UNESCO grants World Heritage Site status to 33 new places—and half of them are in Europe

UNESCO, the United Nations organization that aims to promote world peace through education and culture, has added 33 new sites to its World Heritage List. 

The list encompasses destinations highlighted for their cultural, historical or scientific significance. Last month, the city of Liverpool was removed from the list due to new developments in the city.  

One of the new sites however is 'The Great Spa Towns of Europe,' encompassing towns in Austria, Belgium, Czechia, France, Germany, Italy, the UK and Northern Ireland. The City of Bath, for example, and Vichy, France are part of this designation because of their healing waters. 

The old town of Nice, the resort town in France, got its own designation for being the "winter resort town of the Riviera." The 13th-century porticos of Bologna, Italy, were added because the UNESCO committee said they “have become an expression and element of Bologna's urban identity.” Padua’s Fourteenth-Century Fresco Cycles were also added. Italy now has 58 sites on the list. 

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The Colonies of Benevolence in Belgium and the Netherlands, the Cordouan Lighthouse in France, Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro Park in Spain, the Roșia Montană Mining Landscape in Romania, the Works of Jože Plečnik in Ljubljana in Slovenia, and the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales were also added to the list. 

In Germany, the the Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt and ShUM Sites of Speyer, Worms and Mainz were deemed UNESCO-worthy. The Frontiers of the Roman Empire, another new designation, also included spots in Germany and the Netherlands. In Russia, the Petroglyphs of Lake Onega and the White Sea were added, and in Georgia, the Colchic Rainforests and Wetlands were added to the list.

Outside of Europe, the Sudanese Style Mosques in the Northern Ivory Coast and Ivindo National Park in Gabon were added to the list in Africa. 

In the Middle East, the Trans-Iranian Railway was also added. The railway connects the Caspian Sea with the Persian Gulf through hundreds of bridges and tunnels. Also in the Middle East, the Arslantepe Mound in Turkey, As-Salt (knows as The Place of Tolerance) in Jordan, the Cultural Landscape of Uramanat in Iran, and the Ḥimā Cultural Area in Saudia Arabia were added to the list. 

In South America, the new list included the Settlement and Artificial Mummification of the Chinchorro Culture in the Arica and Parinacota Region in Chile, Sítio Roberto Burle Marx in Brazil, the Chankillo Archaeoastronomical Complex in Peru, and The Work of Engineer Eladio Dieste at the Church of Atlántida in Uruguay. 

The Getbol Korean Tidal Flats were added in South Korea and the Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex in Thailand. In India, the new list includes Dholavira: a Harappan City, and the Kakatiya Rudreshwara Temple. 

A UNESCO designation calls out a site for its “outstanding universal value,” and gives the country it’s in permission to receive funds from UNESCO to maintain it. The new list of 33 additions is larger than usual because the organization did not add any sites in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. There are more than 1,000 World Heritage Sites in total.