Posted on: Sunday, August 3, 2008
World Heritage site list is growing
Advertiser News Services
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee has added 19 cultural sites and eight natural sites to its list, which now numbers 878 sites in 145 countries. Among them:
In Mexico: a butterfly reserve; the fortified town of San Miguel; the Sanctuary of Jesus Nazareno de Atotonilco (the latter two cited for their architecture), were added to the list.
In Europe: the ancient stone walls, shelters and landscape of Stari Grad on the Adriatic island of Hvar in Croatia; 17th-century fortifications along the borders of France; modernist housing in Berlin, dating from 1910-1933; the Italian towns of Mantua and Sabbi-oneta, cited for their architecture and their role in Renaissance culture.
In Asia and the South Pacific: Cambodia's Temple of Preah Vihear; the tulou of China's Fujian province, which are circular communal earthen houses; Melaka and George Town, historic cities of the Straits of Malacca in Malaysia; the Kuk swamps in Papua New Guinea, which contain archaeological evidence of thousands of years of farming; three sites in Vanuatu associated with a 17th-century chief, Roi Mata.
In the Middle East: Saudi Arabia's first World Heritage property, an archaeological site preserving Nabataean civilization dating to the first century B.C.
In Africa: Kenya's Mijikenda Kaya Forests: Le Morne, a Mauritius mountain included for its history as a shelter for runaway slaves.
For a full list of new UNESCO sites, see www.portal.unesco.org.
