Twenty-five new treasures of humanity have been incorporated these days into the prestigious Uneso World Heritage List, a seal that for five decades has been trying to preserve the most emblematic places on the planet, both cultural and natural.
The South Korean city of Busan hosted this week the 48th meeting of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, the body in charge of deciding which places are included in the precious list, in which there are already 1,273 enclaves in 173 countries.
UNESCO has included 25 new treasures of humanity on its prestigious World Heritage List, which for almost 50 years has sought to preserve some of the most emblematic places on a global level.
They are:
Mount Olympus in Greece.
The castles of Mount Amel in Lebanon.
The D-Day landing beaches in Normandy, France.
Theaters in the Amazon, Brazil.
Ancient Buddhist site of Sarnath in India.
Fábrica Aalto en Finlandia.
Alamūt Castle and related fortifications in Iran.
Ancient capitals of Asuka and Fuyiwara in Japan.
Aqaba Marine Reserve in Jordan.
Boma-Badingilo migratory landscape in South Sudan.
Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Modernist center of the city of Gdynia in Poland.
Jingdezhen porcelain craft industry sites in China.
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in the USA
Rock mosques and associated sacred sites of Mangystau in Kazakhstan.
Royal fortresses of the Capetians of Languedoc in France.
Sebastian in Palestine.
Modernist architecture of Tashkent in Uzbekistan.
Fossils of bony fish from the Western Limfjord in Denmark.
The funerary complexes of the Xiongnu nobility in Mongolia.
The medinas of the historical Comoros sultanates in the Comoros Islands.
The Roças of St. Thomas and Principe in St. Thomas and Principe.
The system of Italianate condominium theaters of the 18th and 19th centuries in Italy.
Village of Sidi Bou Said in Tunisia.
Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan, Nakhon Si Thammarat en Thailand.
Listing history
The World Heritage List was created following the adoption of the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage in 1972 and emerged from the merger of two distinct movements: one focused on the preservation of cultural sites and the other dedicated to nature conservation.
The event that fueled the movement was the international concern generated by Egypt’s decision to build the Aswan High Dam, which would flood the valley that housed the temples of Abu Simbelwhich were finally dismantled, moved to firm ground and reassembled. The operation cost 80 million dollars and half of this sum was donated by some 50 countries, an unprecedented international cooperation operation that prompted the creation of the list.
Beyond international recognition and prestige, being part of this list brings a series of benefits such as receive financial aid in case of emergency situations or access the World Heritage Fund, which each year dedicates 4 million dollars to the preservation and dissemination of the enclaves included on the list.
The countries with the most enclaves on the list are Italy with 62 and China with 61followed by Spain, with 50.
Ten of the most emblematic treasures
To be part of the list it is necessary to have exceptional universal value and meet one of the ten selection criteria. The enclaves proposed by the countries can be architectural enclaves, natural spaces or a combination of both. The summary of the process begins with the inclusion of the candidacy in an initial list (Tentative List), then a file is prepared, evaluated and voted on at the committee meeting.
Of the 1,273 enclaves, there are ten that are, with the permission of the rest, the most emblematic:
The Pyramids of Gizasymbol of the pharaonic civilization (entered among the first, in 1979).
The Great Wall of Chinaone of the greatest engineering works in history (in 1987).
The city of Venice and its lagoon (1987), a unique place in the world.
The historic sanctuary of Machu Picchubuilt at 2,430 meters high and the most important architectural work of the Inca Empire (1983).
The Taj Mahalthe imposing white marble mausoleum that is one of the masterpieces of Mughal architecture (1983).
The extensive monumental complex of the temples of angkor (1992), vestiges of the Khmer empire.
The Galapagos Islandsa fundamental natural enclave for the study of evolution and one of the first places to enter (1978).
The Alhambra complexin Granada (entered in 1984), of «exceptional universal value.»
The pre-Hispanic city of Chichen Itzaone of the most important centers of the Mayan civilization (1988).
Yosemite National Park in the United States (1984), a testimony of granitic reliefs shaped by glaciation.
All details of the list can be found on the UNESCO website (https://whc.unesco.org/en/list), a tool that allows you to see, in several languages, the details of each of the enclaves registered over the years.
Not everyone wants to be a world heritage site
Despite the recognition that having the seal implies, the process has generated rejection in some countries. Spain decided not to continue moving forward with the inscription of the «Olive Grove Landscape» (Andalusia) due to the rejection that the candidacy generated among farmers, who feared that the seal would penalize the exploitation of the region’s trees.
The residents of the Slovak village of Vlkolínec, which entered the list in the nineties for being an exceptional witness of the region’s wooden architecture, have shown their refusal to be part of the list, due to the flood of tourists they receive every year (close to 100,000 in a town of barely 25 inhabitants), according to the New York Times.
Tensions have also been generated by the obstacles that the UNESCO seal creates for residents when it comes to installing solar panels on the roofs of protected architectural enclaves. In Spain, for example, it is a problem for the inhabitants of Toledo, Córdoba and Cáceres.
EFE Agency.
GML
