Unesco’s World Heritage Committee has just named thirty-seven more sites of global importance. There are now 506 areas in 108 countries which have this special status, which is intended to ensure that they are conserved with particular care. The most important sites added to the international list include:
o Armenia: Haghpat (A.D.991 monastery).
o Austria: Salzburg (historic centre), Vienna (Schönbrunn palace and gardens).
o China: Lushan (spiritual centre).
o Czech Republic: Lednice-Valtice (Europe’s largest designed landscape created by Dukes of Liechtenstein).
o Georgia: Upper Svaneti (medieval mountain villages).
o Germany: Cologne (cathedral), Eisleben/Wittenberg (Luther buildings), Weimar (Bauhaus School).
o Greece: Vergina (archaeological site).
o Hungary: Pannonhalma (Benedictine monastery).
o Ireland: Skellig Michael (seventh-century monastic complex on rocky island).
o Italy: Alberobello (Trulli limestone dwellings), Castel del Monte (medieval castle), Pienza (historic centre), Ravenna (early Christian monuments).
o Japan: Itsukushima (Shinto shrine).
o Mauritania: Oudane-Chinguetti-Tichitt-Oulata (ancient Saharan trading towns).
o Mexico: Uxmal (pyramid), Querétaro (colonial town).
o Morocco: Meknes (Spanish-Moorish town).
o Netherlands: Amsterdam (defence line water fortification system).
o Portugal: Oporto (historic centre)
o Spain: Cuenca (walled town), Valencia (silk exchange).
o Sweden: Gammelstad (church town).
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'Bauhaus joins Pienza'