UNESCO Heritage Sites

The five Sierra Gorda missions bear witness to the cultural encounter of the European missions with the nomadic populations of central Mexico, remaining a significant testimony to this second phase of evangelization in North America. The most thorough evangelizing work carried out by the Franciscan Order in America is reflected in the architectural and artistic achievement in these missions. They exhibit an important interchange of values in the process of evangelization of central and northern Mexico and the western United States, and demonstrate the cultural coexistence between two different groups with their environment. Continent: North America Country: Mexico Category: Cultural Criterion: (II)(III) Date of Inscription: 2003

Pre-Hispanic City of Chichen-Itza sacred site was one of the greatest Mayan centres of the Yucatan peninsula. Throughout its nearly 1,000-year history, different peoples have left their mark on the city. The Maya and Toltec vision of the world and the universe is revealed in their stone monuments and artistic works. The fusion of Mayan construction techniques were with new elements from central Mexico makes Chichen-Itza one of the most important examples of the Mayan-Toltec civilization in Yucatán. Several buildings have survived, such as the Warriors' Temple, El Castillo and the circular observatory known as El Caracol. Chichen Itza is the most important archaeological vestige of the Maya-Toltec civilization in Yucatán (10th-15th centuries). Its monuments, particularly in the northern group which includes the Great Ball Court, Temple of Kukulkan and Temple of the Warriors, are among the undisputed masterpieces of Mesoamerican architecture because of the beauty of their proportio...