Tourism’s strongest calling card: 26 new sites added to UNESCO heritage list

Masjed-e Shāh mosque in Isfahan, Iran. Photo by Hamed Saber

The World Heritage Committee on Monday morning inscribed Lena Pillars Nature Park of the Russian Federation, the last site to be added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List during this year’s session. Chad, Congo, Palau and Palestine had World Heritage sites inscribed on the list for the first time.

A total of five natural World Heritage Sites were inscribed during the present session of the World Heritage Committee: Lakes of Ounianga (Chad); Sangha Trinational (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo,); Chengjiang Fossil Site (China); Western Ghats (India); Lena Pillars Nature Park (Russian Federation).

Rock Islands Southern Lagoon (Palau) was inscribed as a mixed natural and cultural site.

A total of 20 cultural sites were inscribed during the session:

• Pearling, Testimony of an Island Economy (Bahrain); Major Mining Sites of Wallonia (Belgium);
• Rio de Janeiro, Carioca Landscapes between the Mountain and the Sea (Brazil);
• The Landscape of Grand-Pré (Canada);
• Site of Xanadu (China);
• Historic Town Grand-Bassam (Côte d’Ivoire);
• Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin (France);
• Margravial Opera House Bayreuth (Germany);
• Cultural Landscape of Bali Province: the  Subak  System as a Manifestation of the  Tri Hita Karana  Philosophy (Indonesia);
• Masjed-e Jāmé of Isfahan (Islamic Republic of Iran),
• Gonbad-e Qābus (Islamic Republic of Iran);
• Sites of Human Evolution at Mount Carmel : The Nahal Me’arot/Wadi el-Mughara Caves (Israel);
• Archaelogical Heritage of the Lenggong Valley (Malaysia);
• Rabat, Modern Capital and Historic City: a Shared Heritage (Morocco);
• Birthplace of Jesus: Church of the Nativity and the Pilgrimage Route, Bethlehem (Palestine);
• Garrison Border Town of Elvas and its Fortifications (Portugal);
• Bassari Country: Bassari, Fula and Bedik Cultural Landscapes (Senegal);
• Heritage of Mercury Almadén and Idrija (Slovenia/Spain);
• Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland (Sweden);
• Neolithic Site of Çatalhöyük (Turkey).