https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/151Located in the north-west of Washington State, Olympic National Park is renowned for the diversity of its ecosystems. Glacier-clad peaks interspersed with extensive alpine meadows are surrounded by an extensive old growth forest, among which is the best example of intact and protected temperate rainforest in the Pacific Northwest. Eleven major river systems drain the Olympic mountains, offering some of the best habitat for anadromous fish species in the country. The park also includes 100 km... WHS Dec 25, 2023, 6:24 AM cowpoke
Abbey Church of Saint-Savin sur Gartempe [sɛ̃ saviɳ syʁ ɡaʁtɑ̃p] - France
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/230Known as the 'Romanesque Sistine Chapel', the Abbey-Church of Saint-Savin contains many beautiful 11th- and 12th-century murals which are still in a remarkable state of preservation. 2024-01-13 WHS Jan 13, 2024, 7:11 AM cowpoke
Rock Drawings in Valcamonica [valkaˈmɔnika] - Italy
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/94Valcamonica, situated in the Lombardy plain, has one of the world's greatest collections of prehistoric petroglyphs – more than 140,000 symbols and figures carved in the rock over a period of 8,000 years and depicting themes connected with agriculture, navigation, war and magic. WHS Dec 13, 2023, 5:23 AM cowpoke
Jesuit [xeˈzʝwit] Missions of the Chiquitos [tʃiˈkitos] - Bolivia (Plurinational State of)(Spanish)
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/529Between 1696 and 1760, six ensembles of reducciones (settlements of Christianized Indians) inspired by the ‘ideal cities’ of the 16th-century philosophers were founded by the Jesuits in a style that married Catholic architecture with local traditions. The six that remain – San Francisco Javier, Concepción, Santa Ana, San Miguel, San Rafael and San José – make up a living heritage on the former territory of the Chiquitos. 2024-03-20 WHS Mar 20, 2024, 3:41 AM cowpoke
Ancient __Ksour__ [ksuːr] of Ouadane [wɑdæn], Chinguetti [ʃiŋɡitːi], Tichitt [tiːʃitː] and Oualata [wælætæ] - Mauritania [ˌmɔrɪˈteɪniə] (speaks Arabic)
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/750Founded in the 11th and 12th centuries to serve the caravans crossing the Sahara, these trading and religious centres became focal points of Islamic culture. They have managed to preserve an urban fabric that evolved between the 12th and 16th centuries. Typically, houses with patios crowd along narrow streets around a mosque with a square minaret. They illustrate a traditional way of life centred on the nomadic culture of the people of the western Sahara. 2024-05-13 WHS May 13, 2024, 3:54 AM cowpoke
Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Amsterdam inside the Singelgracht [ˈsɪŋəlˌɣrɑxt] - Netherlands (Kingdom of the)
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1349The historic urban ensemble of the canal district of Amsterdam was a project for a new ‘port city’ built at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries. It comprises a network of canals to the west and south of the historic old town and the medieval port that encircled the old town and was accompanied by the repositioning inland of the city’s fortified boundaries, the Singelgracht. This was a long-term programme that involved extending the city by draining the swampland, using a syst WHS Sep 5, 2024, 5:31 AM cowpoke
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1430Namib Sand Sea is the only coastal desert in the world that includes extensive dune fields influenced by fog. Covering an area of over three million hectares and a buffer zone of 899,500 hectares, the site is composed of two dune systems, an ancient semi-consolidated one overlain by a younger active one. The desert dunes are formed by the transportation of materials thousands of kilometres from the hinterland, that are carried by river, ocean current and wind. It features gravel plains,... WHS Sep 16, 2024, 4:13 AM cowpoke
Mount Etna [ˈɛtna] - Italy
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1427Mount Etna is an iconic site encompassing 19,237 uninhabited hectares on the highest part of Mount Etna, on the eastern coast of Sicily. Mount Etna is the highest Mediterranean island mountain and the most active stratovolcano in the world. The eruptive history of the volcano can be traced back 500,000 years and at least 2,700 years of this activity has been documented. The almost continuous eruptive activity of Mount Etna continues to influence volcanology, geophysics and other Earth s... WHS Sep 16, 2024, 4:12 AM cowpoke
Decorated Cave of Pont d’Arc [pɔ̃ d‿aʁk], known as Grotte Chauvet-Pont d’Arc [ɡʁɔt ʃovɛ pɔ̃ d‿aʁk], Ardèche [aʁdɛʃ] - France
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1426Located in a limestone plateau of the Ardèche River in southern France, the property contains the earliest-known and best-preserved figurative drawings in the world, dating back as early as the Aurignacian period (30,000–32,000 BP), making it an exceptional testimony of prehistoric art. The cave was closed off by a rock fall approximately 20,000 years BP and remained sealed until its discovery in 1994, which helped to keep it in pristine condition. Over 1,000 images have so far been inventoried WHS Sep 16, 2024, 4:11 AM cowpoke
The Climats [kli.ma], terroirs [tɛrˈwɑrz] of Burgundy - France
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1425The climates are precisely delimited vineyard parcels on the slopes of the Côte de Nuits and the Côte de Beaune south of the city of Dijon. They differ from one another due to specific natural conditions (geology and exposure) as well as vine types and have been shaped by human cultivation. Over time they came to be recognized by the wine they produce. This cultural landscape consists of two parts. Firstly, the vineyards and associated production units including villages and the town of Beaune, WHS Sep 16, 2024, 4:10 AM cowpoke