Sites Added in 2014

Дельта Окаванго

Botswana

Объект, расположенный на северо-западе Ботсваны, представляет собой болотистую низменность, состоящую из заливных лугов, пересечённых множеством рукавов и протоков. Дельта Окаванго – одно из немногих крупных дельта-подобных образований, не имеющих выхода к морю. Она также является примером почти нетронутой водно-болотистой системы. Одна из уникальных особенностей данного объекта состоит в том, что ежегодные наводнения происходят здесь во время сухого периода, так что растения и животные адаптировали свой биологический ритм к ежегодным наводнениям вне сезона дождей. Дельта Окаванго – это яркий пример взаимодействия климатических, гидрологических и биологических процессов. Она поддерживает популяцию ряда крупных млекопитающих, находящихся под наибольшей угрозой исчезновения, среди них гепард, белый и черный носорог, гиеновидная собака и лев.

Цитадель Эрбиль

Iraq

Укреплённое поселение на вершине внушительных размеров яйцеобразного холма, свидетельствующего о жизни и строительной деятельности многих поколений. Объект расположен в Курдистане, провинция Эрбиль. Протяжённая высокая фасадная стена, относящаяся к XIX веку, и в наше время производит зрелищное впечатление неприступной крепости, доминирующей над городом Эрбиль. Цитадель имеет своеобразную веерообразную форму, характерную для Эрбиля конца Османской эпохи. Письменные и иконографические исторические документы говорят о древности поселения, основанного в этом месте. Эрбиль был известен под названием «древняя Арбела» - важный ассирийский политический и религиозный центр. Археологические исследования и находки указывают на то, что холм скрывает многие уровни и следы бывших здесь поселений.

Исторический город Джидда - ворота в Мекку

Saudi Arabia

Объект расположен на восточном побережье Красного моря. В VII веке Джидда стал главным портовым городом, в который корабли, везущие товары в Мекку, прибывали по торговым путям Индийского океана. Помимо этого, для мусульман-паломников, направляющихся в Мекку морем, Джидда была своеобразными воротами в этот священный город. Благодаря этим двум факторам Джидда превратилась в процветающий межкультурный центр с особой архитектурой, нашедшей отражение в построенных торговой элитой башнях конца XIX века. Кроме того, архитектура Джидды сочетает в себе традиции строительства с использованием кораллов, характерного для прибрежных районов Красного моря, с идеями и методами, пришедшими издалека по торговым путям.

Палестина: земля олив и виноградников. Культурный ландшафт южной части Иерусалима, Батир (Палестина)

State of Palestine

Объект, расположенный близ деревни Батир в нескольких километрах к юго-западу от Иерусалима, на холмистой возвышенности между городами Наблус и Хеврон, включает ряд сельскохозяйственных долин (widian), особенность которых составляют своеобразные каменные террасы. Часть долин орошается и используется для выращивания овощей, на неорошаемых участках располагаются виноградники и оливковые деревья. Обработка земель в условиях такой гористой местности опирается на сеть оросительных каналов, питаемых подземными источниками. Вода, собранная системой орошения, по традиции, поровну распределяется между семьями деревни Батир.

Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area

India

This National Park in the western part of the Himalayan Mountains in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh is characterized by high alpine peaks, alpine meadows and riverine forests. The 90,540 ha property includes the upper mountain glacial and snow meltwater sources of several rivers, and the catchments of water supplies that are vital to millions of downstream users. The GHNPCA protects the monsoon-affected forests and alpine meadows of the Himalayan front ranges. It is part of the Himalaya biodiversity hotspot and includes twenty-five forest types along with a rich assemblage of fauna species, several of which are threatened. This gives the site outstanding significance for biodiversity conservation.

Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary

Philippines

Forming a mountain ridge running north-south along the Pujada Peninsula in the south-eastern part of the Eastern Mindanao Biodiversity Corridor, the Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary has an elevation range of 75–1,637 m above sea level and provides critical habitat for a range of plant and animal species. The property showcases terrestrial and aquatic habitats at different elevations, and includes threatened and endemic flora and fauna species, eight of which are found only at Mount Hamiguitan. These include critically endangered trees, plants and the iconic Philippine eagle and Philippine cockatoo.

Namhansanseong

Republic of Korea

Namhansanseong was designed as an emergency capital for the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), in a mountainous site 25 km south-east of Seoul. Built and defended by Buddhist monk-soldiers, it could accommodate 4,000 people and fulfilled important administrative and military functions. Its earliest remains date from the 7th century, but it was rebuilt several times, notably in the early 17th century in anticipation of an attack from the Sino-Manchu Qing dynasty. The city embodies a synthesis of the defensive military engineering concepts of the period, based on Chinese and Japanese influences, and changes in the art of fortification following the introduction from the West of weapons using gunpowder. A city that has always been inhabited, and which was the provincial capital over a long period, it contains evidence of a variety of military, civil and religious buildings and has become a symbol of Korean sovereignty.

Pyu Ancient Cities

Myanmar

Pyu Ancient Cities includes the remains of three brick, walled and moated cities of Halin, Beikthano and Sri Ksetra located in vast irrigated landscapes in the dry zone of the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) River basin. They reflect the Pyu Kingdoms that flourished for over 1,000 years between 200 BC and AD 900. The three cities are partly excavated archaeological sites. Remains include excavated palace citadels, burial grounds and manufacture sites, as well as monumental brick Buddhist stupas, partly standing walls and water management features – some still in use – that underpinned the organized intensive agriculture.

Rani-ki-Vav (the Queen’s Stepwell) at Patan, Gujarat

India

Rani-ki-Vav, on the banks of the Saraswati River, was initially built as a memorial to a king in the 11th century AD. Stepwells are a distinctive form of subterranean water resource and storage systems on the Indian subcontinent, and have been constructed since the 3rd millennium BC. They evolved over time from what was basically a pit in sandy soil towards elaborate multi-storey works of art and architecture. Rani-ki-Vav was built at the height of craftsmens’ ability in stepwell construction and the Maru-Gurjara architectural style, reflecting mastery of this complex technique and great beauty of detail and proportions. Designed as an inverted temple highlighting the sanctity of water, it is divided into seven levels of stairs with sculptural panels of high artistic quality; more than 500 principle sculptures and over a thousand minor ones combine religious, mythological and secular imagery, often referencing literary works. The fourth level is the deepest and leads into a rectangular tank 9.5 m by 9.4 m, at a depth of 23 m. The well is located at the westernmost end of the property and consists of a shaft 10 m in diameter and 30 m deep.

Shahr-i Sokhta

Iran (Islamic Republic of)

Shahr-i Sokhta, meaning ‘Burnt City’, is located at the junction of Bronze Age trade routes crossing the Iranian plateau. The remains of the mudbrick city represent the emergence of the first complex societies in eastern Iran. Founded around 3200 BC, it was populated during four main periods up to 1800 BC, during which time there developed several distinct areas within the city: those where monuments were built, and separate quarters for housing, burial and manufacture. Diversions in water courses and climate change led to the eventual abandonment of the city in the early second millennium. The structures, burial grounds and large number of significant artefacts unearthed there, and their well-preserved state due to the dry desert climate, make this site a rich source of information regarding the emergence of complex societies and contacts between them in the third millennium BC.

Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor

China,Kyrgyzstan,Kazakhstan

This property is a 5,000 km section of the extensive Silk Roads network, stretching from Chang’an/Luoyang, the central capital of China in the Han and Tang dynasties, to the Zhetysu region of Central Asia. It took shape between the 2nd century BC and 1st century AD and remained in use until the 16th century, linking multiple civilizations and facilitating far-reaching exchanges of activities in trade, religious beliefs, scientific knowledge, technological innovation, cultural practices and the arts. The thirty-three components included in the routes network include capital cities and palace complexes of various empires and Khan kingdoms, trading settlements, Buddhist cave temples, ancient paths, posthouses, passes, beacon towers, sections of The Great Wall, fortifications, tombs and religious buildings.

The Grand Canal

China

The Grand Canal is a vast waterway system in the north-eastern and central-eastern plains of China, running from Beijing in the north to Zhejiang province in the south. Constructed in sections from the 5th century BC onwards, it was conceived as a unified means of communication for the Empire for the first time in the 7th century AD (Sui dynasty). This led to a series of gigantic construction sites, creating the world’s largest and most extensive civil engineering project prior to the Industrial Revolution. It formed the backbone of the Empire’s inland communication system, transporting grain and strategic raw materials, and supplying rice to feed the population. By the 13th century it consisted of more than 2,000 km of artificial waterways, linking five of China’s main river basins. It has played an important role in ensuring the country’s economic prosperity and stability and is still in use today as a major means of communication.

Фабрика по производству шелка в городе Томиока и сопутствующие объекты

Japan

Эта историческая фабрика по производству шелка, расположенная в префектуре Гумма к северо-западу от Токио, была основана в 1872 году. Она была построена правительством Японии и оснащена оборудованием, импортированным из Франции. Фабрика состоит из четырех объектов, соответственно различным этапам производства шелка-сырца: экспериментальная ферма для выращивания шелкопряда, холодные помещения для хранения грены, фабрика для обработки коконов и намотки шёлковой нити в бобины, также школа обучения технологии шелководства. Фабрика Томиока свидетельствует о движении Японии к быстрому освоению лучших методов массового производства. Она сыграла решающую роль в возрождении шелководства и восстановлении шелковой промышленности страны в последней четверти XIX века. Эта фабрика ознаменовала вступление Японии в современную промышленную эпоху и помогла стране стать ведущим мировым экспортером шелка-сырца, в частности, во Францию и Италию.

Trang An Landscape Complex

Viet Nam

Situated near the southern margin of the Red River Delta, the Trang An Landscape Complex is a spectacular landscape of limestone karst peaks permeated with valleys, many of them partly submerged and surrounded by steep, almost vertical cliffs. Exploration of caves at different altitudes has revealed archaeological traces of human activity over a continuous period of more than 30,000 years. They illustrate the occupation of these mountains by seasonal hunter-gatherers and how they adapted to major climatic and environmental changes, especially the repeated inundation of the landscape by the sea after the last ice age. The story of human occupation continues through the Neolithic and Bronze Ages to the historical era. Hoa Lu, the ancient capital of Viet Nam, was strategically established here in the 10th and 11th centuries AD. The property also contains temples, pagodas, paddy-fields and small villages.

Bolgar Historical and Archaeological Complex

Russian Federation

This property lies on the shores of the Volga River, south of its confluence with the River Kama, and south of the capital of Tatarstan, Kazan. It contains evidence of the medieval city of Bolgar, an early settlement of the civilization of Volga-Bolgars, which existed between the 7th and 15th centuries AD, and was the first capital of the Golden Horde in the 13th century. Bolgar represents the historical cultural exchanges and transformations of Eurasia over several centuries that played a pivotal role in the formation of civilizations, customs and cultural traditions. The property provides remarkable evidence of historic continuity and cultural diversity. It is a symbolic reminder of the acceptance of Islam by the Volga-Bolgars in AD 922 and remains a sacred pilgrimage destination to the Tatar Muslims.

Bursa and Cumalıkızık: the Birth of the Ottoman Empire

Türkiye

This property is a serial nomination of eight component sites in the City of Bursa and the nearby village of Cumalıkızık, in the southern Marmara region. The site illustrates the creation of an urban and rural system establishing the Ottoman Empire in the early 14th century. The property embodies the key functions of the social and economic organization of the new capital which evolved around a civic centre. These include commercial districts of khans, kulliyes (religious institutions) integrating mosques, religious schools, public baths and a kitchen for the poor, as well as the tomb of Orhan Ghazi, founder of the Ottoman dynasty. One component outside the historic centre of Bursa is the village of Cumalıkızık, the only rural village of this system to show the provision of hinterland support for the capital.

Вестверк эпохи Каролингов и аббатство Корвей

Germany

Вестверк эпохи Каролингов и аббатство Корвей возведены между 822 и 885 годами н.э., расположены на берегу реки Везер, на окраине города Хёкстер, в сельской местности, которая по большей части созранились без изменений. Вестверк является единственным дошедшим до наших дней сооружением эпохи Каролингов. При этом, от первоначального комплекса имперского аббатства остались лишь частично обнаруженные при раскопках руины. Вестверк аббатства Корвей является уникальным образцом архитектуры эпохи Каролингов и представляет собой подлинное творение своего периода. Его архитектурный стиль и декор наглядно демонстрируют роль, которую имперские монастыри играли во Франкской империи, в частности в обеспечении управления и контроля над территорией, а также распространении христианства, культуры и политической власти Каролингов во всей Европе.

Пещеры Мареши и Бейт Гуврина в Иудейской долине как микрокосм Земли пещер

Israel

Объект, получивший название «город под городом», представляет собой комплекс искусственных пещер, расположенных в Нижней Иудее под древними городами-побратимами Мареша и Бейт Гуврин. Они вырыты в толстом однородном слое мягкого известняка. Комплекс включает как отдельно расположенные пещеры, так и сети пещер различных форм и назначений, свидетельствуя о том, что пещеры создавались и использовались на протяжении более 2 тысяч лет, с начала железного века до крестовых походов, а также о большом разнообразии методов подземного строительства. Изначально пещеры предназначались для добычи камня, однако позднее они были преобразованы и использовались для различных сельскохозяйственных и ремесленных целей, в том числе в качестве маслодавильных цехов, голубятен, конюшен, подземных цистерн и водоводов, бань, мест захоронения, отправления культа, а также в качестве укрытий в неспокойные времена.

Decorated Cave of Pont d’Arc, known as Grotte Chauvet-Pont d’Arc, Ardèche

France

Located in a limestone plateau of the Ardèche River in southern France, the property contains the earliest-known and best-preserved figurative drawings in the world, dating back as early as the Aurignacian period (30,000–32,000 BP), making it an exceptional testimony of prehistoric art. The cave was closed off by a rock fall approximately 20,000 years BP and remained sealed until its discovery in 1994, which helped to keep it in pristine condition. Over 1,000 images have so far been inventoried on its walls, combining a variety of anthropomorphic and animal motifs. Of exceptional aesthetic quality, they demonstrate a range of techniques including the skilful use of shading, combinations of paint and engraving, anatomical precision, three-dimensionality and movement. They include several dangerous animal species difficult to observe at that time, such as mammoth, bear, cave lion, rhino, bison and auroch, as well as 4,000 inventoried remains of prehistoric fauna and a variety of human footprints.

Monumental Earthworks of Poverty Point

United States of America

Monumental Earthworks of Poverty Point owes its name to a 19th-century plantation close to the site, which is in the Lower Mississippi Valley on a slightly elevated and narrow landform. The complex comprises five mounds, six concentric semi-elliptical ridges separated by shallow depressions and a central plaza. It was created and used for residential and ceremonial purposes by a society of hunter fisher-gatherers between 3700 and 3100 BP. It is a remarkable achievement in earthen construction in North America that was unsurpassed for at least 2,000 years.

Pergamon and its Multi-Layered Cultural Landscape

Türkiye

This site rises high above the Bakirçay Plain in Turkey’s Aegean region. The acropolis of Pergamon was the capital of the Hellenistic Attalid dynasty, a major centre of learning in the ancient world. Monumental temples, theatres, stoa or porticoes, gymnasium, altar and library were set into the sloping terrain surrounded by an extensive city wall. The rock-cut Kybele Sanctuary lies to the north-west on another hill visually linked to the acropolis. Later the city became capital of the Roman province of Asia known for its Asclepieion healing centre. The acropolis crowns a landscape containing burial mounds and remains of the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires in and around the modern town of Bergama on the lower slopes.

Stevns Klint

Denmark

This geological site comprises a 15 km-long fossil-rich coastal cliff, offering exceptional evidence of the impact of the Chicxulub meteorite that crashed into the planet at the end of the Cretaceous, about 65 million years ago. Researchers think that this caused the most remarkable mass extinction ever, responsible for the disappearance of over 50 per cent of all life on Earth. The site harbours a record of the cloud of ash formed by the impact of the meteorite – the exact site being at the bottom of the ocean off the coast of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. An exceptional fossil record is visible at the site, showing the complete succession of fauna and micro-fauna charting the recovery after the mass extinction.

Завод Неллефабрик

Netherlands (Kingdom of the)

был спроектирован и построен в 20-х годах прощлого века на берегу канала в промышленной зоне Спаансе Польдер на северо-западе Роттердама. Неллефабрик – один из памятников промышленной архитектуры ХХ века. Он включает в себя комплекс зданий-цехов, фасады которых в основном выполнены из стали и стекла, демонстрируя широкое применение принципа прозрачной навесной стены. Завод задумывался как «идеальное предприятие», открытое внешнему миру: его внутренние служебные помещения изменялись в соответствии с необходимостью, а дневной свет использовался для обеспечения благоприятных условий работы. Неллефабрик представляет собой новый тип заводов, ставший выразителем модернизма и функционализма в культуре в период между двумя войнами. Он свидетельствует о долгой истории торговли и промышленности Нидерландов, в частности, отрасли, специализированной на импорте и переработке пищевых продуктов из тропических стран для последующей продажи в Европу.

Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato

Italy

This landscape covers five distinct wine-growing areas with outstanding landscapes and the Castle of Cavour, an emblematic name both in the development of vineyards and in Italian history. It is located in the southern part of Piedmont, between the Po River and the Ligurian Apennines, and encompasses the whole range of technical and economic processes relating to the winegrowing and winemaking that has characterized the region for centuries. Vine pollen has been found in the area dating from the 5th century BC, when Piedmont was a place of contact and trade between the Etruscans and the Celts; Etruscan and Celtic words, particularly wine-related ones, are still found in the local dialect. During the Roman Empire, Pliny the Elder mentions the Piedmont region as being one of the most favourable for growing vines in ancient Italy; Strabo mentions its barrels.

Precolumbian Chiefdom Settlements with Stone Spheres of the Diquís

Costa Rica

The property includes four archaeological sites located in the Diquís Delta in southern Costa Rica, which are considered unique examples of the complex social, economic and political systems of the period AD 500–1500. They contain artificial mounds, paved areas, burial sites and, most significantly, a collection of stone spheres, between 0.7 m and 2.57 m in diameter, whose meaning, use and production remain largely a mystery. The spheres are distinctive for their perfection, number, size and density, and placement in original locations. Their preservation from the looting that befell the vast majority of archaeological sites in Costa Rica has been attributed to the thick layers of sediment that kept them buried for centuries.

Qhapaq Ñan, Andean Road System

Peru,Chile,Ecuador,Colombia,Argentina,Bolivia (Plurinational State of)

This site is an extensive Inca communication, trade and defence network of roads covering 30,000 km. Constructed by the Incas over several centuries and partly based on pre-Inca infrastructure, this extraordinary network through one of the world’s most extreme geographical terrains linked the snow-capped peaks of the Andes – at an altitude of more than 6,000 m – to the coast, running through hot rainforests, fertile valleys and absolute deserts. It reached its maximum expansion in the 15th century, when it spread across the length and breadth of the Andes. The Qhapac Ñan, Andean Road System includes 273 component sites spread over more than 6,000 km that were selected to highlight the social, political, architectural and engineering achievements of the network, along with its associated infrastructure for trade, accommodation and storage, as well as sites of religious significance.