Mrbrechsclass.weebly.com



UNESCO World Heritage Sites

UNESCO stands for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

The first mission which UNESCO undertook to preserve a cultural property took place in 1954 when they raised money from member states to move the Abu Simbel and Philae Temples in Egypt from the flooding of the Aswan High Dam. They literally took the temples apart piece by piece and put them together several hundred meters away on higher, dry ground.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place (such as a forest, mountain, lake, island, desert, monument, building, complex, or city) that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance.

As of 2013, 981 sites are listed: 759 cultural, 193 natural, and 29 mixed properties.

By sites ranked by country, Italy is home to the greatest number of World Heritage Sites with 49 sites, followed by China (45) and Spain (44).

While each World Heritage Site remains part of the country wherein the site is located, UNESCO considers it in the interest of the international community to preserve each site.

There are ten criteria. Nominated sites must be of "outstanding universal value" and meet at least one of the ten criteria.

Cultural criteria

i. "represents a masterpiece of human creative genius"

ii. "exhibits an important interchange of human values, over a span of time, or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning, or landscape design"

iii. "bears a unique or exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared"

iv. "is an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural, or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates a significant stage in human history"

v. "is an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture, or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change"

vi. "is directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance"

Natural criteria

vii. "contains superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance"

viii. "is an outstanding example 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"

ix. "is an outstanding example 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"

x. "contains 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"

Here are some fun facts about UNESCO World Heritage Sites:

• The first world heritage site was the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador.

• The country with the most sites is Italy with 47, which does not include sites in the Vatican or San Marino.

• The largest site by area is the Phoenix Islands Protected Area in the nation of Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean. It has an area of 408,250 km2.

• The smallest world heritage site is probably the Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc, Czech Republic. It is literally the size of a statue or fountain in a city square.

• The southernmost site is Macquarie Island, Australia off the coast of Antarctica at 54°S.

• The northernmost site is the Natural System of Wrangel Island Reserve, Russia at 77°N

• The most sites any person claims to have visited (to the best of my knowledge) is 720 by Bill Altaffer.

• This island of Surtsey in Iceland was created by volcanoes between 1963 and 1967. It was added as a world heritage site in 2008. It is of interest because no people are allowed on the island. Only 1 scientific team visits the island every 10 years to see how nature is establishing itself.

How Many of These Have You Heard Of?

⇨ The Great Barrier Reef (Australia)

⇨ Sydney Opera House (Australia)

⇨ Angkor Wat (Cambodia)

⇨ L’Anse aux Meadows (Canada)

⇨ The Rideau Canal (Canada)

⇨ The Great Wall (China)

⇨ The Imperial Palace (China)

⇨ Potala Palace (Tibet/China)

⇨ Old Havana (Cuba)

⇨ Downtown Prague (Czech Rep.)

⇨ The Pyramids of Giza (Egypt)

⇨ Notre Dame Cathedral (France)

⇨ The Acropolis (Greece)

⇨ Vatican City

⇨ Taj Mahal (India)

⇨ Tel Aviv (Israel)

⇨ Venice (Italy)

⇨ Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Japan)

⇨ Chichen-Itza (Mexico)

⇨ Machu Picchu (Peru)

⇨ Auschwitz Birkenau (Poland)

⇨ The Kremlin (Russia)

⇨ Stonehenge (England)

⇨ Yellowstone National Park (USA)

⇨ Everglades National Park (USA)

⇨ Statue of Liberty (USA)

⇨ Grand Canyon (USA)

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download