1407 SN - Bassari Country: Bassari, Fula and Bedik Cultural Landscapes (2012)

Bassari Country: Bassari, Fula and Bedik Cultural Landscapes

The site, located in south-east Senegal, includes three geographical areas: the Bassari–Salémata area, the Bedik–Bandafassi area and the Fula–Dindéfello area, each with its specific morphological traits. The Bassari, Fula and Bedik peoples settled from the 11th to the 19th centuries and developed specific cultures and habitats symbiotic with their surrounding natural environment. The Bassari landscape is marked by terraces and rice paddies, interspersed with villages, hamlets and archaeological sites. The Bedik villages are formed by dense groups of huts with steep thatched roofs. Their inhabitants’ cultural expressions are characterized by original traits of agro-pastoral, social, ritual and spiritual practices, which represent an original response to environmental constraints and human pressures. The site is a well-preserved multicultural landscape housing original and still vibrant local cultures.

Source UNESCO WH website http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1407

Bassari

1404 CA - Landscape of Grand Pré (2012)

Situated in the southern Minas Basin of Nova Scotia, the Grand Pré marshland and archaeological sites constitute a cultural landscape bearing testimony to the development of agricultural farmland using dykes and the aboiteau wooden sluice system, started by the Acadians in the 17th century and further developed and maintained by the Planters and present-day inhabitants. Over 1,300 ha, the cultural landscape encompasses a large expanse of polder farmland and archaeological elements of the towns of Grand Pré and Hortonville, which were built by the Acadians and their successors. The landscape is an exceptional example of the adaptation of the first European settlers to the conditions of the North American Atlantic coast. The site – marked by one of the most extreme tidal ranges in the world, averaging 11.6 m – is also inscribed as a memorial to Acadian way of life and deportation, which started in 1755, known as the Grand Dérangement.

Source UNESCO WH website http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1404

1433 PS - Birthplace of Jesus: Church of the Nativity and the Pilgrimage Route, Bethlehem (2012)

Brief Description

"The inscribed property is situated 10 km south of Jerusalem on the site identified by Christian tradition as the birthplace of Jesus since the 2nd century. A church was first completed there in AD 339 and the edifice that replaced it after a fire in the 6th century retains elaborate floor mosaics from the original building. The site also includes Latin, Greek Orthodox, Franciscan and Armenian convents and churches, as well as bell towers, terraced gardens and a pilgrimage route."

耶稣诞生地：伯利恒主诞堂和朝圣线路

"这一入选遗产位于耶路撒冷以南10公里，自从公元二世纪以来，就被基督教传统认定为耶稣的诞生地。公元339年，在此建成第一座教 堂，公元6世纪的火灾后，在此基础上重建的教堂保留了原有建筑精美的马赛克地板。这一遗产地还包括拉丁、希腊东正教、方济会和亚美尼亚修道院和教堂，以及 钟楼、露台花园和一条朝圣路线。"

Source UNESCO WH website http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1433

Church of the Nativity , Bethlehem

Birthplace of Jesus

1401 MA - Rabat, Modern Capital and Historic City: a Shared Heritage (2012)

Located on the Atlantic coast in the north-west of Morocco, the site is the product of a fertile exchange between the Arabo-Muslim past and Western modernism. The inscribed city encompasses the new town conceived and built under the French Protectorate from 1912 to the 1930s, including royal and administrative areas, residential and commercial developments and the Jardins d’Essais botanical and pleasure gardens. It also encompasses older parts of the city dating back to the 12thcentury. The new town is one of the largest and most ambitious modern urban projects built in Africa in the 20th century and probably the most complete. The older parts include Hassan Mosque (begun in 1184) and the Almohad ramparts and gates, the only surviving parts of the project for a great capital city of the Almohad caliphate as well as remains from the Moorish, or Andalusian, principality of the 17thcentury.

Source UNESCO WH website http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1401 

• 1401-001 Ville nouvelle, Qasba des Oudaïa, Jardin d'Essais, Médina, Remparts et portes almohades, Site archéologique du Chellah
• 1401-002 Mosquée Hassanet mousolée Mohammed V
• 1401-003 Quartier Habous de Diour Jamaâ

Courtesy of hidalgo from Postcrossing Forum

1401-001 Bab er-Rouah - monumental gate in the Almohad-era ramparts

1401-002 Mosquée Hassanet mousolée Mohammed V

1396 MY - Archaeological Heritage of the Lenggong Valley (2012)

Archaeological Heritage of the Lenggong Valley

Situated in the lush Lenggong Valley, the property includes four archaeological sites in two clusters which span close to 2 million years, one of the longest records of early man in a single locality, and the oldest outside the African continent. It features open-air and cave sites with Palaeolithic tool workshops, evidence of early technology. The number of sites found in the relatively contained area suggests the presence of a fairly large, semi-sedentary population with cultural remains from the Palaeolithic, Neolithic and Metal ages.

Source UNESCO WH website http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1396

Courtesy of dieya from Postcrossing Forum

1397 IR - Masjed-e Jāmé of Isfahan (2012)

Masjed-e Jāmé of Isfahan

Located in the historic centre of Isfahan, the Masjed-e Jāmé (‘Friday mosque’) can be seen as a stunning illustration of the evolution of mosque architecture over twelve centuries, starting in ad 841. It is the oldest preserved edifice of its type in Iran and a prototype for later mosque designs throughout Central Asia. The complex, covering more than 20,000 m2, is also the first Islamic building that adapted the four-courtyard layout of Sassanid palaces to Islamic religious architecture. Its double-shelled ribbed domes represent an architectural innovation that inspired builders throughout the region. The site also features remarkable decorative details representative of stylistic developments over more than a thousand years of Islamic art.

Source UNESCO WH website http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1397

Courtesy of Hidalgo from Postcrossing Forum

1194 ID - Cultural Landscape of Bali Province: the Subak System as a Manifestation of the Tri Hita Karana Philosophy (2012)

Brief Description 

"Cultural Landscape of Bali: the Subak System as a Manifestation of the Tri Hita Karana Philosophyforms acultural landscape of five rice terraces and their water temples that cover 19,500 hectares. The temples are the focus of a cooperative water management system of canals and weirs, known as subak, that dates back to the 9th century. Included in the landscape is the 18th-century Royal Temple of Pura Taman Ayun, the largest and most impressive architectural edifice of its type on the island. The subak reflects the philosophical concept of Tri Hita Karana, which brings together the realms of the spirit, the human world and nature. This philosophy was born of the cultural exchange between Bali and India over the past 2000 years and has shaped the landscape of Bali. The subak system of democratic and egalitarian farming practices has enabled the Balinese to become the most prolific rice growers in the archipelago despite the challenge of supporting a dense population. "

Source UNESCO WH website http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1194

1194rev-001     Supreme Water Temple Pura Ulun Danu Batur
1194rev-002     Lake Batur
1194rev-003     Subak Landscape of Pekerisan Watershed
1194rev-004     Subak Landscape of Catur Angga Batukaru
1194rev-005     Royal Water Temple Pura Taman Ayun

 1194rev-002     Lake Batur

1194rev-003     Subak Landscape of Pekerisan Watershed

1194rev-004     Subak Landscape of Catur Angga Batukaru

1194rev-004     Subak Landscape of Catur Angga Batukaru  

 

1194rev-005 Royal Water Temple Pura Taman Ayun

1299 RU - Lena Pillars Nature Park (2012)

Brief Description

"Lena Pillars Nature Park is marked by spectacular rock pillars that reach a height of approximately 100 m along the banks of the Lena River in the central part of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). They were produced by the region’s extreme continental climate with an annual temperature range of almost 100 degrees Celsius (from –60 °C in winter to +40 °C in summer). The pillars form rocky buttresses isolated from each other by deep and steep gullies developed by frost shattering directed along intervening joints. Penetration of water from the surface has facilitated cryogenic processes (freeze-thaw action), which have widened gullies between pillars leading to their isolation. Fluvial processes are also critical to the pillars. The site also contains a wealth of Cambrian fossil remains of numerous species, some of them unique."

勒那河柱状岩自然公园

"勒那河柱状岩自然公园以其所拥有的壮观岩柱而著称，高度可达100米，位于萨哈共和国（雅库特）中部的勒那河畔。他们是该地区的极 端大陆性气候的产物，这里的年度温差可达近100摄氏度（冬天-60°C，夏季+40°C）。把这些柱状岩相互隔离开来的深邃陡峭的冲沟，是岩柱的连接部 分受到霜冻粉碎的作用而形成的。地表水的渗透则促进了低温过程（冻融作用），并造成岩柱之间冲沟的进一步扩大和石柱之间的隔离。河流的作用也是影响到石柱 形成的重要因素。此外，该遗产还包含了大量寒武纪生物化石遗迹，其中有一些是这里独有的。"

Source UNESCO WH website http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1299
 

Courtesy of doncreatore from postcrossing forum

1282 SE - Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland (2012)

Brief Description

"Seven timber houses are listed in this site located in the east of Sweden, representing the zenith of a regional timber building tradition that dates back to the Middle Ages. They reflect the prosperity of independent farmers who in the 19th century used their wealth to build substantial new homes with elaborately decorated ancillary houses or suites of rooms reserved for festivities. The paintings represent a fusion of folk art with the styles favoured by the landed gentry of the time, including Baroque and Rococo. Decorated by painters, including known and unknown itinerant artists, the listed properties represent the final flowering of a long cultural tradition."

Source UNESCO WH website http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1282

1282-001     Kristofers, Stene
1282-002     Gästgivars, Vallsta
1282-003     Pallars, Långhed
1282-004     Jon-Lars, Långhed   
1282-005     Bortom Åa, Fågelsjö
1282-006     Bommars, Letsbo
1282-007     Erik Anders, Askesta

Courtesy of lellykate from Sweden

1282-004     Jon-Lars, Långhed   

1344 BE - Major Mining Sites of Wallonia (2012)

Brief Description

"The four sites of the property form a strip 170 km long by 3–15 km wide, crossing Belgium from east to west, consisting of the best-preserved 19th- and 20th-century coal-mining sites of the country. It features examples of the utopian architecture from the early periods of the industrial era in Europe within a highly integrated, industrial and urban ensemble, notably the Grand-Hornu colliery and workers’ city designed by Bruno Renard in the first half of the 19th century. Bois-du-Luc includes numerous buildings erected from 1838 to 1909 and one of Europe’s oldest collieries dating back to the late 17th century. While the Walloon region had hundreds of collieries, most have lost their infrastructure, while the four components of the listed site retain a high measure of integrity."

Source UNESCO WH website http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1344

1344rev-001     Grand Hornu
1344rev-002     Bois-du-Luc
1344rev-003     Bois du Cazier
1344rev-004     Blegny-Mine

Courtesy of Gerda from Belgium

1344rev-001     Grand Hornu

Courtesy of Gerda from Belgium

1344rev-003     Bois du Cazier

1344rev-004     Blegny-Mine

1360 FR - Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin (2012)

Brief Description

"Remarkable as a landscape shaped over three centuries of coal extraction from the 1700s to the 1900s, the site consists of 109 separate components over 120,000 ha. It features mining pits (the oldest of which dates from 1850) and lift infrastructure, slag heaps (some of which cover 90 ha and exceed 140 m in height), coal transport infrastructure, railway stations, workers’ estates and mining villages including social habitat, schools, religious buildings, health and community facilities, company premises, owners and managers’ houses, town halls and more. The site bears testimony to the quest to create model workers’ cities from the mid 19th century to the 1960s and further illustrates a significant period in the history of industrial Europe. It documents the living conditions of workers and the solidarity to which it gave rise."

Source UNESCO WH website http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1360

Courtesy of Veronique from France

1389 CN - Site of Xanadu (2012)

Brief Description

"North of the Great Wall, the Site of Xanadu encompasses the remains of Kublai Khan’s legendary capital city, designed by the Mongol ruler’s Chinese advisor Liu Bingzhdong in 1256. Over a surface area of 25,000 ha, the site was a unique attempt to assimilate the nomadic Mongolian and Han Chinese cultures. From this base, Kublai Khan established the Yuan dynasty that ruled China over a century, extending its boundaries across Asia. The religious debate that took place here resulted in the dissemination of Tibetan Buddhism over north-east Asia, a cultural and religious tradition still practised in many areas today. The site was planned according to traditional Chinese feng shui in relation to the nearby mountains and river. It features the remains of the city, including temples, palaces, tombs, nomadic encampments and the Tiefan’gang Canal, along with other waterworks."

Source UNESCO WH website http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1389

1379 DE - Margravial Opera House Bayreuth (2012)

Brief Description

"A masterpiece of Baroque theatre architecture, built between 1745 and 1750, the Opera House is the only entirely preserved example of its type where an audience of 500 can experience Baroque court opera culture and acoustics authentically, as its auditorium retains its original materials, i.e. wood and canvas. Commissioned by Margravine Wilhelmine, wife of Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg–Beyreuth, it was designed by the renowned theatre architect Giuseppe Galli Bibiena. As a court opera house in a public space, it foreshadowed the large public theatres of the 19th century. The highly decorated theatre’s tiered loge structure of wood with illusionistic painted canvas represents the ephemeral ceremonial architectural tradition that was employed in pageants and celebrations for princely self-representation."

Source UNESCO WH website http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1379

Courtesy of Gerda from postcrossing

Courtesy of Roverandom from Germany

1100 BR - Rio de Janeiro: Carioca Landscapes between the Mountain and the Sea (2012)

Brief Description

"The site consists of an exceptional urban setting encompassing the key natural elements that have shaped and inspired the development of the city: from the highest points of the Tijuca National Park’s mountains down to the sea. They also include the Botanical Gardens, established in 1808, Corcovado Mountain with its celebrated statue of Christ, and the hills around Guanabara Bay, including the extensive designed landscapes along Copacabana Bay which have contributed to the outdoor living culture of this spectacular city. Rio de Janeiro is also recognized for the artistic inspiration it has provided to musicians, landscapers and urbanists."

Source UNESCO WH website http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1100

Courtesy of Claus from Germany

1388 CN - Chengjiang Fossil Site (2012)

Brief Description

“A hilly 512 ha site in Yunnan province, Chengjiang’s fossils present the most complete record of an early Cambrian marine community with exceptionally preserved biota, displaying the anatomy of hard and soft tissues in a very wide variety of organisms, invertebrate and vertebrate. They record the early establishment of a complex marine ecosystem. The site documents at least sixteen phyla and a variety of enigmatic groups as well as about 196 species, presenting exceptional testimony to the rapid diversification of life on Earth 530 million years ago, when almost all of today’s major animal groups emerged. It opens a palaeobiological window of great significance to scholarship.”

 Source UNESCO WH website http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1388

1386 PW - Rock Islands Southern Lagoon (2012)

Brief Description

"Rock Islands Southern Lagoon covers 100,200 ha and includes 445 uninhabited limestone islands of volcanic origin. Many of them display unique mushroom-like shapes in turquoise lagoons surrounded by coral reefs. The aesthetic beauty of the site is heightened by a complex reef system featuring over 385 coral species and different types of habitat. They sustain a large diversity of plants, birds and marine life including dugong and at least thirteen shark species. The site harbours the highest concentration of marine lakes anywhere, isolated bodies of seawater separated from the ocean by land barriers. They are among the islands’ distinctive features and sustain high endemism of populations which continue to yield new species discoveries. The remains of stonework villages, as well as burial sites and rock art, bear testimony to the organization of small island communities over some three millennia. The abandonment of the villages in the 17th and 18th centuries illustrates the consequences of climate change, population growth and subsistence behaviour on a society living in a marginal marine environment."

Source UNESCO WH website http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1386

Courtesy of rita_simões from Portugal

1313 ES/SI - Heritage of Mercury. Almadén and Idrija (2012)

Brief Description

"The property includes the mining sites of Almadén, where mercury (quicksilver) has been extracted since Antiquity, and Idrija, where mercury was first found in 1490 A.D. The Spanish property includes buildings relating to its mining history, including Retamar Castle, religious buildings and traditional dwellings. The site in Idrija notably features mercury stores and infrastructure, as well as miners’ living quarters, and a miners’ theatre. The sites bear testimony to the intercontinental trade in mercury which generated important exchanges between Europe and America over the centuries. The two sites represent the two largest mercury mines in the world and were operational until recent times."

Source UNESCO WH website http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1313

Spain

1313rev-001     Almadén- Old Town
1313rev-002     Mina del Castillo Buildings
1313rev-003     Royal Forced Labour Gaol
1313rev-004     San Rafael Royal Hospital for Miners
1313rev-005     Bullring
Slovenia

1313rev-006     Idrija – Old Town
1313rev-007     Idrija – Smelting Plant
1313rev-008     Idrija – Kamšt water pump with the Rake water channel and Kobila dam
1313rev-009     Gorenja Kanomilja – Kanomilja or Ovcjak Water Barrier
1313rev-010     Vojsko – Idrijca Water Barrier
1313rev-011     Idrijska Bela – Putrih’s Water Barrier on the Belca creek
1313rev-012     Idrijska Bela – Belca Water Barrier on the Belca creek (or Brus`s Water Barrier)

Courtesy of famalubel from Spain

1313rev-002 Almadén

Courtesy of Vesna74 from Slovenia

1313rev-006 Idrija – Old Town

1313rev-008 Idrija – Kamšt water pump with the Rake water channel and Kobila dam

 

1313rev-009 Gorenja Kanomilja – Kanomilja or Ovcjak Water Barrier

Lower left 1313rev-006     Idrija – Old Town
Lower Right  1313rev-012   Idrijska Bela – Brus`s Water Barrier

1342 IN - Western Ghats (2012)

Brief Description

“Older than the Himalaya mountains, the mountain chain of the Western Ghats represents geomorphic features of immense importance with unique biophysical and ecological processes. The site’s high montane forest ecosystems influence the Indian monsoon weather pattern. Moderating the tropical climate of the region, it presents one of the best examples of the monsoon system in the planet. The site also has an exceptionally high level of biological diversity and endemism. It is recognized as one of the world’s eight “hottest hotspots” of biological diversity. The forests of the site include some of the best representatives of non-equatorial tropical evergreen forests anywhere and are home to at least 325 globally threatened flora, fauna, bird, amphibian, reptile and fish species.”

Source UNESCO WH website http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1342

Total 39 subsites
    Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve
    Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary
    Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary
    Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary
    Kulathupuzha Range
    Palode Range
    Periyar Tiger Reserve
    Ranni Forest Division
    Konni Forest Division
    Achankovil Forest Division
    Srivilliputtur Wildlife Sanctuary
    Tirunelveli (North) Forest Division (part)
    Eravikulam National Park (and proposed extension)
    Grass Hills National Park
    Karian Shola National Park
    Karian Shola (part of Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary)
    Mankulam Range
    Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary
    Mannavan Shola
    Silent Valley National Park
    New Amarambalam Reserved Forest
    Mukurti National Park
    Kalikavu Range
    Attapadi Reserved Forest
    Pushpagiri Wildlife Sanctuary
    Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary
    Talacauvery Wildlife Sanctuary
    Padinalknad Reserved Forest
    Kerti Reserved Forest
    Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary
    Kudremukh National Park
    Someshwara Wildlife Sanctuary
    Someshwara Reserved Forest
    Agumbe Reserved Forest
    Balahalli Reserved Forest
    File:Kas Plateau
    Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary
    Chandoli National Park
    Radhanagari Wildlife Sanctuary

 Courtesy of Sriramrang from Postcrossing Forum

Courtesy of nagi7 from India

Periyar Tiger Reserve

Tea plantation with the view of Eravikulam National Park

Courtesy of curious_mk7 from Postcrossing Forum

Agumbe Reserved Forest