UNESCO Heritage Sites

The World Heritage Lavaux Vineyard Terraces, stretching for about 30 km along the south-facing northern shores of Lake Geneva from the Chateau de Chillon to the eastern outskirts of Lausanne in the Vaud region, cover the lower slopes of the mountainside between the villages and the lake. Although there is some evidence that vines were grown in the area in Roman times, the present vine terraces can be traced back to the 11th century, when Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries controlled the area. It is an outstanding example of a centuries-long interaction between people and their environment, developed to optimize local resources so as to produce a highly valued wine that has always been important to the economy. Continent: Europe Country: Switzerland Category: Cultural Criterion: (III)(IV) (V) Date of Inscription: 2007

Preserved by its long isolation, the Upper Svaneti region of the Caucasus is an exceptional example of mountain scenery with medieval-type villages and tower-houses. The village of Chazhashi still has more than 200 of these very unusual houses, which were used both as dwellings and as defence posts against the invaders who plagued the region. The Committee decided to inscribe the nominated property on the basis of cultural criteria (iv) and (v), considering that the region of Upper Svaneti is of outstanding universal value being an exceptional landscape that has preserved to a remarkable degree its original medieval appearance, notable for the distribution, form, and architecture of its human settlements Continent: Europe Country: Georgia Category: Cultural Criterion: (IV)(V) Date of Inscription: 1996

The Wooden Churches of Chiloe represent a unique example in Latin America of an outstanding form of ecclesiastical wooden architecture. They represent a tradition initiated by the Jesuit Peripatetic Mission in the 17th and 18th centuries, continued and enriched by the Franciscans during the 19th century and still prevailing today. These churches embody the intangible richness of the Chiloe Archipelago, and bear witness to a successful fusion of indigenous and European culture, the full integration of its architecture in the landscape and environment, as well as to the spiritual values of the communities. Continent: Asia Country: Chile Category: Cultural Criterion: (II)(III) Date of Inscription: 2000

Berat and Gjirokastra are inscribed as rare examples of an architectural character typical of the Ottoman period. Located in central Albania, Berat bears witness to the coexistence of various religious and cultural communities down the centuries. It features a castle, locally known as the Kala, most of which was built in the 13th century, although its origins date back to the 4th century BC. The citadel area numbers many Byzantine churches, mainly from the 13th century, as well as several mosques built under the Ottoman era which began in 1417. Gjirokastra and Berat the two towns Gjirokastra, in the Drinos river valley in southern Albania, features a series of outstanding two-story houses which were developed in the 17th century. The town also retains a bazaar, an 18th-century mosque and two churches of the same period. These two fortified historic centres are remarkably well preserved, and this is particularly true of their vernacular buildings. They have been continuously in...

Inhabited since prehistoric times, Butrint has been the site of a Greek colony, a Roman city and a bishopric. Following a period of prosperity under Byzantine administration, then a brief occupation by the Venetians, the city was abandoned in the late middle Ages after marshes formed in the area. The present archaeological site is a repository of ruins representing each period in the city's development. The city of Butrint is one of the fragments which form the fabric of Albania's ancient cultural landscape. Nestling in the highlands in the far south of the country and surrounded by dense vegetation, Butrint was linked to the Mediterranean by the Vivari canal, which runs from the Butrint Lake to the Ionian Sea. Butrint the ancient trade route The settlement became an important stop along the merchant trade routes and reached the height of its glory in the 4th century BC as one of the major maritime and commercial centres of the ancient world. The sight of the fortifica...

PARIS (AP) — Three scientists received research awards on Tuesday at UNESCO in a ceremony boycotted by numerous nations and not attended by the head of the U.N. cultural arm, which has been thrown into division because of Equatorial Guinea's funding of the $3 million prize. Egyptian scientist Maged Al-Sherbiny, who researches vaccine development and diagnostics, South African Felix Dapare Dakora, studying food scarcity in Africa, and Mexican Rossana Arroyo, researching parasitic diseases, received each received $100,000. The rest of the $3 million will go to subsequent winners. Rewarded amid boycott Human rights activists, some scholars and boycotting nations, from the United States to UNESCO host France, maintain that the source of the prize money is a corrupt regime using the prize to buff its image. They say the award — the UNESCO-Obiang Nguema Mbasogo International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences, named after President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Africa'...

The cultural landscape and archaeological remains of the Bamiyan Valley represent the artistic and religious developments which from the 1st to the 13th centuries characterized ancient Bakhtria, integrating various cultural influences into the Gandhara school of Buddhist art. The area contains numerous Buddhist monastic ensembles and sanctuaries, as well as fortified edifices from the Islamic period. The site is also testimony to the tragic destruction by the Taliban of the two standing Buddha statues, which shook the world in March 2001. The Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley Enclosed between the high mountains of the Hindu Kush in the central highlands of Afghanistan, the Bamiyan Valley opens out into a large basin bordered to the north by a long, high stretch of rocky cliffs. The Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley comprise a serial property consisting of eight separate sites within the Valley and its tributar...