UNESCO names 24 New World Heritage Sites

The World Heritage Committee has included 24 new sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List and approved extensions to three existing sites. It also added three World Heritage sites to the List of World Heritage in Danger and took one off that List.

Now the number of sites on the World Heritage List are 1031 from 163 countries.

The 24 sites included in the list are:

• Blue and John Crow Mountains
• Tusi sites (China)
• Christiansfeld, a Moravian Church Settlement (Denmark)
• The Par Force Hunting Landscape in North Zealand (Denmark)
• The Climats, terroirs of Burgundy (France)
• Champagne Hillsides, Houses and Cellars (France)
• Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District with Chilehaus (Germany)
• Susa (Islamic Republic of Iran)
• Cultural Landscape of Maymand (Islamic Republic of Iran)
• Necropolis of Beth She’arim—a Landmark of Jewish Revival (Israel)
• Arab-Norman Palermo and the Cathedral Churches of Cefalú and Monreale (Italy)
• Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining (Japan)
• Baptism Site “Bethany Beyond the Jordan” (Al-Maghtas) (Jordan)
• Baekje Historic Areas (Republic of Korea)
• Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque Hydraulic System (Mexico)
• Great Burkhan Khaldun Mountain and its surrounding sacred landscape (Mongolia)
• Rjukan-Notodden Industrial Heritage Site (Norway)
• Rock Art in the Hail Region of Saudi Arabia
• Singapore Botanical Gardens (Singapore)
• Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining (Japan)
• Ephesus (Turkey)
• Diyarbakir Fortress and Hevsel Gardens Cultural Landscape (Turkey)
• Fray Bentos Cultural-Industrial Landscape (Uruguay)
• The Forth Bridge (United Kingdom)
• San Antonio Missions (United States of America)

The World Heritage Committee approved extensions to three sites:

• Cape Floral Region Protected Areas (South Africa)
• Routes of Santiago de Compostela: Camino Francés and Routes of Northern Spain [an extension of the “Routes of Santiago de Compostela”] (Spain)
• Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park (Viet Nam)

Sites added to the List of World Heritage in Danger

• Hatra (Iraq)
• Old City of Sana’a (Yemen)
• Old Walled City of Shibam (Yemen)

Los Katíos in Colombia was taken off the List of World Heritage in Danger, which was added in 2009.