by drawing up the World Heritage List.
\BPromoting International Cooperation\b
On signing the Convention, each country pledges to conserve the sites and monuments within its borders that are recognized to be of exceptional universal value. It may be said that these countries present the world with their greatest treasures which should remain intact for future generations. In return, the international community helps them to protect these marvels. To this end, the Convention has established a mechanism of international cooperation.
This mechanism functions through the World Heritage Committee which is composed of specialists from 21 countries elected from among the nations which have signed the Convention.
The Convention Committee, which meets once a year, has two important tasks:
1. To define the World Heritage, that is, to select the cultural and natural wonders that are to form part of it. The Committee is helped in this task by ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) and IUCN (The World Conservation Union) which carefully examine the proposals of the different countries and draw up an evaluation report on each of them.
2. To administer the World Heritage Fund and to determine the technical and financial aid to be allocated to the countries which have requested it.
\BDefining the World Heritage\b
The World Heritage Committee decides which of the sites and monuments proposed by countries that have adhered to the Convention should be included in the World Heritage List. After a few years of work, the List is of course incomplete but it grows longer every year as new nominations are accepted by the Convention Committee and more countries sign the Convention.
Drawing up this List presents a difficult challenge: how indeed can one site or monument, as opposed to another, be judged to form part of the World Heritage? In other words, what is it that constitutes the exceptional and universal value of a cultural or natural treasure?
In this respect, the Convention itself defines what kinds of monuments and sites may be considered as part of cultural heritage, and what kinds of physical and geological formations, wildlife habitats and natural landscapes may be considered as part of our natural heritage.
The Committee has also provided detailed criteria for the establishment of the List. A cultural monument must for example be authentic and have exerted great architectural influence or bear unique witness, or be associated with ideas or beliefs of universal significance, or it may be an outstanding example of a traditional way of life that represents a certain culture.
A natural site may exemplify a stage of the earth's evolutionary processes, or be representative of biological evolution, or contain the natural habitats of endangered animals. It may be a scene of exceptional beauty, a spectacular view, or a reserve for large numbers of wild animals.
More information on the criteria for inclusion as a natural or cultural site are as follows:
Criteria for the inclusion of natural properties in the World Heritage List: In accordance with Article 2 of the Convention, the following is considered as "natural heritage":
1. "Natural features consisting of physical and biological formations or groups of such formations, which are of outstanding universal value from the aesthetic or scientific point of view;
2. geological and physiographical formations and precisely delineated areas which constitute the habitat of threatened species of animals and plants of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation;
3. natural sites or precisely delineated natural areas of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science, conservation or natural beauty."
A natural heritage property - as defined above - which is submitted for inclusion in the World Heritage List will be considered to be of outstanding universal value for the purposes of the Convention when the Committee finds that it meets one or more of the following criteria and fulfils the conditions of integrity set out below. Sites nominated should therefore:
(i) be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features; or
(ii) be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals; or
(iii) contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance; or
(iv) contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.
\BCriteria for the inclusion of cultural properties in the World Heritage List:\b The criteria for the inclusion of cultural properties in the World Heritage List should always be seen in relation to one another, and should be considered in the context of the definition set out in Article 1 of the Convention which is reproduced below:
1. "monuments: architectural works, works of monumental sculpture and painting, elements or structures of an archaeological nature, inscriptions, cave dwellings and combinations of features, which are of outstanding universal value from the point of view of history, art or science;
2. groups of buildings: groups of separate or connected buildings which, because of their \Jarchitecture\j, their homogeneity or their place in the landscape, are of outstanding universal value from the point of view of history, art or science;
3. sites: works of man or the combined works of nature and of man, and areas including archaeological sites which are of outstanding universal value from the historical, aesthetic, ethnological or anthropological points of view."
A monument, group of buildings or site - as defined above - which is nominated for inclusion in the World Heritage List will be considered to be of outstanding universal value for the purpose of the Convention when the Committee finds that it meets one or more of the following criteria and the test of authenticity. Each property nominated should therefore:
(i) represent a masterpiece of human creative genious; or
(ii) exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in \Jarchitecture\j or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design; or
(iii) bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared; or
(iv) be an outstanding example of a type of building or architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates significant stage(s) in human history; or
(v) be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement or land-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change; or
(vi) be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance (the Committee considers that this criterion should justify inclusion in the List only in exceptional circumstances or in conjunction with other criteria cultural or natural).
The Committee applies these criteria rigorously in order to prevent the List becoming too long or turning into a simple checklist of all the places that countries would like to see on it.
Furthermore, when a site or monument on the List is seriously and specifically endangered, it may be put on a complementary list called the List of World Heritage in Danger which provides for emergency measures.
\BThe World Heritage Fund\b
One of the most important achievements of the Convention is the creation of a World Heritage Fund which allows it to call upon international support for the conservation of the cultural and natural wonders on the List.
These monies are spent on various kinds of aid and technical co-operation, including expert studies to determine or fight the causes of deterioration or to plan conservation measures, training of local specialists in conservation or renovation techniques, supplying of equipment for the protection of a natural park, or to restore a monument, etc...
The World Heritage Fund receives income from different sources:
1. Obligatory contributions from the States Parties to the Convention which are fixed at 1% of their contribution to the budget of \JUNESCO\j.
2. Voluntary contributions from the States Parties, donations from institutions or private individuals, or from national or international promotional activities.
The level of the Fund is still far below what is required, but it has already financed important projects costing several millions of dollars to conserve cultural and natural properties in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and Europe.
\I You may also participate in its valuable work by sending a contribution to:
The World Heritage Fund
UNESCO Account (No 0330-1/5 - 770.002-4)
Societe generale
Agency AG, Office FB
45 avenue Kleber
75016 - Paris
Please indicate that it is a donation to the World Heritage Fund.
If you would like to receive more information about the Convention you may write to The World Heritage Centre, \JUNESCO\j, 7 place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP Tel.: 33(1) 45 68 1571 - Fax: 40 56 95 70.\I
#
"Interview with UNESCO Director-General",3,0,0,0
\B\IFederico Mayor\b\i
\BQ. Since the \JUNESCO\j General Conference approved the "Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage" in 1972, 146 countries have signed it and 469 sites have been included in the World Heritage List. To what do you attribute the success and universal impact of the Convention?\b
A. The Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage is the confirmation of the importance of intangible values, of human striving after beauty and meaning as well as the result of material needs and deficiencies. At the same time, it lends these diverse expressions a universal dimension. The most representative element of the cultural identity of every people is, in their diversity, the concept of humanity as something that must be preserved for present and future generations as occurs, for example, with remarkably beautiful and extraordinarily interesting cultural landscapes.
One important aspect of the Convention is that it manages to unite in a single legal instrument concepts concerning the conservation of both natural and cultural riches. This shows the complementary character of both and recognizes the fact that the cultural identify of a community is intrinsically linked to the environment in which it evolves.
\BQ. Since the start of your mandate as Director-General of \JUNESCO\j, you have displayed great concern about the establishment of peace in the world at all levels. To what extent do you believe that this Convention is an efficient instrument for achieving peace among peoples?\b
A. Embodied in extraordinary cultural and natural places, the past represents an inestimable spiritual spring for human beings. Moreover, it serves to remind humanity of its unity in diversity. For this reason, the Convention is a highly relevant contribution to one of UNESCO's main objectives: the promotion of solidarity and understanding among peoples; the building of defenses of peace in people's minds. This is one of the international community's preeminent tasks at the end of the twentieth century.
Peace can only be built on respect for other people and on the acceptance of diversity and tolerance for differences. One of the best ways to spread understanding among peoples is to share the world's natural and cultural heritage.
\BQ. Some of the natural and cultural sites designated as World Heritage sites have been transferred to the List of World Heritage in Danger as in the case of Virunga National Park and the city of \JDubrovnik\j. Are you optimistic as regards an international offer of help for those threatened sites?\b
A. Twenty years after the adoption of the Convention, dangers continue to mount up. Unplanned urban development, overpopulation, migrations, environmental deterioration, poverty and negligence threaten monuments of incalculable value and historic city centres. Natural landscapes are subject to encroachment by agriculture and mining, drilling and other economic activities. Catastrophes caused by human activity are added to natural disasters. Civil conflict indiscriminately threatens the work of nature and civilization. Tourism, including that resulting from inclusion in the World Heritage List, may also be harmful if it is not properly administered, and may even lead to damage that is disproportionate to the benefits generated. The World Heritage Convention is now more necessary than ever.
Luckily, the Convention enjoys great support around the world. The fact that 146 countries have ratified it, helps to limit the impact of the abovementioned threats on the heritage. From this point of view, I feel very optimistic.
\BQ. In June 1995, the first World Heritage Youth Forum took place in Bergen. These fora will be held throughout the next six years in an ambitious educational project that will mobilize young people and teachers around the world to work with local authorities. To what extent can young people get involved in the idea of a heritage for all?\b
A. The preservation of the World Heritage is such a vast task that, in the long term, it can only be achieved through the active participation of local communities. New approaches must be worked out for site conservation and maintenance, based on local traditions, modern techniques and scientific knowledge.
Local communities, and young people in particular, need to receive the necessary information to become aware of the value of the heritage that must be preserved. Planning a true "heritage education" based on both formal and informal pedagogical methods is essential.
Within this context, in 1995, \JUNESCO\j launched a six-year project to mobilize secondary students and teachers the world over so that they will participate in our efforts to preserve the cultural and natural World Heritage for future generations.
Among the activities that have been planned as part of this project are the production and distribution of suitable educational materials and the organizing of youth camps on the sites where students from different countries can get together for an intercultural exchange. This will be a way to contribute towards promoting tolerance based on the idea that no identity or heritage may be considered in isolation in Space or Time.
In short, the challenge for all of us is to involve every man, woman and child in the efforts to reconcile the old and the new, the historic and the modern. This will be the best guarantee of preserving our common heritage.
\BQ. Do you anticipate that the World Heritage Centre will acquire greater relevance within the structure of the organization of which you are the head?\b
A. The World Heritage Centre, as part of the \JUNESCO\j Secretariat, is responsible for cooperating with all countries around the world, and most particularly with those that have ratified the Convention, in order to preserve their cultural and natural heritages for future generations. In specific terms, it works directly with the cultural and natural sites on the World Heritage List. To date, the latter includes almost 500 sites, increasing at a rate of 20-30 per year.
The Centre does not only collaborate in the task of selecting sites, it also cooperates with countries in monitoring the state of the sites, and mobilizes international help. Another of its goals is to give the concept of heritage a modern and universal interpretation, to cooperate in the training of specialists, and promote the World Heritage Convention through education and other means. Awareness and popular support are crucial to achieving conservation in the long term.
\BQ. Mr. Mayor, could we have some personal reflections before finishing the interview?\b
A. As a final thought, I would like to highlight a transcendental aspect of the World Heritage Convention. In protecting humanity's cultural and natural heritage, the philosophy of the Convention is directly linked with the challenges presented both by the Brundtland Commission (on the environment) and, more recently, by the Perez de Cuellar Commission (on culture). Both commissions delved deeply into what the notion of lasting development means.
The Brundtland report emphasized economy and the environment while the Perez de Cuellar report, entitled "Our Creative Diversity", stressed the cultural dimension of such development. The \JUNESCO\j World Heritage Centre has been striving for the last four years to link these two approaches in order to ensure the enduring preservation of the priceless World Heritage, especially now at a time of great change.
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"World Heritage List Albania",4,0,0,0
\BButrini,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii), inclusion 14/12/92
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"World Heritage List Algeria",5,0,0,0
\BAl Qal'a of Beni Hammad,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii), inclusion 5/9/80
\BTassili n'Ajjer,\b Cultural site, criteria (i) and (iii), Natural site, criteria (ii) and (iii), inclusion 17/12/82
\BM'Zab Valley,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii), (iii) and (v), inclusion 17/12/82
\BDjemila,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii) and (iv), inclusion 17/12/82
\BTipasa,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii) and (iv), inclusion 17/12/82
\BTimgad,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii), (iii) and (iv), inclusion 17/12/82
\BKasbah of Algiers,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii) and (v), inclusion 14/12/92
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"World Heritage List Germany",6,0,0,0
\BAachen Cathedra\bl, Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii), (iv) and (vi), inclusion 8/9/78
\BSpeyer Cathedral,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii), inclusion 30/10/81
\BWurzburg Residence with the Court Gardens and Residence Square,\b Cultural site, criteria (i) and (iv), inclusion 30/10/81
\BPilgrimage Church of Wies,\b Cultural site, criteria (i) and (iii), inclusion 9/12/83
\BCastles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust at Bruhl,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii) and (iv), inclusion 2/11/84
\BSt Mary's Cathedral and St Michael's Church at Hildesheim,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii) and (iii), inclusion 6/12/85
\BRoman Monuments,\b Cathedral and Liebfrauen-Church in Trier, Cultural site, criteria (i), (iii), (iv) and (vi), inclusion 28/11/86
\BHanseatic City of Lubeck,\b Cultural site, criteria (iv), inclusion 11/12/87
\BPalaces and Parks of \JPotsdam\j and Berlin,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii) and (iv), inclusion 12/12/90 - 14/12/92
\BAbbey and Altenmunster of Lorsch,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii) and (iv), inclusion 13/12/91
\BMines of Rammelsberg and the Historic Town of Goslar,\b Cultural site, criteria (i) and (iv), inclusion 14/12/92
\BTown of Bamberg, Cultural site,\b criteria (ii) and (iv), inclusion 11/12/93
\BMaulbronn Monastery Complex,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii) and (iv), inclusion 11/12/93
\BCollegiate Church, Castle,\b and Old Town of Quedlinburg, Cultural site, criteria (iv), inclusion 17/12/94
\BVolklingen Ironworks,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii) and (iv), inclusion 17/12/94
\BLos Glaciares,\b Natural site, criteria (ii) and (iii), inclusion 30/10/81
\BIguazu National Park,\b Natural site, criteria (iii) and (iv), inclusion 2/11/84
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"World Heritage List Argentina and Brazil",8,0,0,0
\BJesuit Missions of the Guaranis: San Ignacio Mini, Santa Ana, Nuestra Senora de Loreto and Santa Maria Mayor (Argentina), Ruins of Sao Miguel das Missoes (Brazil),\b Cultural site, criteria (iv), inclusion 2/11/84 - 9/12/83
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"World Heritage List Australia",9,0,0,0
\BKakadu National Park,\b Cultural site, criteria (i) and (vi) and Natural site, criteria (ii), (iii) and (iv), inclusion 30/10/81 - 11/12/87 - 14/12/92
\BAnthony Island,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii), inclusion 30/10/81
\BHead-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Complex,\b Cultural site, criteria (vi), inclusion 30/10/81
\BWood Buffalo National Park,\b Natural site, criteria (ii), (iii) and (iv), inclusion 9/12/83
\BCanadian Rocky Mountain Parks,\b Natural site, criteria (i), (ii) and (iii), inclusion 2/11/84
\BQuebec (Historic area),\b Cultural site, criteria (iv) and (vi), inclusion 6/12/85
\BGros Morne National Park,\b Natural site, criteria (i) and (iii), inclusion 11/12/87
\BLunenburg Old Town,\b Cultural site, criteria (iv) and (v), inclusion 9/12/95
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"World Heritage List Canada and United States of America",19,0,0,0
\BTatshenshini-Alsek/ \JKluane\j National Park/ Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Reserve and \JGlacier\j Bay National Park,\b Natural site, criteria (ii), (iii) and (iv), inclusion 26/10/79 - 14/12/92 - 17/12/94
\BWaterton \JGlacier\j International Peace Park,\b Natural site, criteria (ii) and (iii), inclusion 9/12/95
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"World Heritage List Chile",20,0,0,0
\BRapa Nui National Park,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (iii) and (v), inclusion 9/12/95
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"World Heritage List China (People's Rep. of)",21,0,0,0
\BMount Taishan,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v) and (vi) and Natural site, criteria (iii), inclusion 11/12/87
\BThe Great Wall,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) and (vi), inclusion 11/12/87
\BImperial Palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii) and (iv), inclusion 11/12/87
\BMogao Caves,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v) and (vi), inclusion 11/12/87
\BMausoleum of the First Qin Emperor,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (iii), (iv) and (vi), inclusion 11/12/87
\BPeking Man Site at Zhoukoudian,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii) and (vi), inclusion 11/12/87
\BMount Huangshan,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii) and Natural site, criteria (iii) and (iv), inclusion 12/12/90
\BJiuzhaigou Valley Scenic and Historic Interest Area,\b Natural site, criteria (iii), inclusion 14/12/92
\BKeoladeo National Park,\b Natural site, criteria (iv), inclusion 6/12/85
\BChurches and Convents of Goa,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii), (iv) and (vi), inclusion 28/11/86
\BKhajuraho Group of Monuments,\b Cultural site, criteria (i) and (iii), inclusion 28/11/86
\BGroup of Monuments at Hampi,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (iii) and (iv), inclusion 28/11/86
\BFatehpur Sikri,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii), (iii) and (iv), inclusion 28/11/86
\BGroup of Monuments at Pattadakal,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii) and (iv), inclusion 11/12/87
\BElephanta Caves,\b Cultural site, criteria (i) and (iii), inclusion 11/12/87
\BBrihadisvara Temple,\b Thanjavur, Cultural site, criteria (ii) and (iii), inclusion 11/12/87
\BSundarbans National Park,\b Natural site, criteria (ii) and (iv), inclusion 11/12/87
\BNanda Devi National Park,\b Natural site, criteria (iii) and (iv), inclusion 9/12/88
\BBuddhist Monumentns at Sanchi,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) and (vi), inclusion 15/12/89
\BHumayun's Tomb,\b Delhi, Cultural site, criteria (ii) and (iv), inclusion 11/12/93
\BQutb Minar and its Monuments,\b Delhi, Cultural site, criteria (iv), inclusion 11/12/93
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"World Heritage List Indonesia",48,0,0,0
\BBorobudur Temple Compounds,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii) and (vi), inclusion 13/12/91
\BUjung Kulon National Park,\b Natural site, criteria (iii) and (iv), inclusion 13/12/91
\BKomodo National Park,\b Natural site, criteria (iii) and (iv), inclusion 13/12/91
\BPrambanan Temple Compounds,\b Cultural site, criteria (i) and (iv), inclusion 13/12/91
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"World Heritage List Iraq",49,0,0,0
\BHatra,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii), (iii), (iv) and (vi), inclusion 6/12/85
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"World Heritage List Iran (Islamic Republic of)",50,0,0,0
\BTchogha Zanbil,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii) and (iv), inclusion 26/10/79
\BPersepolis,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (iii) and (vi), inclusion 26/10/79
\BMeidan Emam,\b Esfahan, Cultural site, criteria (i), (v) and (vi), inclusion 26/10/79
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"World Heritage List Ireland",51,0,0,0
\BArchaeological Ensemble of the Bend of the Boyne,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (iii) and (iv), inclusion 11/12/93.
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"World Heritage List Italy",52,0,0,0
\BRock Drawings in Valcamonica,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii) and (vi), inclusion 26/10/79
\BThe Church and Dominican Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie with "The Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci,\b Cultural site, criteria (i) and (ii), inclusion 5/9/80
\BHistoric Centre of Florence,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) and (vi), inclusion 17/12/82
\BVenice and its Lagoon,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v) and (vi), inclusion 11/12/87
\BPiazza del Duomo,\b Pisa, Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii), (iv) and (vi), inclusion 11/12/87
\BHistoric Centre of San Gimignano,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (iii) and (iv), inclusion 12/12/90
\BI Sassi di Matera,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii), (iv) and (v), inclusion 11/12/93
\BVicenza, City of Palladio,\b Cultural site, criteria (i) and (ii), inclusion 17/12/94
\BHistoric Centre of Siena,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii) and (iv), inclusion 9/12/95
\BHistoric Centre of Naples,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii) and (iv), inclusion 9/12/95
\BCrespi d'Adda,\b Cultural site, criteria (iv) and (v), inclusion 9/12/95
\BFerrara:\b City of the Renaissance, Cultural site, criteria (ii), (iv) and (vi), inclusion 9/12/95
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"World Heritage List Italy/ Holy See (each according to its jurisdiction)",53,0,0,0
\BHistoric centre of Rome,\b the Properties of the Holy See in that City Enjoying Extraterritorial Rights and San Paolo Fuori le Mura, Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii), (iii) and (vi), inclusion 5/9/80 - 12/12/90
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"World Heritage List Libyan Arab Jamahiriya",54,0,0,0
\BArchaeological Site of Leptis Magna,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii) and (iii), inclusion 17/12/82
\BArchaeological Site of Sabratha,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii), inclusion 17/12/82
\BArchaeological Site of Cyrene,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii), (iii) and (vi), inclusion 17/12/82
\BRock-art Sites of Tadrart Acacus,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii), inclusion 6/12/85
\BOld Town of Ghadames,\b Cultural site, criteria (v), inclusion 28/11/86
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"World Heritage List Japan",55,0,0,0
\BBuddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii), (iv) and (vi), inclusion 11/12/93
\BHimeji-jo,\b Cultural site, criteria (i) and (iv), inclusion 11/12/93
\BYakushima,\b Natural site, criteria (ii) and (iii), inclusion 11/12/93
\BHistoric Monuments of Ancient \JKyoto\j (Kyoto, Uji and Otsu Cities),\b Cultural site, criteria (ii) and (iv), inclusion 17/12/94
\BHistoric Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama,\b Cultural site, criteria (iv) and (v), inclusion 9/12/95
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"World Heritage List Jerusalem (Site proposed by Jordan)",56,0,0,0
\BOld City of \JJerusalem\j and its Walls,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii), (iii) and (vi), inclusion 11/9/81
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"World Heritage List Jordan",57,0,0,0
\BPetra, Cultural site,\b criteria (i), (iii) and (iv), inclusion 6/12/85
\BQuseir Amra,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (iii) and (iv), inclusion 6/12/85
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"World Heritage List Lebanon",58,0,0,0
\BAnjar,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii) and (iv), inclusion 2/11/84
\BBaalbek,\b Cultural site, criteria (i) and (iv), inclusion 2/11/84
\BByblos,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii), (iv) and (vi), inclusion 2/11/84
\BTyr,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii) and (vi), inclusion 2/11/84
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"World Heritage List Lithuania",59,0,0,0
\BVilnius Historic Centre,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii) and (iv), inclusion 17/12/94
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"World Heritage List Luxemburg",60,0,0,0
\BThe City of Luxemburg: its Old Quarters and Fortifications,\b Cultural site, criteria (iv), inclusion 17/12/94
#
"World Heritage List Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic of)",61,0,0,0
\BOhrid Region with its Cultural and Historical Aspect and its Natural Environment,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (iii) and (iv) and Natural site, criteria (iii), inclusion 5/9/80
#
"World Heritage List Madagascar",62,0,0,0
\BTsingy de Bemaraha Strict Nature Reserve,\b Natural site, criteria (iii) and (iv), inclusion 12/12/90
#
"World Heritage List Malawi",63,0,0,0
\BLake Malawi National Park,\b Natural site, criteria (ii), (iii) and (iv), inclusion 2/11/84
#
"World Heritage List Mali",64,0,0,0
\BOld Towns of Djenne,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii) and (iv), inclusion 9/12/88
\BTimbuktu,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii), (iv) and (v), inclusion 9/12/88
\BCliff of Bandiagara (Land of the Dogons),\b Cultural site, criteria (v), and Natural site, criteria (iii), inclusion 15/12/89
#
"World Heritage List Malta",65,0,0,0
\BHal Saflieni Hypogeum,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii), inclusion 5/9/80
\BCity of Valletta,\b Cultural site, criteria (i) and (vi), inclusion 5/9/80
\BMegalithic Temples,\b Cultural site, criteria (iv), inclusion 5/9/80 - 14/12/92
#
"World Heritage List Morocco",66,0,0,0
\BMedina of Fez,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii) and (v), inclusion 30/10/81
\BMedina of Marrakesh,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii), (iv) and (v), inclusion 6/12/85
\BKsar of Ait-Ben-Haddou,\b Cultural site, criteria (iv) and (v), inclusion 11/12/87
#
"World Heritage List Mauritania",67,0,0,0
\BBanc d'Arguin National Park,\b Natural site, criteria (ii) and (iv), inclusion 15/12/89
#
"World Heritage List Mexico",68,0,0,0
\BSian Ka'an,\b Natural site, criteria (iii) and (iv), inclusion 11/12/87
\BPre-Hispanic City and National Park of Palenque,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv), inclusion 11/12/87
\BHistoric Centre of Mexico City and Xochimilco,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii), (iii), (iv) and (v), inclusion 11/12/87
\BPre-Hispanic City of Teotihuacan,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) and (vi), inclusion 11/12/87
\BHistoric Centre of Oaxaca and Archaeological Site of Monte Alban,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv), inclusion 11/12/87
\BHistoric Centre of Puebla,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii) and (iv), inclusion 11/12/87.
\BHistoric Town of Guanajuato and Adjacent Mines,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii), (iv) and (vi), inclusion 9/12/88
\BPre-Hispanic City of Chichen - Itza,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii) and (iii), inclusion 9/12/88
\BHistoric Centre of Morelia,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii), (iv) and (vi), inclusion 13/12/91
\BEl Tajin,\b Pre-Hispanic City, Cultural site, criteria (iii) and (iv), inclusion 14/12/92
\BWhale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino,\b Natural site, criteria (iv), inclusion 11/12/93
\BHistoric Centre of Zacatecas,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii) and (iv), inclusion 11/12/93
\BRock Paintings of the Sierra de San Francisco,\b Cultural site, criteria (i) and (iii), inclusion 11/12/93
\BEarliest 16th Century Monasteries on the Slopes of Popocatepetl,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii) and (iv), inclusion 17/12/94
#
"World Heritage List Mozambique",69,0,0,0
\BIsland of Mozambique,\b Cultural site, criteria (iv) and (vi), inclusion 13/12/91
#
"World Heritage List Nepal",70,0,0,0
\BSagarmatha National Park,\b Natural site, criteria (iii), inclusion 26/10/79
\BKathmandu Valley,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii), (iv) and (vi), inclusion 26/10/79
\BRoyal Chitwan National Park,\b Natural site, criteria (ii), (iii) and (iv), inclusion 2/11/84
#
"World Heritage List Nigeria",71,0,0,0
\BAir and Tenere Natural Reserves,\b Natural site, criteria (ii), (iii) and (iv), inclusion 13/12/91
#
"World Heritage List Norway",72,0,0,0
\BUrnes Stave Church,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii) and (iii), inclusion 26/10/79
\BBryggen,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii), inclusion 26/10/79
\BRoros,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii), (iv) and (v), inclusion 5/9/80
\BRock Drawings of Alta,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii), inclusion 6/12/85
#
"World Heritage List New Zealand",73,0,0,0
\BTe Wahipounamu - South West New Zealand,\b Natural site, criteria (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv), inclusion 12/12/90
\BTongariro National Park,\b Cultural site, criteria (vi), and Natural site, criteria (ii) and (iii), inclusion 12/12/90 - 11/12/93
#
"World Heritage List Oman",74,0,0,0
\BBahla Fort,\b Cultural site, criteria (iv), inclusion 11/12/87
\BArchaeological sites of Bat,\b Al-Khutm and Al-Ayn, Cultural site, criteria (iii) and (iv), inclusion 9/12/88
\BBaroque Churches of the Philippines,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii) and (iv), inclusion 11/12/93
\BRice Terraces of the \JPhilippines\j Cordilleras,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii), (iv) and (v), inclusion 9/12/95
#
"World Heritage List Poland",83,0,0,0
\BCracow's Historic Centre,\b Cultural site, criteria (iv), inclusion 8/9/78
\BWieliczka Salt Mine,\b Cultural site, criteria (iv), inclusion 8/9/78
\BAuschwitz Concentration Camp,\b Cultural site, criteria (vi), inclusion 26/10/79.
\BHistoric Centre of Warsaw,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii) and (vi), inclusion 5/9/80
\BOld City of Zamosc,\b Cultural site, criteria (iv), inclusion 14/12/92
#
"World Heritage List Portugal",84,0,0,0
\BCentral Zone of the Town of Angra do Heroismo in the Azores,\b Cultural site, criteria (iv) and (vi), inclusion 9/12/83.
\BMonastery of the Hieronymites and Tower of Belem in Lisbon,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii) and (vi), inclusion 9/12/83.
\BMonastery of Batalha,\b Cultural site, criteria (i) and (ii), inclusion 9/12/83
\BConvent of Christ in Tomar,\b Cultural site, criteria (i) and (vi), inclusion 9/12/83
\BHistoric Centre of Evora,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii) and (iv), inclusion 28/11/86
\BMonastery of Alcobaca,\b Cultural site, criteria (i) and (iv), inclusion 15/12/89
\BCultural Landscape of Sintra,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii), (iv) and (v), inclusion 9/12/95
#
"World Heritage List Syrian Arab Republic",85,0,0,0
\BAncient City of Damascus,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) and (vi), inclusion 26/10/79
\BAncient City of Bosra,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (iii) and (vi), inclusion 5/9/80
\BSite of Palmyra,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii) and (iv), inclusion 5/9/80
\BAncient City of Aleppo,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii) and (iv), inclusion 28/11/86
#
"World Heritage List Republic of Korea",86,0,0,0
\BSokkuram Buddhist Grotto,\b Cultural site, criteria (i) and (iv), inclusion 9/12/95
\BHaeinsa Temple Changgyong P'ango,\b the Depositories for the Tripitaka Koreana Woodblocks, Cultural site, criteria (iv) and (vi), inclusion 9/12/95
\BChongmyo Shrine,\b Cultural site, criteria (iv), inclusion 9/12/95
#
"World Heritage List Lao People's Democratic Republic",87,0,0,0
\BTown of Luang Prabang,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii), (iv) and (v), inclusion 9/12/95
#
"World Heritage List Dominican Republic",88,0,0,0
\BColonial City of Santo Domingo,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii), (iv) and (vi), inclusion 12/12/90
#
"World Heritage List Central African Republic",89,0,0,0
\BManovo-Gounda St Floris National Park,\b Natural site, criteria (ii) and (iv), inclusion 9/12/88
#
"World Heritage List Czech Republic",90,0,0,0
\BHistoric Centre of Prague,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii), (iv) and (vi), inclusion 14/12/92
\BHistoric Centre of Cesky Krumlov,\b Cultural site, criteria (iv), inclusion 14/12/92
\BHistoric Centre de Telc,\b Cultural site, criteria (i) and (iv), inclusion 14/12/92
\BThe Pilgrimage Church of St John of Nepomuk at Zelena Hora,\b Cultural site, criteria (iv), inclusion 17/12/94
\BKutna Hora: The Historical Town Centre with the Church of St Barbara and the Cathedral of Our Lady at Sedlec,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii) and (iv), inclusion 9/12/95
#
"World Heritage List United Republic of Tanzania",91,0,0,0
\BBan Chiang Archaeological Site,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii), inclusion 14/12/92
#
"World Heritage List Tunisia",103,0,0,0
\BMedina of Tunis,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii), (iii) and (v), inclusion 26/10/79
\BSite of Carthage,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii), (iii) and (vi), inclusion 26/10/79
\BAmphitheatre of El Jem,\b Cultural site, criteria (iv) and (vi), inclusion 26/10/79
\BIchkeul National Park,\b Natural site, criteria (iv), inclusion 5/9/80
\BPunic Town of Kerkuane and its Necropolis,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii), inclusion 6/12/85 - 28/11/86
\BMedina of Sousse,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii), (iv) and (v), inclusion 9/12/88
\BKairouan,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii), (iii), (v) and (vi), inclusion 9/12/88
#
"World Heritage List Turkey",104,0,0,0
\BHistoric Areas of Istanbul,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv), inclusion 6/12/85
\BGoreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (iii) and (v) and Natural site, criteria (iii), inclusion 6/12/85
\BGreat Mosque and \JHospital\j of Divrigi,\b Cultural site, criteria (i) and(iv), inclusion 6/12/85
\BHattusha,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv),inclusion 28/11/86
\BNemrut Dag,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (iii) and (iv), inclusion 11/12/87
\BXanthos-Letoon Cultural site,\b criteria (ii) and (iii), inclusion 9/12/88
\BHierapolis - Pamukkale,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii) and (iv) and Natural site, criteria (iii), inclusion 9/12/88
\BCity of Safranbolu,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii), (iv) and (v), inclusion 17/12/94
#
"World Heritage List Ukraine",105,0,0,0
\BKiev: Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings,\b Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv), inclusion 12/12/90
#
"World Heritage List Uruguay",106,0,0,0
\BThe Historic Quarter of the City of Colonia del Sacramento,\b Cultural site, criteria (iv), inclusion 9/12/95
#
"World Heritage List Venezuela",107,0,0,0
\BCoro and its Port,\b Cultural site, criteria (iv) and (v), inclusion 11/12/93
\BCanaima National Park,\b Natural site, criteria (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv), inclusion 17/12/94
#
"World Heritage List Vietnam",108,0,0,0
\BThe Complex of \JHue\j Monuments,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii) and (iv), inclusion 11/12/93
\BHa Long Bay,\b Natural site, criteria (iii), inclusion 17/12/94
#
"World Heritage List Yemen",109,0,0,0
\BOld City of Sana'a,\b Cultural site, criteria (iv), (v) and (vi), inclusion 28/11/86
\BOld Walled City of Shibam,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii), (iv) and (v), inclusion 17/12/82
\BHistoric Town of Zabid,\b Cultural site, criteria (ii), (iv) and (vi), inclusion 11/12/93
#
"World Heritage List Yugoslavia",110,0,0,0
\BStari Ras and Sopocani,\b Cultural site, criteria (i) and (iii), inclusion 26/10/79
\BNatural and Culturo-Historical Region of Kotor,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv), inclusion 26/10/79
\BDurmitor National Park,\b Natural site, criteria (ii), (iii) and (iv), inclusion 5/9/80
\BStudenica Monastery,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (ii), (iv) and (vi), inclusion 28/11/86
#
"World Heritage List Zaire",111,0,0,0
\BVirunga National Park,\b Natural site, criteria (ii), (iii) and (iv), inclusion 26/10/79
\BGaramba National Park,\b Natural site, criteria (iii) and (iv), inclusion 5/9/80
\BKahuzi-Biega National Park,\b Natural site, criteria (iv), inclusion 5/9/80
\BSalonga National Park,\b Natural site, criteria (ii) and (iii), inclusion 2/11/84
#
"World Heritage List Zambia and Zimbabwe",112,0,0,0
\BVictoria Falls,\b Natural site, criteria (ii) and (iii), inclusion 15/12/89
#
"World Heritage List Zimbabwe",113,0,0,0
\BMana Pools National Park,\b Sapi and Chewore Safari Areas, Natural site, criteria (ii), (iii) and (iv), inclusion 2/11/84
\BGreat Zimbabwe National Monument,\b Cultural site, criteria (i), (iii) and (vi), inclusion 28/11/86
\BKhami Ruins National Monument,\b Cultural site, criteria (iii) and (iv), inclusion 28/11/86
#
"Angkor",114,0,0,0
The three famous monuments at Angkor are situated in \JCambodia\j, north-east of Lake Tonle Sap or the Great Lake. The name of this large archeological collection comes from Sanskrit via Khmer and means simply "town" or "capital". In fact, since the end of the seventh century, and at least until the middle of the fifteenth century it was in that area that the twelve capitals of the Khmer empire were established. They changed location as necessity and royalty dictated until, eventually, one "stable" capital was built at the end of the twelfth century.
The urban appearance of these capitals is hardly noticeable any more, which should not lead us to forget that hundreds of thousands of inhabitants lived there for centuries, and that it was not only the monuments that won the admiration of visitors in times past. However, the human dwellings, including the royal palace, were constructed of perishable materials, especially wood, and, obviously, nothing remains of them except an occasional tile embedded in the ground.
The great avenues, long raised causeways and canals have fallen prey to the jungle; only the temples to the gods, built of durable materials, are still standing, strikingly beautiful even if not always in excellent condition, and it is from them that the capitals must be reconstructed. This operation is made easier by the fact that the pyramid of the state temple, representing Mount Meru, the centre of the world, is always to be found in the centre.
As a reminder of past splendour, there also remains the omnipresent water. This great seat of culture and life would certainly not have been able to endure as long or as richly in an environment that, when all is said and done, is a none too favourable one of unexceptional fertility and monsoons, if the people had not harnessed the water so as to have abundant and permanent supplies. They, therefore, created huge reservoirs called barays and retained water between robust dykes, feeding a compact network of canals used for transport, irrigation and daily use. The biggest reservoir, the Western baray, mostly made up of water, measured no less than 8 km (5 miles) long by 2.2 km (1.4 miles) wide!
Such a succession of towns or urban areas could not have existed without a lot of demolition work, each city needing, at least partly, to demolish the previous one in order to establish itself. In this way, not only temples but also canals, causeways, dykes, etc. disappeared. On the other hand, many monuments have survived more than one generation and, as a result, it is interesting to examine them for possible modifications and additions carried out after they were founded.
\BAn empire is born\b
The Angkor region, which is crossed by a few permanent rivers, has long been inhabited. A number of \JNeolithic\j sites have recently been located there; rather more out in the surrounding area than on the site itself where, if traces did once exist, they have been erased by the different urban settlements.
The first historical traces date from the second half of the seventh century, but they are still very slight.
The true beginning of the Angkor period, which historians set at 802 A.D. with the coronation of the first known supreme king of the Khmers is dated a little later, although not easily ascertained from the oldest monuments, which are, moreover, situated in a rather eccentric part of Angkor in the Roluos Region, about ten kilometres (6.2 miles) from the centre of the modern town of Siem Reap. The first shrines that can really be dated are located in the same region: the brick towers of Preah Ko (880) and the beautiful pyramid of the state temple of Bakong (881). These two monuments are contemporaries of the 3,800 m (4,155 yards) by 800 m (875 yards) Lolei baray, the first of those huge reservoirs.
However, that capital only lasted the length of a reign. An implacable struggle set the two sons of the king who had had it built against each other. Yacovarman I, the winner, abandoned his father's capital, which was doubtless in ruins, and established a new capital around Phnom Bakheng Hill on the summit of which he placed his state temple, the temple of eight hundred shrines, whose divinities were consecrated around 900. His capital, with its four \Jkilometre\j (2.5 mile) enclosure, was, moreover, the largest ever built in Angkor. Furthermore, the king built the Eastern baray, measuring 7.5 km (4.7 miles) long and 1.8 km (1.1 miles) wide.
To these enormous works must be added an entire network of causeways and canals. In short, he organized a whole \Jinfrastructure\j within his empire, which, in addition to present day \JCambodia\j and southern Viet Nam, already covered a large part of south-east \JThailand\j. Two of his sons succeeded him, one after the other, and under their reigns the temple of Baksei Chamkrong at the foot of Phnom Bakheng and the five brick shrines of Prasat Kravan were built.
In 928 their successor abandoned the Angkor site as his capital, moving it to Koh Ker some sixty kilometers (37 miles) away. But from 944, Rajendravarman returned to Angkor and established a new capital to the South of the Eastern baray, whose centre he embellished with an island containing the Eastern Mebon (953). His state temple was Pre Rup (962). His architect-cum-minister erected the small temple of Bat Cum (953) as well as the first stage of the Sras Srang, and his guru had the temple of Banteay Srei, the jewel of Angkor, built in 967.
But this reign was soon to come to a tragic end with the murder of the king. His son, Jayaverman, left that capital and established another west of the baray around the temple of Ta Kev, which neither he nor his successor had time to finish, thus explaining the crude-looking shape of this magnificent pyramid.
A new king, Suryavarman I, eliminated the successor of Jayavarman V, and a new capital, or rather it seems a new royal palace, well protected behind its walls, came into being after 1012 This was the royal palace of Angkor Thom whose enclosure contained, not only the now obviously absent palace but also the temple of Phimeanakas, the beautiful pyramid of which must, however, have seemed too modest, thus explaining the building of the magnificent Baphuon (after 1050) whose central monument occupied an area 120 m (394 feet) by 100 m (328 feet).
Opposite the royal palace the two Prasat Khleang had appeared, the northern one at the end of the tenth century and the southern one in the first half of the eleventh. Above all, Suryavarman I built the huge Western baray, 8 km (5 miles) by 2.2 km (1.4 miles) in the middle of which his successor constructed the western Mebon. The splendid giant bronze statue of recumbent \JVishnu\j was discovered there, which is today on exhibition at the National Museum in Phnom Penh.
\BThe capital city that became a pagoda\b
Nevertheless, a change of dynasty in 1080 led to a certain abandonment of Angkor, or at least to a temporary halt in religious buildings. However, there was a glorious return under King Suryavarman II, the builder of the town and the temple of Angkor Vat, the masterpiece of Khmer art. Everything about it is admirable: the spatial organization, the harmony of the whole, the detail of the omnipresent sculptures. The temples of Thommanon and Chau Say Tevoda were also built in the same period as well as the temple of Bateay Samre, east of the Eastern baray.
Then came Jayaverman VII, the great Buddhist king, whose output as a builder of temples alone was prolific: Ta Prohm temple (1186), administrative centre of 101 famous hospitals of the empire to which he added shrines to the warrior \JBuddha\j, the town of Preah Khan (1191), which apparently housed a university to the east of the baray with the charming reservoirs of Neak Paen, Baneay Kdei, Ta Som, Ta Nei in the middle, etc.
Above all, he created a capital capable of resisting his enemies: Angkor Thom, square with three \Jkilometre\j (1.9 mile) sides, surrounded by stout walls made doubly strong on the outside by a 100 metre (330 feet) wide moat, and with a glacis inside forming a rampart walk. Its five monumental doors, fronted by causeways crossing the moat and flanked by the famous "giants" carrying the naga are magnificent in themselves. However, there are treasures to be found inside the town, too: the state Bayon temple with many towers decorated with faces, the royal square with, on the one hand, the elephant terrace and the leprous king terrace and, on the other, the twelve towers of the Prasat Svar Prat, the "tightrope walker towers".
The history of Angkor does not, however, end with this collection of formidable buildings, which are spread out through time till the middle of the thirteenth century, even if the vastness of the program fixed the establishment of the capital in a definitive manner. The second half of this century saw another return to \JHinduism\j, which resulted in the destruction of tens of thousands of statues of the \JBuddha\j, but which also led to the building of important additions to several shrines, especially those of Angkor Vat and the Baphuon. New temples appeared, such as Preah Palilay and the ones in the Preah Pithu group.
Finally, at the end of the fourteenth century, the Khmer kings embraced primitive \JBuddhism\j. The great temples, palaces of the gods, were abandoned in order to build pagodas, which, although no doubt scintillating, were built of perishable materials. However their subfoundations remain, over sixty just in Angkor Thom, evidence of religious ardour and of the fact that the artistic vein had not been exhausted. It is thought that it was at that time that the Angkor Vat temple was converted into a Buddhist shrine and that monks settled in the town. Perhaps it was then that it got its name, which means "capital converted into a pagoda".
\BLooking towards the future\b
Europe was wholly unaware of these marvels despite the fact that the Spanish and the Portuguese had described them in notes published at the beginning of the seventeenth century. It was necessary to wait until, almost by accident, Henri Mouhot, a French naturalist, travelled in 1860 to the Angkor region following directions from his friends, and, after his death, his record brought other explorers to Angkor; universal glory at last.
Given the historical situation, it was quite natural that it should be the French School of the Far East that in 1908 took over the job of preserving the Angkor monuments, a duty it has discharged honourably for over 65 years.
Then came the war and all the ensuing events. In May 1989, the \JUNESCO\j Director-General sent the first information-gathering mission to \JCambodia\j. The immensity of the task requires that all nations of the world join together to help restore, or at least protect, the area, which was declared a World Heritage site in 1992. \JUNESCO\j very soon felt the need to devise a global project which would include the whole of the region. To this end, it has devised the Zoning and Environment Management Program (ZEMP) whose conclusions will serve to guide future action programs.
With peace and a return to normality, the government naturally wanted to take charge of the destiny of the Angkor monuments which, henceforth, will be the responsibility of a Khmer organization called APSARA "Site Protection and Angkor Region Development Authority" under the aegis of the State Minister for Culture.
Moreover, at international level there exists an "International Coordination Committee" chaired by the French and Japanese ambassadors and comprising all the ambassadors in Phnom Penh. \JUNESCO\j is responsible for the general secretariat of this committee, which meets several times a year.
Many countries have offered on-site help: India since 1986, \JFrance\j with the French School of the Far East, \JJapan\j through Waseda University, \JIndonesia\j, \JItaly\j. Sophia University in \JTokyo\j, which joined in very early, the World Monuments Fund of New York and the Royal Foundation for Angkor of Budapest also provide considerable help. Luxembourg has also insisted on making a contribution.
In this way, the importance of the Angkor site and its marvels are being highlighted, and it is to be hoped that it can serve as a magnificent example of world solidarity in the cause of this great masterpiece of humanity.
\B\IBy Claude Jacques, reprinted from the \JUNESCO\j World Heritage Review.\i\b
#
"Mystery of the Mayas",115,0,0,0
The land on which the Mayan civilization arose and flourished is one of the most hostile that human beings may encounter anywhere on Earth. It includes large expanses of the present day \JGuatemala\j, Mexico, \JHonduras\j, \JBelize\j and El Salvador, all of which come within what geographers call the tropical lowlands; in other words, an area of thick jungle where it rains frequently and where measurements of relative air \Jhumidity\j confirm the sensation that foreigners have of being permanently drenched in sweat. The landscape itself is the best evidence that, as someone once said, in that area there is "too much life"; thousands of animal and plant species fighting for survival, reproducing and dying at a frenetic rate. But this extravagant vitality is, at the same time, deceptive and false.
The enormous \JYucatan\j Peninsula is a vast flat \Jlimestone\j slab on which a fertile layer of earth, a few centimetres (one inch) thick, made up of soil and organic residues has difficulty surviving. The soil is in permanent danger of erosion and of having its mineral content washed away due to the combined action of turbulent weather conditions and peasants anxious to obtain good harvests. Life in the jungles of Central America is always precarious, and when people arrive and form part of the \Jecosystem\j, they do so on the basis that the slightest pressure on the environment that supports them could mean their inevitable end.
Maintenance of this difficult environmental balance was the main reason behind the basic type of orientation which came to be reflected in the character of the economic and political institutions, and of course, in the religious \Jideology\j which was to distinguish the Mayan civilization.
The Mayan civilization was unique and multifarious; dozens of city-states arose in the jungle between the fourth century B.C. and the Spanish invasion, which took place almost 2,000 years later, and each of the great cities, at the head of its respective political entity, developed its own particular forms of organization and expression. The rich variety of the most brilliant of all Pre-Columbian cultures is easily demonstrated by comparing the principal monuments that have been discovered and restored at archeological sites like Tikal, \JPalenque\j or Copan.
Perhaps the best way to show clearly the extraordinary qualities of the culture that sprang up and evolved in those places, and in other equally important ones that have been declared World Heritage sites, is to present what, in our opinion, constitutes the list of enigmas of the pre-Hispanic Mayas; problems that have bothered scientists since the last century and which really need to be resolved, not only to find out more about the remote inhabitants of the \JYucatan\j Peninsula, but also to be able to understand some essential chapters of the history of humanity on earth.
\BThe challenge of a hostile natural environment\b
The first question is why did the Mayan peoples live in a hostile environment? The existence in human beings of a strong impulse to confront Nature and willingly accept, without any coercion connected with subsistence or \Jdemography\j, the challenges of a hostile land has to be recognized. This happened in \JMesopotamia\j at the dawn of civilization, and also in \JEgypt\j and southeast Asia. Just like the Olmecas had done before them in the coastal regions of the Gulf of Mexico, the Mayans withstood the challenge of the tropical jungle, and the challenge was the incentive for complex forms of social life to emerge with which they felt safe from the perils of the menacing forest.
However, the real question is not whether the Mayas lived in the jungle and constructed there a dazzling civilization, which is obvious, but rather how they achieved this. In effect, civilization demands a strong economic surplus that can be used to maintain people who cease to be food producers in order to devote themselves to government, administration, priesthood, art and \Jarchitecture\j. It also requires social \Jintegration\j and political control of large numbers of people settled over a wide area. And, of course, there is a similar need to set up a powerful system for the production and processing of information, which has to be adequately distributed.
The building, between the seventh and the ninth centuries, of a monumental city like \JPalenque\j with numerous temples and palaces and a great wealth of sculptures demanded an almost permanent workforce numbering several thousand labourers, stonemasons, quarrymen, \Jstucco\j plasterers, painters and carpenters, not to mention the army of \Jclergy\j, scribes and other specialists belonging to the privileged classes, who were also involved in the great works. However, jungle agriculture uses the slash and burn technique, which is excellently adapted and allows the forest to recover periodically, but gives very low yields per hectare since it requires very large plots, thus obliging the farmers to live far apart in an arrangement of dispersed settlements, which presents an added difficulty in achieving the social \Jintegration\j that any developed political system seeks.
The Mayas confronted this problem in two ways: firstly, through careful improvement work they brought extensive areas of flooded or marshy land into production and from it obtained large annual yields; secondly, they created a kind of political and administrative entity that was small in geographical terms and decidedly centralist, making the necessary control of the population simpler. It is for this reason that \JPalenque\j, Tikal, Copan, Quirigua, Chichen Itza and \JUxmal\j were capitals of independent kingdoms and were never united under a single power.
A Mayan empire with influence or sporadic dominion over nearby regions did not, and could not, exist. For example, Copan and Quirigua are in \JHonduras\j and \JGuatemala\j respectively, but very close and located in the basin of the Motagua River. Both were the capitals of different kingdoms whose histories are studded with the type of armed conflict typical of powerful neighbours.
The Mayas did not use the wheel or metals. They were, of course, aware of them and occasionally fitted wheels to terracotta dolls apparently meant as toys. Metals arrived from \JColombia\j and Panama or from other places in Central America, but they decided not to take advantage of these cultural elements that were so useful for transport or warfare. Only in the post-Classical Period, after the tenth century were precious metals used for religious ends and for luxurious display as has been revealed by successive explorations of the deep and murky sacred natural well or cenote at Chichen Itza where many of these objects were thrown as offerings.
However, the question is how did they manage to build such magnificent cities, such colossal buildings without metal tools? How did they manage to extend a widespread commercial network over a territory of over 300,000 square kilometres (116,000 square miles) without carts, using porters on foot and traders carried in palanquins? Throughout all the 2,000 years of their history, the Mayas remained in the Stone Age; in other words, they used Stone Age tools and utensils made of silex, \Jlimestone\j, \Jsandstone\j, wood and bone.
The gigantic pyramids of Tikal, erected in the Late Classical Period (600-900 A.D.), as much as 70 metres (230 feet) high and containing thousands of cubic metres of materials, were constructed thanks to great theoretical knowledge of \Jgeometry\j and \Jmathematics\j, and with ingenuity, a huge workforce, and draconian organization. Monumental stones 10 metres (33 feet) high and weighing several tons, like those of Quirigua, were wrenched from the quarry where they were shaped and transported on rollers, raised with levers and ropes, and finely carved with figures and hieroglyphs using silex chisels.
The Mayan civilization of the lowlands of \JGuatemala\j, \JBelize\j, \JHonduras\j and a large part of the Mexican states of Chiapas, Campeche and Quintana Roo collapsed suddenly and unexpectedly, city by city, kingdom by kingdom, between the ninth and tenth centuries. Tikal and \JPalenque\j were left to the mercy of the jungle, which took only a few years to engulf them completely, concealing them from the eyes of future travellers and explorers, who took a thousand years to rediscover them.
Huge trees grew on the great pyramid-temples of Tikal, giving them the appearance of mountains, and foliage completely blocked the path to \JPalenque\j and Quirigua. All construction work had ceased years before, and the custom of erecting commemorative stones carved with figures of governors, dates and various texts had come to a halt.
Even today, when a large part of the strange signs that make up the Mayan hieroglyphic writing system have been deciphered, and when the archeological excavations have vigorously progressed in all directions in the jungle, still no valid clue has been found to solve such a formidable mystery. Some say the reason was agricultural problems, while others quote epidemics or natural cataclysms as the cause. It has even been suggested that generalized wars or deep and mysterious religious causes are to blame, but the fact is that none of these reasons seems sufficiently convincing and, above all, there are none of the signs that one would expect to find all around the huge cities: for example, layers of ash, signs of destruction, ossuaries, skeletal malformations, signs, however slight, of the panic that must have taken hold of the thousands of inhabitants who fled from their homes.
\BLogosyllabic writing\b
It is precisely on the subject of Mayan writing that another enigma emerges. This Central American civilization was the only one in the whole of pre-Columbian America to manage to develop a type of writing equivalent to those of the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean; in other words, one that was somewhat more evolved than the modest pictographs of the indians in North America or the scarce ideograms of the other cultures in Mexico.
The Mayas possessed a logosyllabic writing system comprising phonetic signs that were similar to that of the \JEgypt\j of the Pharoahs. Not even the enormous Inca empire, which, for political and administrative reasons, was logically, in much greater need of such a useful way of recording, keeping and transmitting information, managed to develop writing like that. Nevertheless, the Mayans, their small states having a necessarily limited bureaucracy and without economic activity similar to that of \JCrete\j or \JPhoenicia\j, created a complicated universe of symbols whose only apparent aim was to praise their kings and gods. The writing covered commemorative stones, thrones, lintels, voussoirs, pillars, panels, facades, altars and a countless number of diverse objects, as well as the polychrome funeral vessels and books made out of tree bark.
The extraordinary zoomorphic "altars" of Quirigua, the wooden lintels of some of the temples at Tikal, the \Jstucco\j decoration on the walls of the Palace at \JPalenque\j, and the enormous staircase that leads up to Temple 26 at Copan with around 2,000 hieroglyphs carved into the steps, are a few good examples of the extent of the refinement of the Mayan scribes in their desire to leave proof of the world vision of their lords and priests.
\BRemarkable town planning\b
The strange layout of Mayan cities is connected with this special vision of the world. So strange does it appear to contemporary eyes that for decades researchers called them "ceremonial centres", denying them the status of true cities. The layout, communication routes between blocks of buildings, and the pedestrian traffic system are very different from those the Greeks and Romans designed, and especially from the Renaissance models that the Spanish reproduced over and over again in their American colonies.
A look at the ground plan of the great classical cities like Copan and Tikal reveals more or less diverse architectonic structures in which confusion appears to reign: buildings are isolated or connected to each other around patios and squares, and are of different sizes and orientations in a great variety of shapes and with irregular geometric plans and different heights, sometimes clumped in variegated "acropolis". There are no straight roads that would inevitably lead from one side to another, bring some order to the buildings, and facilitate the movement of people; no avenues intersect at right angles. In short, it is a random arrangement, which, one might venture to say, is the result of constant changes of mind as regards the functions and meaning of the constructions.
Archeologists have, however, proved irrefutably that the places where the main body of the Mayan population lived are true cities. Firstly, because they more than fulfil the ends recognized in these human works; for example, to be the monumental seat of political and ideological power and the centre of state administration. And, secondly, because it was there that a large number of people, sometimes over 50,000 inhabitants, were concentrated, organized in strata according to different ranks and specialized occupations.
All these things complete the list of conditions usually required to distinguish a city from other kinds of settlements. What needs to be explained, therefore, is why the Mayan cities have this strange appearance; a difficult question, to which, for the time being, the only answer is to state that town planning of any kind fulfils the needs of the people who are destined to live in the finished product. We might describe these needs as fundamentally symbolic, besides being corporate and ritual ones; in other words, they are connected with the idea the Mayas had of the cosmos in which they were immersed. What doubt is there that, like any other artistic manifestation, a city is, above all, a representation and that, in the case of the ancient Mayas, we still do not have the overall picture of their ideas concerning society, nature and the outside world.
\BDivine monarchies\b
Finally, the seventh pillar is the type of government that the Mayan communities adopted from the Classical Period in the first centuries of our time. It is obvious that when society feels threatened by serious dangers, and when survival itself is unpredictable from one day to the next, the type of political regime is a key factor in ensuring the group's stability and even people's survival.
This was what happened in the jungles with a precarious agricultural system (the undisputed basis of survival) that provoked ferocious competition between communities, and which released a shattering centrifugal force as it required a model of scattered rural settlement. The frequent wars, the need for a large docile workforce to carry out public works, and the efficient organization of a tribute system all appeared to contrive to favour centralized and absolutist governments in which power was exerted despotically without consideration or debate.
Indeed, what their art reveals in sculpture and painting, and what the hieroglyphic inscriptions proclaim, lead to the supposition that the Mayas were governed by divine monarchs, their kings being regarded as gods and descendants of gods, enveloped in prohibitions and taboos. They were sacred beings, as were their families; all powerful like the Sun God whom they claimed to emulate as givers of life and sustenance to their subjects. That is how they appear to us, in glory and majesty on the beautiful commemorative stones of Quirigua and Copan, almost weighed down by their adornments and symbols, in the apotheosis of the lintels at Tikal and on the \Jstucco\j reliefs of \JPalenque\j.
It is in the tomb of the Temple of the Inscriptions in the city of \JPalenque\j that King Pacal was depicted, on his death, converted into a god as a source of all fertility and all life. But endless examples exist as the Mayan civilization flourished for thousands of years thanks, above all, to the strength of the political system of its city-states and its capacity to integrate. Thus, the real mystery is the surprising and fruitful connection between a despotic government and the hopefulness and enthusiasm that the Mayas displayed for life in the face of the hostile climate, voracious jungle, diseases, wild animals and all the merciless human enemies that surrounded them.
In the mystery of the Mayas, as in others that stud the history of ancient civilizations, there is a lesson to be gleaned: that the success of societies and the happiness of their peoples do not depend on set general formulas, be they political, economic or religious, but rather on the humble manner in which they manage to link their destiny to the humours of space and time, to the direction of the winds and the rain, to the signs that can be read in the stars, and to the changing fortunes of the short history of the earth on which they live.
\B\IBy Miguel Rivera Dorada, reprinted from the \JUNESCO\j World Heritage Review\i\b
#
"Wetlands",116,0,0,0
One year before the \JUNESCO\j General Conference adopted in 1972 the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, the most important international instrument for wetland protection came into force within UNESCO's MAR Project: the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat, better known as the Ramsar Convention.
The Convention's definition of wetlands is very wide as it includes "areas of marsh, fen, peatland and water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres (20 feet)". This permits the inclusion of very varied habitats, including rivers, coastal areas, and even rocky shores and \Jcoral\j reefs.
Solid scientific and economic arguments support the scientific world's concern about these wetlands. The latter constitute one of the most productive ecosystems in the world. They can produce eight times more plant material than a field of wheat. They supply humanity with enormous economic benefits as over two-thirds of the world's fish catches originate in wetlands. Moreover, besides guaranteeing the maintenance of the level of underground water in very important agricultural areas, controlling the spate of rivers and stabilizing coastlines, they are an irreplaceable natural purifier of polluted river water, etc.
And as if this were not enough, wetlands constitute the basic habitat of water birds as well as of numerous species of mammals, amphibians, reptiles, fish and thousands of invertebrates. Wetlands are indispensable for the survival of migratory birds, and become the last refuge for many seriously threatened plant and animal species.
Extremely important though they are, it is also necessary to stress the fragility of these ecosystems, which are seriously threatened by water \Jpollution\j and over-exploitation of the species that live in them.
Natural sites made up of wetlands could not be left out of the World Heritage List. The following is a list of wetland areas that have been declared World Heritage Sites.
\BWorld Heritage Wetlands\b
The \JEverglades\j National Park (USA)
Donana National Park (Spain)
The Danube Delta (Romania)
Djoudj Bird Sanctuary (Senegal)
Banc d'Arguin (Mauritania)
Ichkeul National Park (Tunisia)
The Sunderbans National Park (India)
Keoladeo National Park (India)
Shark Bay (Australia)
\B\IReprinted from the \JUNESCO\j World Heritage Review\i\b
#
"World Heritage Site in danger: Virunga",117,0,0,0
One of the great tragedies in the history of modern day conservation is occurring in Zaire's Virunga National Park. As is widely known, the overall situation in the country of Zaire is difficult and unstable, and Virunga has not been immune from the general decline of government services and civil disturbances. The loss of integrity of the park was brought to the attention of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee by IUCN in 1993. The following year the Committee took the serious step of inscribing the site on the List of World Heritage in Danger.
Before outlining the problems that Virunga is facing, a short description of the nature of the site is in order. Located in north-east Zaire and bordering both \JUganda\j and \JRwanda\j, Virunga is one of Africa's oldest national parks, having been established in 1925. The 790,000 hectare park (for comparison, Donana National Park in \JSpain\j is 51,000 ha) is the most scenically and biologically diverse in all of Africa.
In the northern sector of Virunga are the Rwenzori Mountains (the "Mountains of the Moon") which are shared with \JUganda\j. From the glacier-covered 5,000 metre (16,500 feet) summits, the park extends down through montane, \Jbamboo\j and \Jrainforest\j to extensive savannah plains and \Jacacia\j woodlands. Within Virunga are lakes which are part of Africa's two great river systems (the Nile and the Congo). There are areas of wetlands as well as active volcanoes. In short, unmatched topographical diversity and exceptional scenic beauty occur in this park.
All this habitat variety is associated with a wealth of wild animal species. Virunga provides space not only for primates, such as chimpanzees and gorillas in the mountain forests, but also abundant plains game such as lion, \Jkob\j, warthog and buffalo. Other mammals which thrive in the park are hippos (23,000) and elephant (over 3,000). Virunga's bird-life is also rich with many rare species such as shoebill stork. One can only be struck with the awesome concentration of nature in one place. It was as if a sample of all of Africa's wild landscapes and wildlife was combined in one place.
But Virunga National Park today is but a shadow of its former self, a victim of various forces that are affecting many such protected areas in Africa today. These include the increase in human demographic pressure around the park, excessive poaching, civil unrest, political instability, and economic malaise.
\BHuman pressures\b
The land surrounding Virunga has experienced major human population growth over the past 25 years. Even the game reserve surrounding the park which served as a buffer zone has been invaded and settled. Virunga has become an island of nature in a sea of subsistence cultivation, with attendant pressures from hundreds of villages just outside its borders.
Related to the build-up of the peripheral human population is the growth of two fishing villages inside the park, which have more than doubled in size over the past decade to 20,000 people. This presents an enormous problem for park management in terms of over-exploitation of the waters of the lakes in the park, poaching for meat near the villages, and growing commercial traffic through the park.
\BPoaching\b
Poaching is a problem in most parks in Africa, but in Virunga it has been particularly severe. To date, the larger animals have been most affected with elephants now virtually extirpated from the park and hippo numbers reduced to less than half their former number. One ranger patrol recently found an abandoned poacher's camp with the remains of 115 hippos (only one animal remained in the pool) and a mound of buffalo carcasses "too numerous to count". Even more disturbing was the poaching of three mountain gorillas in the park in August 1995, the first such incident in a decade.
Poaching in Virunga is facilitated by the availability of \Jfirearms\j and the presence of military forces with their automatic weapons. While on patrol with park rangers, we encountered several army officers who had just killed a hippo with their Kalashnikov automatics. With no matching firepower, we were reluctant to make any seizure and made a hasty retreat.
\BPark management\b
Parks require funding to maintain them and Virunga has suffered from the general breakdown in government administration. Salaries had not been paid for over a year, and various donor agencies have had to reimburse rangers so that they could provide for their families and return to work. There was a continuing shortage of vehicles and equipment, and the previously famous research station has fallen into total disrepair.
What little revenue the park did receive through tourism has all but disappeared, especially after five Italian visitors were killed by robbers last summer.
\BRwandan refugees\b
To add further to the general political instability and lack of government services, conditions in Virunga worsened considerably in mid-1994 when the disturbances in \JRwanda\j led to a mass refugee in-flux into Zaire. Apart from the humanitarian tragedy, this has had a great negative effect on the park. Almost a million refugees were camped within walking distance of the park near Goma. Some, including former Rwandan military personnel, live in camps inside the park. Some 40,000 refugees were entering the park every day to collect fuelwood and wildlife products. It was estimated that as many as 770 tons of forest products were taken out of the park on a daily basis. Over 300 square kilometres (115 square miles) of the park had been deforested by the end of 1994 and the destruction was spreading.
Relief agencies, overwhelmed by the refugees, had to establish a 6,000 square metre (65,000 square feet) "defecation zone" inside the park. Medical wastes were being dumped here as well, and disease transmission to wildlife was a serious additional threat.
\BA future for Virunga?\b
Against this brief outline of the negative impacts on Virunga, what are the prospects for relieving the desperate situation and restoring the park? Aid agencies, the European Union and UNDP, as well as conservation donors such as WWF and the World Heritage Fund, have provided some assistance. There is little, however, that can be done until the refugee crisis is over and a more stable administrative structure can be put in place.
Meanwhile, efforts to reinforce daily park management efforts are being undertaken and political resolution of the refugee issue is awaited. A major rehabilitation effort will have to eventually be undertaken with the help of the international community. What will remain of the park by then apart from a landscape with only remnant wildlife?
Nevertheless, there is some measure of hope, as experience has shown from other heavily poached parks in Africa. Animal populations, if protected, can recover and/or be re-introduced. Regional land-use strategies can be developed where national parks become major economic generators, which benefit local populations. At least a decade and millions of dollars in external support will be needed, however, if Virunga is to be taken off the Danger List and restored to its former position as one of Africa's "Nobel prize" parks.
\B\IBy Jim Thorsell, reprinted from \JUNESCO\j World Heritage Review\i\b
#
"Pilgrim Route to Santiago de Compostela",118,0,0,0
Around the year 814 a hermit named Pelayo saw flashes of light and showers of stars for several days above a hill near the place where he lived. He informed the Bishop of Iria Flavia of these strange unearthly phenomena and, on visiting the place, the good Bishop Teodomiro discovered the tomb of Saint James, the \JApostle\j. The bishop informed King Alfonso II, the Chaste, of the extraordinary find and he, in turn, ordered a small stone and clay \Jbasilica\j to be built. That was how Compostela, the "field of stars", came into being.
The Asturian monarch soon gave the news to the Pope and the all-important discovery of the remains of one of Christ's most direct witnesses spread rapidly throughout Christendom. The fame of Saint James and of Compostela was not however, confined within Christian borders. Just 30 years later, the Arab poet and philosopher Algazal, who was born in Jaen, would write "Their kaaba is a colossal idol placed in the middle of the church; they swear by it and from far and wide, from \JRome\j and other countries, they make their way there on pilgrimages and claim that the grave inside is that of Saint James, one of the twelve apostles and the most beloved of Isa (Jesus). The blessing and salutation of God descends upon it and upon our prophet".
However, the first pilgrimage for which historic evidence exists is the one that Bishop Gotescaldo undertook with some of his flock in 950. Setting out from Le Puy in \JFrance\j, they managed to reach the tomb to worship there.
\BThe University of the Middle Ages\b
Others soon followed on the heels of Gotescaldo and his little band. Faith, a spirit of adventure and a fascination for the unknown overcame the fear many Europeans felt on crossing onto Spanish territory, having to pass through the little Christian kingdoms that were crammed together along a narrow band between the Cantabrian Sea to the North and the vague frontier with \JIslam\j to the South, which often moved one way or another depending on the impetus of the Reconquest and Muslim retaliation.
By the eleventh century the pilgrimage to Compostela was already an established event, and this meant that specific itineraries began to be devised for the thousands of believers, who came from all over Christendom, including places very distant from that green corner of \JGalicia\j. Evidence from Scandinavian pilgrims and the Santiago de Compostela-like streets of Troy or \JJerusalem\j are a reminder that pilgrims from Anatolia and the Holy Land found lodging in hostelries there. The Great \JHospital\j of Roncesvalles is known, moreover, to have distributed 30,000 meals in one year.
It was then that the Order of Cluny, that "refuge of learning" with its 1,500 monasteries and more than 50,000 monks throughout the whole of Europe, turned its attention to the Pilgrimage. The Cluny Benedictines marked out the roads to Compostela in the Old World in an operation the like of which had never before been seen in Europe. They built bridges, monasteries and hospitals in which the bodies and minds of pilgrims could find relief, channelling them along safe routes in relation to the fluctuating border with the Moors to the South.
The twelfth century heralded the golden age of the Pilgrimage. A papal bull issued by Calixtus II, an avid follower of Saint James, universally proclaimed the privilege of the Compostela Jubilee (even earlier than the Roman one). The jubilee years were ones when special pardons and indulgences were issued to those who managed to reach the apostle's grave. The pilgrimage to Compostela thus became, along with those to \JRome\j and \JJerusalem\j, one of the three major pilgrimages that a Christian could make in his or her lifetime.
In 1131 in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela the French cleric Aymeric Picaud handed over the famous Codex Calixtinus, one of whose books contains what has been dubbed "the first guide book to the Pilgrim Route". It includes an extremely detailed description of what pilgrims would find along the way to Compostela if they followed stage by stage the route described. Funded by Cluny, the Picaud "guidebook" meant official recognition and definitive support for a specific route, which was also known as the "French Route".
It came to be the main one as it was the safest, best known and best maintained, thus becoming the authentic Pilgrim Route to Santiago de Compostela. It entered \JSpain\j via Somport in Huesca or via Roncesvalles in Navarre after absorbing the entire flow of pilgrims from Europe, then it crossed \JFrance\j along four principal roads and reached Compostela once the two Spanish arms had joined up in the vicinity of Puente la Reina in Navarre. It subsequently passed over the pleasant region of La \JRioja\j, the severe Castillian steppe, the harsh mountains of Leon, and the green meadows of \JGalicia\j, making its way down towards Compostela and Finisterre.
In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the great Pilgrimage cathedrals were built in \JSpain\j and \JFrance\j; Romanesque in the former and Gothic in the latter, in many cases they replaced former buildings due to the need to accommodate the floods of pilgrims that in one direction or another were travelling the Route. The paths of saints, crooks, emperors, alchemists, criminals, murderers, kings, queens, pedlars, cardinals, minstrels, gentlemen, bishops, necromancers, thinkers, ladies of high rank, clerics, writers and all manner of rogues crossed and recrossed over the thousand kilometres of the Pilgrim Route that lay within \JSpain\j.
The Pilgrim Route thus became an important place for the exchange of ideas, knowledge, artistic trends and technical discoveries, that was unparalleled in the Middle Ages. Europe infiltrated \JSpain\j along the Pilgrim Way while \JSpain\j revealed to Europe Mozarabism, Mudejar culture and the wisdom and knowledge of the civilization of \JIslam\j.
Pilgrimages to Compostela continued until the sixteenth century when the religious wars besetting Europe, \JProtestantism\j and the discovery of America emptied the old European streets of pilgrims. It was then that the last real works destined for the Pilgrimage were carried out. Saint Mark's \JHospital\j in Leon and the \JHospital\j of the Catholic Kings in Compostela itself are examples. Later, came the period of obscurity during which, despite everything, the silent progress of a few pilgrims provided proof that the Route was still alive.
\B"The Boulevard of Europe"\b
However, a thousand years after Gotescaldo made his pilgrimage, things are changing. In the middle of the twentieth century the Pilgrim Route again stirred the emotions of a growing number of Europeans. What had been an incipient renaissance in the sixties, experienced a great increase in the eighties and became an explosion in the nineties. Nowadays in summertime, for a variety of reasons, thousands of Europeans on foot or on bicycles take to the age-old route to the stars. Old traditions have been revived.
Thus, the Belgian legal system is redeeming a few minor felonies if the criminal agrees to make a voluntary pilgrimage on foot to Compostela, as used to occur in the Middle Ages. The convicts travel with a police officer-pilgrim, who also has to walk the Route and, once in Compostela, the latter frees his fellow pilgrims, giving them some money to return to their home country as free citizens. Europeans from all walks of life are again mingling on the old Pilgrim Route.
The strength of the Pilgrim Way has given rise to several associations of "Friends of the Pilgrim Route", based not only near it but all over Europe. These associations are proving to be important as regards yard-by-yard identification, protection, signposting and conservation of the Route. Moreover, in an extraordinary gesture, some of its members disinterestedly give up part of their holidays to provide hospitality at key points where pilgrims need most attention. The importance that the Pilgrim Route is regaining, nowadays, for Christians was confirmed in 1989 when Pope John Paul II made a pilgrimage on foot over the last few yards. It was the first time that one of Peter's successors had made such a pilgrimage to prostrate himself before the remains of Saint James.
The validity and importance of the Pilgrim Route is such that in 1987 the Council of Europe awarded it the category of First Cultural Itinerary in Europe, and \JUNESCO\j declared it part of the World Heritage in 1993.
\BDimensions of the Pilgrim Route\b
The first thing that catches the attention of anyone walking the Route today is the art that has arisen along its sides. All that the Route deposits in its wake or exudes as it evaporates into towns and cities is captured artistically in stone. Romanesque Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassical styles flourish in hermitages, churches, bridges, hospitals and palaces, making the Pilgrim Route an artistic phenomenon unparalleled not only in \JSpain\j but also in Europe.
However, among all those artistic styles, Romanesque holds pride of place on the Pilgrim Route to such a degree that it appears as the graphic representation of the latter. Romanesque and the Pilgrim Route represent perfect symbiosis such that the Romanesque style confers on the Route all its expressive force, while, to a great extent, the Route provides Romanesque with its extraordinary \Jsymbolism\j. Nowadays, the Route would be inconceivable without Romanesque, and a substantial part of European Romanesque would be diminished without the vital input that the Route provides.
The Pilgrim Way was becoming established at the same time as the first buildings were going up in the new style in \JFrance\j. One day in the middle of the eleventh century a monk from Cluny crossed the Somport pass with new ideas on \Jarchitecture\j perfectly clear in his mind. He spoke about them to kings, abbots and deans, and managed to convince them. At that time Cluny obliged builders' \Jguilds\j to cross the \JPyrenees\j and set up others on Spanish soil. Perhaps it was in Jaca, right next to Somport, that Romanesque buildings were constructed for the first time.
However, almost at the same time, in Santo Domingo de la Calzada, Fromista, Leon and Compostela, and somewhat later in \JPamplona\j, very closely interconnected builders' \Jguilds\j constructed courses, arches and, for the first time, produced sculpted carvings to the great astonishment of the people on the Pilgrim Route. Offshoots of the first \Jguilds\j were soon working not only along the Route, but also in the new lands won back from the Moors where people wanted to replace the minarets with towers and bell gables as soon as possible.
Such was the communicative force of the Pilgrim Route that almost at the same time as the great cathedral was going up in Santiago de Compostela, four other great buildings were taking shape on French soil at other important points on the Route: Saint Martin in Tours, Saint Martial in Limoges, Sainte Foi in Conques and Saint Sernin in \JToulouse\j. All of them share a common denominator and appearance since they all have large well-carved facades, and their interiors are enlarged with triforia elevated above the naves and with ambulatories behind the high alter. This is what has been called great international Romanesque, an established Romanesque in complete control of all technical resources and with such inner strength that it spilled over onto facades and portals, filling them with exultant carvings in its desire to impart to humanity the religious message overflowing within it.
Such is the coherence of the Romanesque that grew on and out of the Route, and which is known as "Pilgrimage Romanesque".
\BRoad of Stars\b
However, the unity that inspires the Route is not limited solely to Romanesque art, which is an integral part of it. Numerous studies being carried out today on the Pilgrim Way from the most diverse perspectives (religious, artistic, cultural, anthropological, folkloric, ecological, botanical and gastronomic) show that the Route owes its unity to something higher that encapsulates the remaining points of view. These are none other than the facets of the vast \Jpolyhedron\j that makes up the Pilgrim Route. The \Jpolyhedron\j has, moreover, a hidden dimension, which is precisely what makes the Route transcendental and gives it a coherence and unity beyond partial approximations from any other point of view. This hidden dimension exists because the Pilgrim Route is the analogical reflection on Earth of the natural order of the macrocosmos.
The relationship between Compostela and the Route and the stars has existed from time immemorial. The name of the former is derived from the stars, and the second has always been identified with the Milky Way. The Route is the transposition on Earth of the Pilgrim Route in the Heavens (as the Milky Way is still known in some places), and Compostela in \JGalicia\j is none other than the analogy of the celestial Compostela that awaits all Christians at the end of their pilgrimage since any pilgrim (literally "foreigner") knows that this is the image of his passage through life. Thus, we enter a world of transcendencies, of symbols, which is what gives the Pilgrim Route its universality and its extraordinary strength.
But the Pilgrim Route leads to Compostela, at the centre of which stands the cathedral in whose sancta sanctorum is the apostle's tomb. We are faced, therefore, with one of those Russian doll puzzles comprising Milky Way, Pilgrim Route, Compostela, cathedral, grave, in which each part is not only similar to the rest but also contains, and is in turn contained by, others.
This progressive reduction in scale is like a cosmic zoom lens, which finally focuses on the tomb of Saint James the \JApostle\j, a holy place to which the sacred \Jgeography\j of the Route leads. When pilgrims make their prescribed journey in a Compostelan Holy Year, they will find the "Puerta Santa" of the cathedral open and the way clear to the grave, a veritable "omphalos" characterized, like its fellows, by its vertical dimension which brings those who find themselves on that spot in touch with the Most High.
\B\IBy Jaime Cobreros, reprinted from the \JUNESCO\j World Heritage Review\b\i
#
"New World Heritage Sites",119,0,0,0
On December 8, 1995, during the course of its nineteenth session held in Berlin, \JGermany\j, the World Heritage Committee agreed on the inclusion of 29 new sites (23 cultural and 6 natural) in the World Heritage List. These additions brought the number on the list to 469.
\BNew Cultural Sites\b
\BCanada\b
Lunenburg Old Town, founded in 1763, is a remarkable example of British colonial \Jarchitecture\j in North America with its chessboard layout and wooden houses. The Neogothic church of St. John, built in 1754, is evidence of remarkable skill in the use of this material .
\BColombia\b
Historic Centre of Santa Cruz de Mompox, founded in 1540 on the banks of the River Magdalena, bears witness to the harmony and unity of the urban landscape of the Spanish colonial period. Most of the buildings have preserved their original functions to the present day.
National Archeological Park of Tierradientro possesses monumental statues of people and numerous underground tombs, or hypogea, dating from between the sixth and tenth centuries. They are evidence of the complexity and cultural wealth of a pre-hispanic society of the northern \JAndes\j. These tombs were often decorated with motifs copied from the interior decoration of dwellings of the period.
San Agustin Archeological Park holds the largest collection of religious and megalithic sculptures in South America. It is a product of a northern Andean culture that flourished between the first and eighth centuries. The sculptures represent divinities and animals from \Jmythology\j in different styles varying from abstract to realism.
\BChile\b
Rapa Nui National Park, also known as Isla de Pascua (Easter Island), contains gigantic human figures in stone known as moais. They date from the tenth to the sixteenth centuries and are the work of a society of Polynesian origin. These figures are evidence of a society that goes back to the year 300 and constitute a cultural phenomenon unique in the world.
\BDenmark\b
Roskilde Cathedral dates from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and was the first brick-built Gothic cathedral in Scandinavia and the source of inspiration that led to the development of this style throughout Northern Europe. The features that were added up to the end of the nineteenth century represent a summary of the evolution of European religious \Jarchitecture\j. It has been the \Jmausoleum\j of the Danish royal family since the fifteenth century.
\BFrance\b
Historic Centre of Avignon is dominated by the beautiful example of Gothic \Jarchitecture\j known as the Palace of the Popes. The city was the seat of the papacy in the fourteenth century. Nowadays, the Small Palace and a Romanesque cathedral overlook the adjoining square and, together with the Palace of the Popes, make up an exceptional collection of monuments that also include the city walls and the remains of a twelfth century bridge over the Rhone.
\BItaly\b
Historic Centre of Siena is the perfect picture of a medieval city and was planned as a work of art integrated into the surrounding landscape. It has conserved the appearance it acquired between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries when artists such as Duccio, the Lorenzetti brothers and Simone Martini lived there.
Historic Centre of Naples bears the imprint of the cultures that have succeeded each other in the Mediterranean basin. Founded by Greek colonists in 470 B.C., it contains, amongst other remarkable monuments, the Church of Santa Chiara and the Castel Nuovo (New Castle).
Crespi d'Adda represents an exceptional example of the "worker towns" that were erected in Europe and in the United States in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. These towns express the philosophy of eminent industrialists who wanted to satisfy the needs of their workers. Crespi d'Adda is still intact and partially preserves its industrial function. However, future developments in its economic and social situation represent a threat to its survival.
Ferrara, a Renaissance City was an intellectual and artistic centre that attracted the greatest minds of the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Piero della Francesca, Jacopo Bellini and Mantegna decorated the palaces of the Casa de Este. Biagio Rossetti built a great many parts of the city according to the new principles of perspective, thus creating a humanistic concept of town planning.
\BJapan\b
Historic Villages of Shirakawago and Gokoyama are made up of great houses with sloping thatched roofs not found elsewhere outside of \JJapan\j. The villages of Ogimachi, Ainokura and Suganuma, located in an isolated mountainous region, represent exceptional examples of a traditional way of life that merged into its environment.
\BLao People's Democratic Republic\b
Town of Luang Prabang is an exceptional example of the fusion of traditional \Jarchitecture\j and urban structures planned by the European colonial authorities in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The unique urban landscape, which is especially well preserved, illustrates an important stage in the blending of these two different cultural traditions.
\BThe Netherlands\b
Schokland and its Surroundings were evacuated during the floods of 1859. The area has formed part of the land reclaimed from the sea ever since the draining of the Zuiderzee in the 1940s. There are vestiges of human occupation going back to pre-history.
\BThe Philippines\b
The Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras have, over the last 2,000 years, blended with the caves of the high mountains of the Ifugao. Nowadays, they are part of a very beautiful landscape where it is possible to appreciate the harmony that has been preserved over generations between people and their environment.
\BPortugal\b
Cultural Landscape of Sintra became an important site for Romantic \Jarchitecture\j in the twentieth century. It contains a monastery that Fernando II converted into a castle in which Gothic features blend with Egyptian, Arab and Renaissance. The beautiful residences and unique collection of parks and gardens influenced the development of landscapes in Europe.
\BRepublic of Korea\b
Sokkuram Grotto, associated with the Temple of Pulguksa, makes up an exceptionally valuable collection of religious \Jarchitecture\j. Restored in the eighth century on the slopes of T'oham Mountain, the cave encloses a monumental statue of the \JBuddha\j which, with its representations of the divinities, of the \JBodhisattva\j and the disciples around him, constitutes a masterpiece of Buddhist art.
The Temple of Haeinsa Changgyong P'ango and the Depositories for the Korean Tripitaka Woodblocks hold the world's most complete collection of Buddhist texts that were engraved on 80,000 small woodblocks in the thirteenth century. The fifteenth century buildings of Changgyong P'ango, which were destined to house these blocks, are equally revered as an exceptional work of art, revealing great skill in conservation techniques.
Chongmyo Shrine is the oldest and most authentic of the royal Confucian shrines to have survived to the present day. Situated in Seoul, it holds tablets containing the teachings of members of the former royal family. This sixteenth century shrine constitutes the backdrop for ritual ceremonies involving music, song and dance dating back to the fourteenth century.
\BThe Czech Republic\b
Kutna Hora - Historic Town Centre, Church of Santa Barbara and Cathedral of Our Lady of Sedlec nestle in a preserved medieval urban setting remarkable for the wealth of its private houses. When it became a royal city in the fourteenth century, Kutna Hora was augmented with monuments like the Gothic Church of Santa Barbara and the Baroque Cathedral of Our Lady of Sedlec.
\BSweden\b
The Hanseatic Town of Visby, a former Viking site on the island of Gotland, was, from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries, the main centre of the Hanseatic League, an association of trading cities in Northern Europe. Its thirteenth century walls and trading halls make it the best preserved fortified trading city in Northern Europe.
\BUnited Kingdom\b
Old and New Towns of Edinburgh harmoniously blend together the old city, dominated by a medieval fortress, and a new Neo-classical part. Capital of Scotland since the fifteenth century, Edinburgh possesses many buildings of great historical value and has a great influence on European town planning.
\BUruguay\b
Historic Quarter of the City of Colonia del Sacramento is an example of the fusion of Portuguese, Spanish and Neocolonial styles. Founded by the Portuguese in 1680 on the River Plata, it was a strategic outpost of the Latin America empire.
\BNew Natural Sites\b
\BGermany\b
Messel Pit Fossil Site has exceptionally well-preserved fossils which provide unique information on the initial stages of \Jmammal\j evolution. It is considered to be the most important place in terms of knowledge about the living world during the Eocene between 57 and 36 million years ago.
\BCanada/United States\b
The Waterton \JGlacier\j International Peace Park is made up of two national parks situated on each side of the Canada-U.S. border. Legally designated as the first International Peace Park in the world, it is characterized by magnificent landscapes, an exceptional wealth of plant and \Jmammal\j species, and \Jalpine\j and glacial features.
\BUnited States\b
Carlsbad Caverns National Park is made up of a karst network of eighty one caves remarkable for the number, diversity and beauty of their mineral structures. The Lechuguilla cave, in particular, constitutes an underground laboratory in which geological processes can be studied in an almost pristine environment.
\BRussian Federation\b
Virgin Forests of Komi include one of the most extensive areas of still virgin boreal woodland in Europe. Covering 3.28 million hectares (8.1 million acres) of \Jtundra\j in the Urals, these immense stretches of \Jconifer\j, \Jpoplar\j, birch, peat bogs, river banks and pristine lakes represent magnificent evidence of the natural processes affecting the region's \Jbiodiversity\j.
\BHungary/Slovakia\b
The Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst are an extremely rare combination of tropical and glacial climatic effects. The 712 caves form a typical temperate zone karst system, allowing the study of several tens of millions of years of geological history.
\BUnited Kingdom\b
The Isle of Gough Wildlife Reserve is one of the least disturbed island ecosystems in cold temperate zones. Situated in the South Atlantic, it is the habitat of one of the most important seabird colonies in the world, as well as two species of land birds and twelve endemic plant species.
\IReprinted from the \JUNESCO\j World Heritage Review\i
