List of World Heritage Sites – 2019
Members of the World Heritage Committee
This is a list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites around the world by year of inscription, selected during the annual sessions of the World Heritage Committee.
The first World Heritage Site in the list is the Galápagos Islands.
The countries with the largest number of sites (including sites shared with other countries) are China and Italy, both with 55 entries. The country with the largest number of sites by itself alone (excluding sites shared with other countries) is China, with 54 entries.
World Heritage Committee 43 rd Session 2019
It was held in Baku , Azarbijan . The 2019 WHC Session added new 29 sites to the world heritage list bringing the total up to 1121.
Inscriptions in 2019
The following sites were inscribed in the 2019 WHC Session.
Cultural sites – 24
Natural sites – 4
Mixed sites - 1
1. Ancient Ferrous Metallurgy Sites of Burkina Faso
Country - Burkina Faso
Type - Cultural
The Ancient Iron Metallurgy Sites represent an early phase of iron production in Africa.
The 5 locations, spread out over Burkina Faso’s territory, comprise iron ore smelting furnaces, slag heaps and other traces of mining. The development of this technology has lead to blacksmith traditions that are still alive today.
2.Churches of the Pskov School of Architecture
Country – Russia
Type - Cultural
The Churches of the Pskov School of Architecture reflect the city’s Golden Age and are the best examples of this style.
The buildings date mostly from the 16th and 17th centuries, when Pskov was an important trade partner of the Hanseatic League.
3.Dilmun Burial Mounds
Country - Bahrain
Type - Cultural
The Dilmun Burial Mounds represent the architecture and sepulchral traditions of Early Dilmun culture.
The site comprises 21 components with in total thousands of burial mounds. Each of the mounds - usually meant for 1 deceased person - is composed of a central stone chamber that is enclosed by a low ring-wall and covered by earth and gravel. The graves are not all of the same era, or of exactly the same styles, and can vary considerably in size in different areas of the moundfield.
4.Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings
Country - USA
Type - Cultural
The 20th Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright comprises 8 buildings designed by the American architect.
The buildings range from a modest home to a church and a museum. They show different aspects of his work, which was innovative in an American context and , geared to the American social, economic and natural conditions. Wright’s ideas also influenced Europe’s Modern Movement in architecture.
5. Hyrcanian Forests
Country - Iran
Type - Natural
The Hyrcanian Forests comprise a 850km long massif covered in ancient natural broad-leaved forests.
It has 15 components, mostly located on higher elevations. They show a hight floristic biodiversity and are home to especially forest birds.
6. Jaipur City, Rajasthan
Country – India
Type - cultural
Jaipur City, Rajasthan, is a planned city combining ancient Hindu, Mughal and contemporary Western ideas.
The city of Jaipur was founded in 1727 by Jai Singh II, the Raja of Amer. Under the architectural guidance of Vidyadhar Bhattacharya, Jaipur was designed based on Hindu (Vedic) architectural principles. It also uses a (Western) grid plan.
7. Jodrell Bank Observatory
Country - UK
Type - Cultural
The Jodrell Bank Observatory is one the earliest radio astronomy observatories in the world.
Part of the University of Manchester, it played a prominent role in the evolution of radio astronomy by way of several important technological developments. They include the research of meteors, quasars, pulsars, masers and gravitational lenses, and the tracking of space probes at the start of the Space Age.
8. Risco Caido
Country - Spain
Type - cultural
Risco Caido and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria Cultural Landscape are testimony to the pre-Hispanic culture of the island.
The mountainous area includes a large number of troglodyte settlements, archaeological sites and rock art.
9.Plain of Jars
Country - Laos
Type - cultural
The Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang (better known as the Plain of Jars) are a testimony to Iron Age funerary practices.
The sites include 1,325 ancient sandstone jars, crafted by a civilization that lived in the area from 500 BCE on. The most dense location holds 400 jars plus associated stone objects such as lids and discs.
10. Writing-on-Stone
Country - Canada
Type - cultural
Writing-on-Stone / Áísínai’pi is a living sacred landscape for Blackfoot people.
The area holds thousands of examples of indigenous rock art, carved into the sandstone. For the Blackfoot society of the past and the present there is also a spiritual connection to its impressive landforms such as hoodoos and canyons.
11. Water Management System of Augsburg
Country - Germany
Type - cultural
The Water Management System of Augsburg has produced various technological innovations in the areas of waterways and drinking water supply.
The system consists of 22 different components, varying from hydroelectric power stations to fountains. It has its origins in the Middle Ages, when canals were built to bring water to the mills, tanneries, textile producers and goldsmiths. From 1545 there was a strict separation between drinking water and water for industry use.
12.Vatnajökull National Park
Country - Iceland
Type - Natural
Vatnajökull National Park has a wide variety of tectonic, volcanic and glaciovolcanic features.
Vatnajökull is the largest glacier in Europe and one of the largest in the world. It is situated on large and active tectonic rift systems. The park comprises 14% of the t
13.The Prosecco Hills
Country - Italy
Type - cultural
The Prosecco Hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene form a viticultural landscape in challenging, mountainous terrain.
The highest quality Prosecco wine has been produced here since the 18th century.
14. Sheki
Country - Azarbijan
Type - cultural
The Historic centre of Sheki with the Khan’s Palace is an 18th century trade town known for its sericulture.
Sheki was the capital of the short-lived Shaki Khanate. The Khan’s palace was designed by a Persian architect in 1797.
15.Seowon, Neo-Confucian Academies
Country- Republic of Korea
Type – cultural
The Seowon are 9 Neo-Confucian Academies that are relevant for their architectural types and their role in education.
They were founded in the 16th and 17th centuries. From these academies, located across the country, Neo-Confucianism took root and spread over Korea. Mainly aristocrats and future civil service administrators were educated here.
16.Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte in Braga
Country - Protugal
Type - cultural
The Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte in Braga is a sanctuary on the top of a hill and a catholic pilgrimage site.
The complex is known for its monumental, Baroque stairway that climbs 116 meters. The sanctuary was built on a spot where hermits had settled from the 14th century on. It has been rebuilt and much further extended during the following centuries.
17.Paraty and Ilha Grande
Country - Brazil
Type – mixed
Paraty Culture and Biodiversity comprises 5 components along the Brazilian coast: 4 parks/nature reserves and the historical centre of the town of Paraty.
The mountainous, forested area was the scene of early encounter between Europeans and natives. Most of the landscape is covered in Atlantic forest with great biological diversity.
18.Ombilin Coal Mining Heritage of Sawahlunto
Country - Indonesia
Type - cultural
The Ombilin Coal Mining Heritage of Sawahlunto is a late 19th century industrial system built by the Netherlands colonial government.
The mines were worked by local labourers (including forced labourers), the town of Sawahlunto grew to 7,000 inhabitants. The site comprises 12 locations, including mines, coal fields, tunnels, a Mining School and railway system.
19.Mozu-Furuichi Kofungun
Country – Japan
Type -cultural
The Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group comprises 49 distinctive, often keyhole-shaped earthen burial mounds.
They were the stage for funerary rituals of kings and can be up to 500m in length. The kofun date from the late 4th and early 5th century.
20.Mining Cultural Landscape Erzgebirge
Country- Germany
Type - cultural
Erzgebirge / Krušnohoří Mining Region is a mining region that has been used from the Middle Ages onwards.
The 95x45 km area is located in southeastern Germany (Saxony) and northwestern Czechia. Amongst the raw materials mined over the course of centuries were ores of the metals silver, tin, zinc, cobalt, nickel, copper and lead; but anthracite and uranium were also extracted into the 20th century.
21. Liangzhu Archaeological Site
Country - China
Type - cultural
The Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City show the accomplishments of the urban civilization in the Yangtze River Basin from the late 4rd and 3rd millennium BC.
The city was the centre of power and belief of the Liangzhu culture, an early regional state. The culture possessed advanced agriculture, including irrigation, paddy rice cultivation and aquaculture.
22.Krzemionki prehistoric striped flint mining region
Country - Poland
Type - Cultural
The Krzemionki prehistoric striped flint mining region is a group of 4 mining sites dating back to from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age.
There are more than 4000 mine shafts known with depths of 9 meters deep with wells measuring from four to twelve metres in diameter. The striped flint was used mainly for axe-making: its products have been found as far as 660km away.
23.Landscape for Breeding and Training of Ceremonial Carriage Horses at Kladruby nad Labem
Country - Czechia
Type - Cultural
The Landscape for Breeding and Training of Ceremonial Carriage Horses at Kladruby nad Labem is a site designed exclusively for the breeding and training of Kladruber horses, which were used in ceremonies by the Habsburg imperial court.
It is one of the most significant horse-breeding institutions in Europe and continues to function to this day.
24.French Austral Lands and Seas
Country - France
Type - Natural
The French Austral Lands and Seas is a group of extremely isolated volcanic islands in the sub-Antarctic region.
It covers the Crozet Archipelago, Kerguelen Islands and Amsterdam and St Paul Islands. They are known for their marine birds (especially the world’s largest colony of King Penguins) and mammals such as seals and dolphins.
25.Bagan Archaeological Area and Monuments
Country - Myanmar
Type – cultural
Bagan is a landscape of monumental Buddhist architecture, covering almost 3,600 stupas, temples, monasteries and associated structures.
The site represents the core of the largest Buddhist empire of its time (11-13th centuries). It is still in active religious use and is especially related to the practice of merit-making
26.Budj Bim Cultural Landscape
Country- Australia
Type - Cultural
The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape covers an ancient aquaculture system developed by the Gunditjmara Aboriginal people.
They manipulated the water flow through volcanic rock and trapped fish there (especially kooyang). The associated practices are still part of the Gunditjmara living culture
27. Babylon – cultural
Counrty – Iraq
Type – cultural
Babylon is the archaeological site of what once was one of the largest and oldest settlements in Mesopotamia.
It comprises the – largely unexcavated - remains of the ancient Neo-Babylonian city, its city walls and temples. Particularly during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II (604–561 BC) the complete reconstruction of the imperial grounds, including the Etemenanki ziggurat, and the construction of the Ishtar Gate took place.
28. The Tapada Nacional de Mafra was created in Mafra
Country – Portugal
Type – Cultural
The Tapada Nacional de Mafra was created in Mafra, Portugal, during the reign of king João V, following the building of the Mafra National Palace, as a park for royal and court recreation.
Covering over 8 square kilometres, the park holds different species of deer, wild boar, foxes, birds of prey and many others coexisting in an unusually rich and diversified natural habitat. A favourite of the Portuguese monarchy for hunting and other leisure pursuits, the Tapada de Mafra took on a noble connotation that has done much to aid its preservation and continuity.
On 7 July 2019, the Royal Building of Mafra – Palace, Basilica, Convent, Cerco Garden and Hunting Park (Tapada) was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
29.Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of Yellow Sea–Bohai Gulf of China (Phase I)
Country – China
Type – Natural
China's Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the coast of the Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf (Phase I) were inscribed on the World Heritage List as a natural site at the ongoing 43rd session of the World Heritage Committee in Azerbaijan.
The decision to inscribe the Chinese natural site on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) World Heritage List was unanimously supported by all members of the World Heritage Committee.
Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the coast of the Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf of China are located in the Yellow Sea eco region, containing the world's largest continuous mudflat seashore.
It is the central node of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF), which is the most threatened migratory flyway worldwide and boasts the largest number of endangered and critically endangered species.
The area has a high biodiversity, with about 280 species of fishes and more than 500 species of invertebrates, providing a variety of food resources for millions of migratory birds.