UNESCO Heritage Sites

More and more of the capital's best known monuments may now be illuminated through solar energy. Building on the experience gained over the last three years and keen on promoting the use of environment-friendly solar energy, the Delhi government plans to light up more of the capital's historical sites through cheap and plentiful energy from the sun. The 13th century Qutub Minar, the 17th century red sandstone Red Fort and the 16th century Humayun's Tomb - all declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites - are among the six sites where the Delhi government plans to install solar power plants to replace conventional sources of electricity. Want to read UNESCO Daily News Updates? Click Here!!! Installing Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) Systems "We are planning to install solar photovoltaic (SPV) systems on the premises of heritage sites and historical monuments where footfalls are higher," a Delhi government official told IANS. SPV cells convert sunlight into electrici...

Kochi's heritage zones of Fort Kochi and Mattanc-herry may soon get a facelift. The tripartite agreement between Kochi Corporation, French city of Lorient and Indian Heritage Cities Network Foundation could help to revive the heritage conservation project supported by UNESCO. Fort Kochi is a region in the city of Kochi in the state of Kerala, India. This is part of a handful of water-bound regions toward the south-west of the mainland Kochi, and collectively known as Old Kochi or West Kochi. Adjacent to this is Mattancherry. In 1967, these three municipalities, along with a few adjoining areas, were amalgamated to form the Corporation of Cochin. Want to read UNESCO Daily News Updates? Click Here!!! Fort Kochi and Mattancherry heritage conservation project The fate of the Fort Kochi and Mattancherry heritage conservation project proposed by the city corporation is hanging in the balance following the delay in fund allocation by the state government. The 51-crore UNESCO ...

The ruins of the ancient city of Aksum are found close to Ethiopia's northern border. They mark the location of the heart of ancient Ethiopia, when the Kingdom of Aksum was the most powerful state between the Eastern Roman Empire and Persia. The massive ruins, dating from between the 1st and the 13th century A.D., include monolithic obelisks, giant stelae, royal tombs and the ruins of ancient castles. Long after its political decline in the 10th century, Ethiopian emperors continued to be crowned in Aksum. Continent: Africa Country: Ethiopia Category: Cultural Criterion: (I)(IV) Date of Inscription: 1980 The ruins of the ancient city of Aksum The ruins of the ancient city of Aksum are located close to Ethiopia's northern border. They mark the location of the heart of ancient Ethiopia, when the Kingdom of Aksum was the most powerful state between the Eastern Roman Empire and Persia. The massive ruins, dating from between the 1st and 13th centuries, incl...

The Canal du Midi is one of the greatest engineering achievements of the modern age, providing the model for the flowering of technology that led directly to the Industrial Revolution and the modern technological age. It represents a significant period in European history that of the development of water transport as a result of mastery of hydraulic civil engineering. It combines with its technological innovation a concern for high aesthetic architectural and landscape design that has few parallels. Continent: Europe Country: France Category: Cultural Criterion: (I)(III) (IV) (VI) Date of Inscription: 1996 Canal du Midi Mediterranean-Atlantic link Investigations into the possibilities of creating canals joining the major natural waterways began in the early 16th century, when François I brought Leonardo da Vinci with him on his return to France. One of their projects envisaged linking the Garonne and the Aude rivers, and thus the Mediterranean with the Atlanti...

The Lednice-Valtice landscape is of outstanding universal value as an exceptional example of the designed landscape that evolved in the Enlightenment and afterwards under the care of a single family. It succeeds in bringing together in harmony cultural monuments from successive periods and both indigenous and exotic natural elements to create an outstanding work of human creativity. Continent: Europe Country: Czech Republic Category: Cultural Criterion: (I) (III) (IV) Date of Inscription: 1996

Masada is a symbol of the ancient Jewish kingdom of Israel, of its violent destruction in the later 1st century CE, and of the subsequent Diaspora. The palace of Herod the Great at Masada is an outstanding example of a luxurious villa of the early Roman Empire, while the camps and other fortifications that encircle the hill constitute the finest and most complete Roman siege works to have survived to the present day. Continent: Asia Country: Israel Category: Cultural Criterion: (III)(IV) (VI) Date of Inscription: 2001

Three decades of painstaking archaeological research focused on the Hajar region of Oman have yielded some extraordinary findings: ancient oasis settlements dating back to the second half of the 4th millennium BC, a 5,000-year-old falaj, trade links with other civilisations, and beehive-style tomb cemeteries. They attest to the rich antiquity of a region of the Sultanate that also boasts modern-day settlements, as well as historical monuments, notably the Bahla Fort — a Unesco World Heritage Site. Want to read UNESCO Daily News Updates? Click Here!!! An Early Cradle of Arabian Civilisation Brought to the Forefront of Cultural Resource Management The significance of the study, led by veteran experts Jeffery and Jocelyn Orchard of the University of Birmingham (UK), was the subject of an insightful presentation made by the pair at the recent Unesco Symposium on the Sultanate's rich and diverse archaeological wealth, organised by the Ministry of Heritage and Culture. Title...