Asmara: a Modernist City of Africa (Eritrea) © Asmara Heritage Project / Dr. Edward Edison | Image Source: States Party

Krakow, Poland, 12 July—The World Heritage Committee, meeting in Krakow since 2 July, closed its annual session today. During the session, the Committee inscribed 21 new sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. It also extended or modified the boundaries of five sites already on the List.

The new inscriptions bring to 1,073 the total number of sites on the World Heritage List. Angola and Eritrea saw their first sites joint the List during the present session.

The Committee furthermore added one site to the List of World Heritage in Danger, from which it removed three other sites.

The new natural sites are:

• Los Alerces National Park (Argentina)
• Qinghai Hoh Xil (China)
• Landscapes of Dauria (Mongolia/Russian Federation)

The new cultural sites are:

• Mbanza Kongo, Vestiges of the Capital of the former Kingdom of Kongo  (Angola)
• Valongo Wharf Archaeological Site (Brazil)
• Temple Zone of Sambor Prei Kuk, Archaeological Site of Ancient Ishanapura (Cambodia)
• Kulangsu: a Historic International Settlement (China)
• Venetian Works of Defence between 15th and 17th centuries: Stato da Terra – western Stato da Mar (Croatia, Italy, Montenegro)
• Kujataa Greenland: Norse and Inuit Farming at the Edge of the Ice Cap (Denmark)
• Asmara: a Modernist City of Africa (Eritrea)
• Taputapuātea (France)
• Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura (Germany)
• Historic City of Ahmadabad (India)
• Historic City of Yazd (Islamic Republic of Iran)
• Sacred Island of Okinoshima and Associated Sites in the Munakata Region  (Japan)
• Hebron/Al-Khalil Old Town (Palestine)
• Tarnowskie Góry Lead-Silver-Zinc Mine and its Underground Water Management System(Poland)
• Assumption Cathedral and Monastery of the town-island of Sviyazhsk (Russian Federation)
• ǂKhomani Cultural Landscape (South Africa)
• Aphrodisias (Turkey)
• The English Lake District (United Kingdom)

The extensions to existing sites are:

• Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe (Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Ukraine) [formerly “Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and the Ancient Beech Forests of Germany” (Germany, Slovakia, Ukraine)]
• W-Arly-Pendjari Complex  (Benin, Burkina Faso) [formerly “W National Park of Niger” (Niger)]
• Bauhaus and its Sites in Weimar, Dessau and Bernau [formerly “Bauhaus and its sites in Weimar et Dessau”], Germany
• Strasbourg: from Grande-île to Neustadt, a European urban scene [formerly “Strasbourg – Grande Ile”], France

The Committee decided on a significant reduction in the perimeter of the Georgian site of Bagrati Cathedral and Gelati Monastery, withdrawing Gelati Monastery from the List of World Heritage in Danger.

The World Heritage Committee also approved the withdrawal of the Simien National Park (Ethiopia) and Comoé National Park (Côte d’Ivoire) from the List of World Heritage in Danger.

The Historic Centre of Vienna, on the other hand, was added to the List of World Heritage in Danger. The site of Hebron/Al-Khalil Old Town was inscribed simultaneously on the List of World Heritage and on the List of World Heritage in Danger, which presently numbers 54 sites.