https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/757Sceilg Mhichíl is an outstanding, and in many respects unique, example of an early religious settlement deliberately sited on a pyramidal rock in the ocean, preserved because of a remarkable environment. It illustrates, as no other property can, the extremes of a Christian monasticism characterizing much of North Africa, the Near East, and Europe. 2024-05-14 WHS cowpoke
Historic Centre of Oporto [oˈpoɾ.tu], Luiz [luˈiʃ] I Bridge and Monastery of Serra do Pilar [ˈsɛ.ʁɐ du piˈlaɾ] - Portugal
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/755The city of Oporto, built along the hillsides overlooking the mouth of the Douro river, is an outstanding urban landscape with a 2,000-year history. Its continuous growth, linked to the sea (the Romans gave it the name Portus, or port), can be seen in the many and varied monuments, from the cathedral with its Romanesque choir, to the neoclassical Stock Exchange and the typically Portuguese Manueline-style Church of Santa Clara. 2024-05-14 WHS cowpoke
Lake Baikal [ˈbaɪ.kəl; Байкал] - Russian Federation
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/754Situated in south-east Siberia, the 3.15-million-ha Lake Baikal is the oldest (25 million years) and deepest (1,700 m) lake in the world. It contains 20% of the world's total unfrozen freshwater reserve. Known as the 'Galapagos of Russia', its age and isolation have produced one of the world's richest and most unusual freshwater faunas, which is of exceptional value to evolutionary science. 2024-05-14 WHS cowpoke
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/753Essaouira is an exceptional example of a late-18th-century fortified town, built according to the principles of contemporary European military architecture in a North African context. Since its foundation, it has been a major international trading seaport, linking Morocco and its Saharan hinterland with Europe and the rest of the world. 2024-05-13 WHS cowpoke
Verla [ˈʋerlɑ] Groundwood and Board Mill - Finland
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/751The Verla groundwood and board mill and its associated residential area is an outstanding, remarkably well-preserved example of the small-scale rural industrial settlements associated with pulp, paper and board production that flourished in northern Europe and North America in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Only a handful of such settlements survive to the present day. 2024-05-13 WHS cowpoke
Ancient __Ksour__ [ksuːr] of Ouadane [wɑdæn], Chinguetti [ʃiŋɡitːi], Tichitt [tiːʃitː] and Oualata [wælætæ] - Mauritania [ˌmɔrɪˈteɪniə] (speaks Arabic)
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/750Founded in the 11th and 12th centuries to serve the caravans crossing the Sahara, these trading and religious centres became focal points of Islamic culture. They have managed to preserve an urban fabric that evolved between the 12th and 16th centuries. Typically, houses with patios crowd along narrow streets around a mosque with a square minaret. They illustrate a traditional way of life centred on the nomadic culture of the people of the western Sahara. 2024-05-13 WHS cowpoke
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/749This transnational extension (Benin, Burkina Faso) to the W National Park of Niger, inscribed in 1996 on the World Heritage List, cover a major expanse of intact Sudano-Sahelian savannah, with vegetation types including grasslands, shrub lands, wooded savannah and extensive gallery forests. It includes the largest and most important continuum of terrestrial, semi-aquatic and aquatic ecosystems in the West African savannah belt. The property is a refuge for wildlife species that have disappeared WHS cowpoke
Historic Quarter of the City of Colonia del Sacramento [koˈlonja ðel sakɾaˈmento] - Uruguay (speaks Spanish)
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/747Founded by the Portuguese in 1680 on the Río de la Plata, the city was of strategic importance in resisting the Spanish. After being disputed for a century, it was finally lost by its founders. The well-preserved urban landscape illustrates the successful fusion of the Portuguese, Spanish and post-colonial styles. 2024-05-12 WHS cowpoke
San Agustín [san aɣusˈtin] Archaeological Park - Colombia
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/744The largest group of religious monuments and megalithic sculptures in South America stands in a wild, spectacular landscape. Gods and mythical animals are skilfully represented in styles ranging from abstract to realist. These works of art display the creativity and imagination of a northern Andean culture that flourished from the 1st to the 8th century. 2024-05-12 WHS cowpoke
National Archeological Park of Tierradentro [ˌtjeraˈðentɾo] - Colombia
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/743Several monumental statues of human figures can be seen in the park, which also contains many hypogea dating from the 6th to the 10th century. These huge underground tombs (some burial chambers are up to 12 m wide) are decorated with motifs that reproduce the internal decor of homes of the period. They reveal the social complexity and cultural wealth of a pre-Hispanic society in the northern Andes. 2024-05-11 WHS cowpoke
Historic Centre of Santa Cruz de Mompox [ˈsanta kɾus de momˈpos] - Colombia
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/742Founded in 1540 on the banks of the River Magdalena, Mompox played a key role in the Spanish colonization of northern South America. From the 16th to the 19th century the city developed parallel to the river, with the main street acting as a dyke. The historic centre has preserved the harmony and unity of the urban landscape. Most of the buildings are still used for their original purposes, providing an exceptional picture of what a Spanish colonial city was like. 2024-05-11 WHS cowpoke
Old Town Lunenburg [ˈluːnəbɜːrɡ] - Canada
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/741Lunenburg is the best surviving example of a planned British colonial settlement in North America. Established in 1753, it has retained its original layout and overall appearance, based on a rectangular grid pattern drawn up in the home country. The inhabitants have managed to safeguard the city's identity throughout the centuries by preserving the wooden architecture of the houses, some of which date from the 18th century. 2024-05-11 WHS cowpoke
Gough [ɡʌf] and Inaccessible Islands - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/740The site, located in the south Atlantic, is one of the least-disrupted island and marine ecosystems in the cool temperate zone. The spectacular cliffs of Gough and Inaccessible Islands, towering above the ocean, are free of introduced mammals and home to one of the world’s largest colonies of sea birds. Gough Island is home to two endemic species of land birds, the gallinule and the Gough rowettie, as well as to 12 endemic species of plants, while Inaccessible Island boasts two birds, eight plan WHS cowpoke
Schokland [ˈsxɔklɑnt] and Surroundings - Netherlands (Kingdom of the)
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/739Schokland was a peninsula that by the 15th century had become an island. Occupied and then abandoned as the sea encroached, it had to be evacuated in 1859. But following the draining of the Zuider Zee, it has, since the 1940s, formed part of the land reclaimed from the sea. Schokland has vestiges of human habitation going back to prehistoric times. It symbolizes the heroic, age-old struggle of the people of the Netherlands against the encroachment of the waters. 2024-05-10 WHS cowpoke
Jongmyo [tɕoŋmjo] Shrine - Republic of Korea
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/738Jongmyo is the oldest and most authentic of the Confucian royal shrines to have been preserved. Dedicated to the forefathers of the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), the shrine has existed in its present form since the 16th century and houses tablets bearing the teachings of members of the former royal family. Ritual ceremonies linking music, song and dance still take place there, perpetuating a tradition that goes back to the 14th century. 2024-05-10 WHS cowpoke
Haeinsa [hɛins͈a] Temple Janggyeong [tɕaŋɡjʌŋ] Panjeon [pʰand͡ʑʌn], the Depositories for the __Tripitaka Koreana__ Woodblocks (海印寺及八万大藏经藏经处) - Republic of Korea
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/737The Temple of Haeinsa, on Mount Gaya, is home to the <em>Tripitaka Koreana</em> , the most complete collection of Buddhist texts, engraved on 80,000 woodblocks between 1237 and 1248. The buildings of Janggyeong Panjeon, which date from the 15th century, were constructed to house the woodblocks, which are also revered as exceptional works of art. As the oldest depository of the <em>Tripitaka</em> , they reveal an astonishing mastery of the invention and implementation of t... WHS cowpoke
Seokguram [sʌkɡuˈɾam] (石窟庵) Grotto and Bulguksa [pulɡuk͈͈sa] Temple (佛国寺) - Republic of Korea
(grotto [ˈɡrɑˌtoʊ]: a small picturesque cave, especially an artificial one in a park or garden.)
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/736Established in the 8th century on the slopes of Mount Toham, the Seokguram Grotto contains a monumental statue of the Buddha looking at the sea in the <em>bhumisparsha mudra</em> position. With the surrounding portrayals of gods, Bodhisattvas and disciples, all realistically and delicately sculpted in high and low relief, it is considered a masterpiece of Buddhist art in the Far East. The Temple of Bulguksa (built in 774) and the Seokguram Grotto form a religious architectural comple... WHS cowpoke
Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go (白川郷) and Gokayama (五箇山) - Japan
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/734Located in a mountainous region that was cut off from the rest of the world for a long period of time, these villages with their Gassho-style houses subsisted on the cultivation of mulberry trees and the rearing of silkworms. The large houses with their steeply pitched thatched roofs are the only examples of their kind in Japan. Despite economic upheavals, the villages of Ogimachi, Ainokura and Suganuma are outstanding examples of a traditional way of life perfectly adapted to the environment an WHS cowpoke
Ferrara [ferˈraːra], City of the Renaissance, and its Po [po] Delta - Italy
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/733Ferrara, which grew up around a ford over the River Po, became an intellectual and artistic centre that attracted the greatest minds of the Italian Renaissance in the 15th and 16th centuries. Here, Piero della Francesca, Jacopo Bellini and Andrea Mantegna decorated the palaces of the House of Este. The humanist concept of the 'ideal city' came to life here in the neighbourhoods built from 1492 onwards by Biagio Rossetti according to the new principles of perspective. The completion of ... WHS cowpoke
Kutná Hora [ˈkutnaː ˈɦora]: Historical Town Centre with the Church of St Barbara and the Cathedral of Our Lady at Sedlec - Czechia
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/732Kutná Hora developed as a result of the exploitation of the silver mines. In the 14th century it became a royal city endowed with monuments that symbolized its prosperity. The Church of St Barbara, a jewel of the late Gothic period, and the Cathedral of Our Lady at Sedlec, which was restored in line with the Baroque taste of the early 18th century, were to influence the architecture of central Europe. These masterpieces today form part of a well-preserved medieval urban fabric with some particul WHS cowpoke
