Press
Release No.2002-40
NINE NEW SITES
ON THE WORLD HERITAGE LIST
Budapest, June 27 - UNESCO's World Heritage Committee, meeting
here for its 26th session, chaired by the Hungarian Tamas Fejerdy,
today added 9 new sites to the World Heritage List, bringing the
total to 730 cultural, natural and mixed sites of "outstanding
universal value," including for the first time a site in
Afghanistan.
The new bearers of the "world
heritage" label are: the Minaret and Archaeological Remains
of Jam (Afghanistan), the Upper Middle Rhine Valley and the Historic
Centres of Stralsund and Wismar (Germany), the Saint Catherine
Area (Egypt), the Tokaji Wine Region Cultural Landscape (Hungary),
the Mahabodhi Temple Complex at Bodhgaya (India), the Late Baroque
Towns of the Val di Noto, in Sicily (Italy), the Ancient Maya
City of Calakmul, in Campeche (Mexico) and the Historic Inner
City of Paramaribo (Suriname).
Afghanistan. Minaret and Archaeological
Remains of Jam. The 65-metre Minaret of Jam is the second tallest
in the world, after Qutb Minar in New Delhi (India). It was built
in 1194 at the intersection of two steep river valleys in the
west-central province of Ghur and has elaborate brickwork, with
geometric and floral motifs and Kufic inscriptions, and a band
of blue tiles around it. The quality of the decoration represents
the high point of the artistic and architectural tradition of
the Ghurid dynasty that ruled Afghanistan and northern India in
the 12th and early 13th centuries. The site also includes traces
of an old Jewish cemetery and remains of fortifications.
Germany. Upper Middle Rhine Valley.
This cultural landscape stretches 65 km along the Rhine, between
the plain of Oberrheingraben and Lower Rhine basin. It includes
about 60 towns and a wide range of landscapes and cultural properties
(many of them classified monuments), such as castles, abbeys,
fortresses, terraced vineyards, copses, steep valleys and the
Lorelei Rock. The area, shaped by 2,000 years of history, has
had a powerful influence on poets, painters and composers over
the past two centuries. The Lorelei and the old Germanic legend
of the Nibelungs were particularly in vogue during the Romantic
Era and composer Richard Wagner drew on it for his famous Ring
Cycle.
Germany. Historic Centres of Stralsund
and Wismar. Founded in the 13th century on the northwestern Baltic
coast, these towns were major commercial centres of the Hanseatic
League in the 14th and 15th centuries. They are Germany's best
remaining examples of this group of nearly 200 trading towns.
Wismar has preserved its port and medieval canal, while the historic
centre of Stralsund, built on an island, is virtually unchanged
since the 13th century, despite some damage during World War II.
The two towns, which fell under Swedish rule after the Thirty
Years War, contributed to the growth of military technology in
the 17th and 18th centuries.
Egypt. Saint Catherine Area. This
area of Sinai is of great spiritual importance for the three monotheistic
religions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. The very-well preserved
5th century Orthodox monastery of Saint Catherine is the only
Byzantine Christian monument continuously in use since it was
built 1,500 years ago. It contains remarkable collections of ancient
manuscripts and icons, as well as a small mosque, and stands at
the foot of the 2,285-metre Mount Horeb (Jebel Musa in Arabic),
where the Old Testament says Moses received the Tablets of the
Law. The area also includes Bronze Age archaeological sites, ancient
Egyptian mines and Nabatean, Byzantine and pre-Islamic remains.
Hungary. Tokaji Wine Region Cultural
Landscape. This cultural landscape displays the long tradition
of wine production in northeastern Hungary. The first vines were
planted here in the 12th century or earlier. But it was not until
the Ottoman period that the famous "Tokaji Aszu" wine,
made from grapes left to rot on the vines, brought prosperity
to the region under the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Then the vineyards
went into decline before being restored in the early 1990s. The
region is an intricate pattern of vineyards, farms, villages and
small towns with large networks of cellars and illustrates every
aspect of Tokaji (or Tokay) wine production, whose quality has
been strictly regulated for three centuries.
India. Mahabodhi Temple Complex
at Bodhgaya. Situated in the northeastern state of Bihar, this
is one of the four holy places linked to the life of Buddha. It
was here, at the age of 35, in the year 531 BC, that he attained
Enlightenment while sitting under the Bodhi Tree. The first temple
was built on the spot in the 3rd century BC by Emperor Asoka,
but the present one dates from the 5th or 6th century, though
some balustrades are from the Asoka period. The temple, in the
centre of Bodhgaya, is surrounded by other holy places and is
considered one of India's oldest existing temples. Some 400,000
tourists and pilgrims visit the site each year, two-thirds of
them Indians.
Italy. Late Baroque Towns of the
Val di Noto. Caltagirone, Militello Val Di Catania, Catania, Modica,
Noto, Palazzolo, Ragusa and Scicli are eight towns in southeastern
Sicily all rebuilt since 1693 on or nearby towns destroyed by
the earthquake that killed 93,000 people that year. They were
a considerable joint operation, involving well-known architects
and artists and thousands of craftsmen. All are in keeping with
the late Baroque style of the time and display distinctive innovations
in town planning and construction. The first anti-earthquake regulations
were implemented in the rebuilding of Catania.
Mexico. Ancient Maya City of Calakmul
(Campeche). Calakmul, in the tropical forest of the Tierras Bajas
of southern Mexico, is an exceptionally well-preserved Mayan city.
It was founded in about 300 BC and with its rival, Tikal, was
one of the region's two Mayan capitals for more than 12 centuries.
The city was at its peak in the 6th and 7th centuries and then
declined as the centre of power moved north to Yucatan. The site
includes two large pyramids as well as richly-decorated royal
tombs. It is very well-preserved because it was not discovered
until 1931 and restoration work only began in 1993.
Suriname. Historic Inner City of
Paramaribo. The old Dutch colonial capital of Paramaribo is unique
in South America. It was founded in 1667 with the building of
Fort Zeelandia, it grew over the centuries spreading first south
along the Suriname River and then towards the north on land that
was reclaimed by Dutch civil engineers. The city has retained
its original street plan
and its buildings illustrate the gradual blending of Dutch architecture
and use of local techniques and materials. The presidential palace,
for example, built in 1730, has a stone ground-floor with wooden
upper storeys.
The Committee also approved the
extension of two sites already on the World Heritage List. These
are Budapest, the Banks of the Danube and the Buda Castle Quarter
(formerly Andrassy Avenue and the Millennium Underground) in Hungary,
and the Marine Zone of Cocos Island National Park (formerly Cocos
Island National Park) in Costa Rica.
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