New UNSECO locations for 2009
Monday, 06 Jul 2009 14:53
Dolomite Mountains, Italy
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has unveiled a host of new properties to be added to World Heritage List in 2009.
Divided into two main categories – cultural properties and natural properties – the latest UNESCO list adds 13 fascinating locations to what is already a comprehensive list of the world's greatest holiday destinations.
Cultural Properties
Among the 11 fantastic locations added to the UNESCO list of cultural properties is
Mount Wutai, a scared Buddhist mountain in China. Home to 53 monasteries, perhaps the most famous is the East Main Hall of Foguang Temple; the highest surviving timber Building of the Tang Dynasty with life size clay sculptures.
Mount Wutai features the Ming Dynasty Shuxiang Temple - with a huge complex of 500 statues representing Buddhist stories woven into three-dimensional pictures of mountains and water.
In Peru the
Sacred City of Caral-Supe is situated on a dry desert terrace overlooking the green valley of the Supe river. It dates back to the Late Archaic Period of the Central Andes and is the oldest centre of civilisation in the Americas.
The
Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System in Iran,
Stoclet House in Belgium and Burkina Faso's
Ruins of Loropéni are also new inclusions in the UNESCO World Heritage cultural list.
Natural Properties
From the natural world the Dolomite Mountains in Italy have been added. The range in the northern Italian Alps numbers 18 peaks that rise to more than 3,000 metres above sea level.
Those interested in adventure or ski breaks should check out the travelbite.co.uk guides to the Dolomites.
Finally, the Wadden Sea - which stretches across areas of Germany and Holland has also been added.
There are presently 890 UNESCO world heritage sites - 689 cultural, 176 natural, and 25 mixed properties, in 148 states around the world.
Italy is home to the greatest number of World Heritage Sites to date, with 44 sites inscribed on the list.
travelbite.co.uk staff
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