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| UNESCO World Heritage Site Map eternalexploration.wordpress.com |
It's time once again to spotlight the annual World Heritage Centre's list of newly inscribed properties. This year's list of Inscribed Properties are a wonderful array of buildings and landscapes that tell the ongoing story of our global cultural. It's a long list, so rather than profile every single place, what I'd thought I would do is pick out some examples and highlight them. Sit back and enjoy this cultural heritage tour around the world. Who knows, you might be inspired to visit one of these places one day.
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| Bursa and Cumalikizik goturkey.com |
This property is a serial nomination consisting of eight component sites in the City of Bursa and nearby Cumalikizik in the Marmara region of southern Turkey. The site represents the urban and rural systems that established the Ottoman Empire in the early fourteenth century. It embodies the primary functions of the capital's social and economic organization which evolved around the new civic center. This included the commercial districts of khans kulliyes (religious institutions) integrating mosques, religious schools, public baths, a soup kitchen, and the tomb of Orhan Ghazi, the founder of the Ottoman Empire. One element outside of the historic center of Bursa is the village of Cumalikizik, the sole rural village of this site that presents the provision of hinterland support for the capital.
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| Decorated Cave of Pont d'Arc a.k.a Grotte Chauvet-Pont d'Arc Ardèche, France unesco.org |
Ardèche, France
The decorated cave is located in a limestone plateau of the Ardèche River in southern France. which contains the earliest and best-known preserved figurative in the world dating as far back as the Aurignacian period (30,000-32,000 BCE). The cave was sealed off by an avalanche 20,000 BCE and remain closed until 1994 which helped maintain its excellent condition. So far, over one thousand images have been cataloged on the walls, combining a variety of anthropomorphic and animal themes. They are of exceptional artistic quality and demonstrate a range of techniques including the use of color, combination of paint and engraving techniques, anatomical precision, three-dimensionality, and movement. The drawings include illustrated observations of dangerous animal species of the period such as: mammoths, bears, wildcats, rhinoceroses, bison and auroch (a type of wild cattle), 4,000 inventoried remains of prehistoric fauna, and a variety of human footprints.
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| Monumental Earthworks of Poverty Point Lower Mississippi Valley, United States en.wikipedia.org |
Lower Mississippi Valley, United States
The name of this property Monumental Earthworks of Poverty Point, is taken from the nearby nineteenth century plantation in the Lower Mississippi Valley, located on a slightly elevated and narrow landform. The site is composed of five mounds, six concentric semi-elliptical ridges separated by shallow and a central plaza. The mound was created for residential and ceremonial purposes by a hunter-fisher-gatherer society around 3700-3700 BCE. Research has not made clear whether or not the complex was a permanent settlement or a temporarily occupied campground, used only for ceremonies or trade fairs.
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| Pre-columbian Chiefdom Settlements with Stone Spheres of the Diquís Costa Rica whc.unesco.org |
Pre-columbian Chiefdom Settlements
with Stone Spheres of the Diquís
Costa Rica
This property encompasses four archeological sites in the Diquís Valley of southern Costa Rica and is considered a unique example of the complex social, economic, and political systems of the period between 500-1500 CE. The site contains artificial mounds, paved areas, burial grounds, and most significantly, a collection of stone spheres between 0.7 meters (2.296 feet) and 2.57 meters (8.431 feet) in diameter, whose meaning and function remain a mystery. The spheres are notable for their perfection, quantity, size, and density. Costa Rica has attributed their preservation from the looting of archeological sites to the thick layers of sediment that kept them buried for centuries.
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| Rani-ki-Vav (the Queen's Stepwell) Patan, Gujart, India rogerhansen.wordpress.com |
Patan, Gujart, India
Rani-ki-Vav is located on the banks of the Saraswati River and was originally built as a royal memorial in the eleventh century CE. The step wells are unique form of subterranean water resource and storage on the Indian subcontinent and have been in existence since the third millennium BCE. They have evolved over time from, essentially, a pit in sandy soil to elaborate works of art and architecture. Rani-ki-Vav was constructed at the pinnacle of craftsmen' ability in step well building. and the Maru-Gujara architectural style, reflecting the mastery of this complex method and great aesthetic of detail and proportion. The Step Well was designed as an inverted temple dedicated to the sanctity of water, divided into seven levels of stairs with sculptural panels of great artistic value with more than five hundred principle statues and over 1,000 lesser ones that combine religious, mythological, and secular imagery referencing literary works. The fourth level is the deepest and leads to a rectangular tank 9.5 meters (31'-2") by 9.4 meters (30'-10") with a depth of 23 meters (75.459 feet). The well is located on the westernmost edge of the site and consists of a shaft 10 meters (32.808 feet) and 30 meters (98.425 feet) in diameter deep
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| Tomioka Silk Mill Gunma Prefecture, Japan japan-product.com |
Tomioka Silk Mill
Gunma Prefecture, Japan
Gunma Prefecture, Japan
Yours truly is excited to report this site's inscription on the World Heritage List because I mentioned in my thesis. At the time (2012) it was under consideration by the World Heritage Centre and now it's official. The Tomioka Silk Mill was established in 1872 and built by the Meiji Government with machinery imported from France. The complex consists of four sites that presents the different stages of raw silk production: the production of cocoons in an experimental farm, a cold-storage facility for silkworm eggs, reeling of cocoons and spinning the raw silk, and school dedicated to the study of sericulture. It is an example of Japan's desire to rapidly adopt the very best mass production techniques of the day and marked the nation's entry into the industrial era, propelling it to become a world leader in raw silk exports.
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| Okavango Delta Botswana africansafaris.com |
Okavango Delta
Botswana
Botswana
This lovely delta is located in northwest Botswana and comprises permanent marshlands and seasonal flood plains. The Okavango Delta is one of the very few major interior delta systems that does not flow into a sea or ocean, with an almost intact wetland system. One of the most fascinating characteristics of this site is that the annual flooding from the River Okavango happens during the dry season resulting in native flora and fauna having to adjust their biological cycles with the seasonal rains and floods. It is a fantastic example of the integration of the climatic, hydrological, and biological processes. The Okavango Delta is also home to the most endangered species of large mammals such as: the cheetah, white rhinoceros, black rhinoceros, the African wild dog, and lion.
I hope you enjoyed your brief tour of the newly inscribed World Heritage sites. For these and more images, please visit my pinterest board at http://wwww.pinterest.com/glamtroy. Please support your World Heritage sites.
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